Development of Electrodeless Plasma Thrusters With High-Density Helicon Plasma Sources

Shinohara, Shunjiro; Nishida, Hiroyuki; Tanikawa, Takao; Hada, Tohru; Funaki, Ikkoh; Shamrai, K. P.

doi:10.1109/tps.2014.2313633

Cited by 96 publications

(79 citation statements)

References 26 publications

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“…1,[3][4][5] Here, Br is generated using a combination of permanent magnets, which has relatively large Br component, and electromagnets surrounding a discharge tube to generate the axial field mainly.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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High-Density Helicon Plasma Thrusters Using Electrodeless Acceleration Schemes

Kuwahara

Shinohara

Ishii

et al. 2016

AEROSPACE TECHNOLOGY JAPAN

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We have been studying long-lifetime helicon plasma thrusters as the Helicon Electrodeless Advanced Thruster (HEAT) project. Two important elements of the proposed helicon plasma thruster are a generation of a dense source plasma using a helicon wave, and an acceleration of the plasma by the Lorentz force using the product of the induced azimuthal current and static radial magnetic field. Here, in order to eliminate damage of electrodes, both generation and acceleration schemes are operated in non-contact condition between the plasma and electrodes. Acceleration schemes use two type of coils: rotating magnetic field coils and azimuthal mode number m = 0 ones. These studies have been carried out on the Large Mirror Device (LMD), which has two types the magnetic field source, permanent magnets and electromagnets, and the Small Helicon Device (SHD), which has small diameter discharge tubes. In this paper, current performances of acceleration schemes are reported.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Since various plasma parameters can be derived in this device, we can estimate generation and acceleration schemes in detail. 1,8,9) 2. Generation and Acceleration Method 2.1.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

High-Density Helicon Plasma Thrusters Using Electrodeless Acceleration Schemes

Kuwahara

Shinohara

Ishii

et al. 2016

AEROSPACE TECHNOLOGY JAPAN

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“…To solve this problem, our group has proposed a completely electrodeless electric thruster using a high-density helicon plasma [1]. The helicon plasma thruster has a potential to be a long-lifetime and a high-thrust propulsion system, such as a main thruster for a deep space explorer.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Schemes of the helicon plasma thruster are as follows: 1) to generate highdensity plasma using an antenna installed outside of a discharge tube so-called "electrodeless" conditions, 2) to accelerate the plasma with also electrodeless conditions, 3) to exhaust the plasma into space. In generating the plasma, helicon plasma [1,2] has many advantages. This plasma is one of the radio-frequency (RF) plasmas under the magnetic field, and its particle production efficiency N e /P inp (N e ; total number of electrons produced, P inp : input RF power) [3] is sufficiently high.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In addition, our group has been studying some active acceleration methods to improve the thrust efficiency. These methods produce an axial direction thrust F z using the Lorentz force, i.e., the product of an induced azimuthal current j θ and an external radial magnetic field B r [1,4,5]. In studying the above-mentioned schemes, it is important to observe behaviors of particles such as ions and neutral particles, playing the role of the thrust production.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Development of Ar I and Ar II Measuring System using Laser-Induced Fluorescence Methods in High-Density Helicon Plasma

Kuwahara

Tanida

Watanabe

et al. 2015

Plasma and Fusion Research

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A particle flow velocity measurement is important to realize a behavior of exhausted plasma in an electric thruster. Laser-induced fluorescence (LIF) method provides flow velocities of ions and neutral particles through measuring velocity distribution functions of them. In addition, LIF method has some advantages, shown as follows; 1) high-spatial resolution, 2) absolute measurement of flow velocity, 3) direction-selectivity of velocity distribution functions. We have developed Ar I and Ar II LIF measuring system to observe spatial profiles of velocity distribution functions of both neutral particles and ions in an experimental device of the helicon plasma thruster, having permanent magnets as the applied magnetic field. Flow velocity of the neutral particle in the axial direction was subsonic, and ion velocity was related with a gradient of the magnetic field.

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Simulation of the electromagnetic characters of a Faraday‐shielded antenna in a helicon wave plasma source

Zhou

Tan

et al. 2021

Contributions to Plasma Physics

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In this article, a structure that employs a Faraday shield between the Shoji antenna and the dielectric tube, which aims to reduce the dielectric wall sputtering, is investigated for the helicon wave plasma (HWP) sources. Faraday shield is usually used between the antenna and the reaction chamber to reduce the radiation from the high electromagnetic field generation, as well as to prevent the sputtering of the antenna material from polluting the reaction chamber during the discharge. Here, the influence of the Faraday shield on the longitudinal and radial electric field of the antenna is analysed through COMSOL MultiphysicsTM. Significant attenuations of both the longitudinal and radial fields are observed in the presence of the shield. In addition, by comparing the electric field distribution under two different shielding parameters, it is found that the shielding effects are not the same. Therefore, a detailed study of two kinds of design (pitch and gap) for the shield was carried out. The results show that the pitch has a little impact on the overall shielding effect when the gap is unaltered. The best shielding performance appears when we set the pitch at T of 8 and 10. In addition, the shielding effect also becomes worse as the gap increases while the pitch remains unchanged. A relatively good shielding effect can be produced by setting the gap to the value of 4–8 mm (a gap/pitch ratio of 2/15–4/15). This work provides a theoretical basis for designing a Faraday shield structure between the antenna and the dielectric tube, which is helpful to realize stable and controllable HWP discharges.

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Development of Electrodeless Plasma Thrusters With High-Density Helicon Plasma Sources

Cited by 96 publications

References 26 publications

High-Density Helicon Plasma Thrusters Using Electrodeless Acceleration Schemes

High-Density Helicon Plasma Thrusters Using Electrodeless Acceleration Schemes

Development of Ar I and Ar II Measuring System using Laser-Induced Fluorescence Methods in High-Density Helicon Plasma

Simulation of the electromagnetic characters of a Faraday‐shielded antenna in a helicon wave plasma source

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