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A magnetically shielded Hall thruster (MSHT) has a significantly longer service life than a conventional unshielded Hall thruster (USHT) as it shifts the magnetic field of maximum strength from the channel interior to the exterior. In this study, it was experimentally determined that the influence of the radial position of an externally mounted hollow cathode on the performance of an MSHT is quite different from that of a USHT. The measured plasma parameters demonstrate that in addition to the coupling voltage loss and plume divergence loss, the electron cross-field transport loss (not considered previously and introduced by the outward shifting of the magnetic field) is also important to explaining the performance variation in the MSHT. This study refines the coupling theory between the cathode and Hall thruster and provides a valuable reference for determining the radial position of an externally mounted hollow cathode in an MSHT. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Increasing the specific impulse has become one of the main trends in the development of Hall thrusters and may be achieved by increasing the proportion of multiply charged ions in the plume. In this study, the multiple ionization characteristics of Hall thrusters with large height–radius ratios and their effects on the specific impulse and other performance parameters were examined via numerical simulations. The simulation results show that the proportion of multiply charged ions in a Hall thruster with a large height–radius ratio increases by 7.8 percentage points, compared with that of the traditional Hall thruster, and the multiply charged ions can obtain a higher average jet velocity under an accelerating voltage, thereby improving the specific impulse and thrust of the thruster. Further analyses show that a structure with a large height–radius ratio reduces the cooling effect of the channel wall on the electrons, and the increase in electron temperature effectively promotes the occurrence of the multiple ionization process. In addition, the smaller wall area and the larger magnetic field intensity in the near-wall region inhibit the electron near-wall conduction and prevent the potential negative effect of the increase in electron current caused by multiply charged ionization, which ensures a high level of efficiency. It was proved that multiple ionizations contribute positively to the specific impulse and efficiency of Hall thrusters with a large height–radius ratio. This serves as a reference for the high specific impulse design of Hall thrusters with large height–radius ratios and provides a new optimization perspective for improving the specific impulse of Hall thrusters. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The characteristics of low-frequency oscillations of double-stage Hall thrusters are quite different from those of conventional single-stage Hall thrusters. In this paper, the effects of double-stage discharge on the low-frequency oscillations are experimentally investigated. The results indicate that the amplitude significantly decreases with increasing magnetic field strength and voltage during the ionization stage. Meanwhile, data analysis reveals that ionization occurs in both stages and that the transport ion current between the two stages is the key factor that affects the amplitude and main frequency of the oscillations. Two new processes, namely the ion transport and ion recombination caused by double-stage discharge, are found to be relevant to the change in the current oscillations. To summarize, the ionization stage relieves the oscillations in the acceleration stage, leading to a reduction in the amplitude of the discharge current. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Traditional Hall thrusters can ionize gas inside the channel and accelerate ions outside it by moving the peak magnetic field out of the channel, which improves the thruster performance. In this study, the effects of the peak magnetic field location on the discharge characteristics of a 100-W Hall thruster with large-gradient magnetic field were investigated by changing the ratio of the magnetic field intensity at the channel exit to the peak magnetic field intensity (Br exit /Br max). The experimental results show that the discharge performance decreases significantly when Br exit /Br max < 1. Moreover, the PIC numerical simulation and neutral gas simulation results demonstrate that the ionization rate inside the channel reduces and the ionization proportion outside the channel increases when Br exit /Br max decreases, thereby reducing the performance. When Br exit /Br max = 1, under the anode flow of 5.5 sccm and discharge voltage of 250 V, the thrust, anode specific impulse, propellant utilization efficiency, and anode efficiency of the 100-W thruster were 6.4 mN, 1210 s, 68.9%, and 38.5%, respectively, which represent respective improvements of 16.2%, 16.4%, 13.0%, and 30.0% (relative value) compared with the condition when Br exit /Br max = 0.9. These results provide a reference for the performance optimization of 100-W Hall thrusters with a large-gradient magnetic field. • The Effects of peak magnetic field location on performance of a 100W large gradient magnetic field Hall thruster is studied. • The ionization and discharge performance parameters of thruster under different Br exit /Br max conditions are given. • When the value of Br exit /Br max decreases from 1, the overall performance of the thruster decreases significantly. • The decrease of Br exit /Br max worsens the ionization process and reduces the overall performance of the thruster. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]