A 30-cm diameter bombardment thruster with a variable magnetic baffle

Bechtel, R. T.

doi:10.2514/6.1972-489

“…Slight modifications were also made to the discharge chamber geometry (identical to thruster E-2 in reference 11). The thruster thus incorporates a magnetic baffle circuit with four turns that required a constant-current power supply separate from the power conditioner for the thruster .Tl2, 13) The power conditioning console was initially designed and fabricated by Hughes Research Laboratories under Government contract* 10 ) The system block diagram is shown in Fig. 1.…”

Section: Apparatus and Experimental Technique Thruster And Power Condmentioning

confidence: 99%

Plasma fluctuations in a Kaufman thruster

Serafini

¹

,

Terdan

²

1973

10th Electric Propulsion Conference

3

0

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Measurements of the RMS magnitude, spectra and cross-correlations for the fluctuations in the beam, discharge and neutralizer keeper currents are presented for a 30-cm diameter dished grid ion thruster for a range of magnetic baffle currents and up to 2.0 amperes beam current. The ratio of RMS to mean ion beam current varied from 0.04 to 0.23. The spectra of the amplitudes of the beam and discharge current fluctuations were taken up to 9 MHz and show that the predominant amplitudes occur at frequencies of 10 kHz or below. The falloff with increasing frequency is rapid. Frequencies above 100 kHz the spectral levels are 45 kb or more below the ma-yimiim peak amplitudes. The crosscorrelations revealed the ion beam fluctuations to have large radial and axial scales which implied that the beam fluctuates as a whole or "in-phase". The cross-correlations of the beam and neutralizer keeper current fluctuations indicated the neutralizer contributions to the beam fluctuations to be small, but not negligible. The mode of operation of the thruster (values of beam and magnetic baffle currents) was significant in determining the RMS' magnitude and spectral shape of the beam fluctuations. The major oscillations were not found to be directly dependent on the power conditioner inverter frequencies.

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“…The magnetic baffle is used to set the cathode flow rate to desired values over the thruster input power range. (15,16) This section discusses alternate methods of controlling the thruster which may allow mission pplanners and power processor designers to perform kradeaf£ studies and improve the overall thrust system properties. Because a ;.arge number of thruster control functions have been required solely for the Purpose of power throttling this section will be divided into two parts: one for a constant thruster operating point; and the other for variable thruster input power.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Reduced power processor requirements for the 30-cm diameter HG ion thruster

Rawlin

¹

1979

14th International Electric Propulsion Conference

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Plasma Fluctuations in a Kaufman Thruster

Serafini

¹

,

Terdan

²

1974

Journal of Spacecraft and Rockets

3

0

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Measurements of the RMS magnitude, spectra and cross-correlations for the fluctuations in the beam, discharge and neutralizer keeper currents are presented for a 30-cm diameter dished grid ion thruster for a range of magnetic baffle currents and up to 2.0 amperes beam current. The ratio of RMS to mean ion beam current varied from 0.04 to 0.23. The spectra of the amplitudes of the beam and discharge current fluctuations were taken up to 9 MHz and show that the predominant amplitudes occur at frequencies of 10 kHz or below. The falloff with increasing frequency is rapid. Frequencies above 100 kHz the spectral levels are 45 kb or more below the ma-yimiim peak amplitudes. The crosscorrelations revealed the ion beam fluctuations to have large radial and axial scales which implied that the beam fluctuates as a whole or "in-phase". The cross-correlations of the beam and neutralizer keeper current fluctuations indicated the neutralizer contributions to the beam fluctuations to be small, but not negligible. The mode of operation of the thruster (values of beam and magnetic baffle currents) was significant in determining the RMS' magnitude and spectral shape of the beam fluctuations. The major oscillations were not found to be directly dependent on the power conditioner inverter frequencies.

show abstract

A 30-cm diameter bombardment thruster with a variable magnetic baffle

Cited by 5 publications

References 5 publications

Plasma fluctuations in a Kaufman thruster

Plasma fluctuations in a Kaufman thruster

Reduced power processor requirements for the 30-cm diameter HG ion thruster

Plasma Fluctuations in a Kaufman Thruster

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