Experimental characterization of a 1 kW Helicon Plasma Thruster

Navarro-Cavallé, Jaume; Wijnen, Mick; Fajardo, P.; Ahedo, Eduardo

doi:10.1016/j.vacuum.2017.11.036

Cited by 38 publications

(56 citation statements)

References 16 publications

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“…These figures show that the electrons can reach energies of approximately 2.9 and 2.5 eV in the cases of the common Nagoya antenna and our proposed antenna, respectively. These simulation results are in good agreement with previous reports in the literature Sudit & Chen 1996;Chen & Boswell 1997;Braginskii, Vasil'eva & Kovalev 2001;Navarro-Cavallé et al 2018;Lee et al 2011).…”

Section: Design and Simulationsupporting

confidence: 92%

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Design of a novel high efficiency antenna for helicon plasma sources

et al. 2018

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A new configuration for an antenna, which increases the absorption power and plasma density, is proposed for helicon plasma sources. The influence of the electromagnetic wave pattern symmetry on the plasma density and absorption power in a helicon plasma source with a common antenna (Nagoya) is analysed by using the standard COMSOL Multiphysics 5.3 software. In contrast to the theoretical model prediction, the electromagnetic wave does not represent a symmetric pattern for the common Nagoya antenna. In this work, a new configuration for an antenna is proposed which refines the asymmetries of the wave pattern in helicon plasma sources. The plasma parameters such as plasma density and absorption rate for a common Nagoya antenna and our proposed antenna under the same conditions are studied using simulations. In addition, the plasma density of seven operational helicon plasma source devices, having a common Nagoya antenna, is compared with the simulation results of our proposed antenna and the common Nagoya antenna. The simulation results show that the density of the plasma, which is produced by using our proposed antenna, is approximately twice in comparison to the plasma density produced by using the common Nagoya antenna. In fact, the simulation results indicate that the electric and magnetic fields symmetry of the helicon wave plays a vital role in increasing wave–particle coupling. As a result, wave–particle energy exchange and the plasma density of helicon plasma sources will be increased.

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Section: Design and Simulationsupporting

confidence: 92%

“…These simulation results are in good agreement with previous reports in the literature (Chen 1996; Sudit & Chen 1996; Chen & Boswell 1997; Braginskii, Vasil’eva & Kovalev 2001; Navarro-Cavallé et al. 2018; Lee et al. 2011).…”

Section: Design and Simulationsupporting

confidence: 92%

Design of a novel high efficiency antenna for helicon plasma sources

et al. 2018

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“…III. More details on the HPTx and its predecessors can be found in [28], [29]. For the purpose of validating the thrust balance it is important to note that the thruster weighs 5.2 kg and is mounted to the balance using a mechanical interface that weighs 1.7 kg.…”

Section: B Hptx Prototypementioning

confidence: 99%

“…EP2 has been studying these devices for the past ten years, both theoretically [23], [24], [25], [26], [27] and experimentally [28], [29]. The current experimental platform, the HPTx, developed jointly by EP2 and SENER Aeroespacial is a flexible platform for investigating the effect of different design and operational parameters on the performance as well as the underlying physics.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Mechanically Amplified Milli-Newton Thrust Balance for Direct Thrust Measurements of Electric Thrusters for Space Propulsion

Wijnen

Navarro-Cavallé

Fajardo

2021

IEEE Trans. Instrum. Meas.

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Direct thrust measurements by means of a thrust balance are the golden standard for measuring thrust and concurrently the specific impulse in electric thrusters. To measure these properties in the novel class of electrode-less plasma thrusters a new thrust balance based on the VAHPER (Variable Amplitude Hanging Pendulum with Extended Range) concept has been developed.The thrust balance has a mechanical amplification mechanism with an angular magnification of 31 • / • . Using Lagrangian mechanics we show the thrust balance loaded with a 5.2 kg thruster prototype to behave like a damped harmonic oscillator with a natural frequency of 0.37 Hz. A variable damping system provides damping with an optimal damping ratio of 0.78 which corresponds to a settling time of only 1.8 s. Both the model as well as the damping and calibration system have been validated.To accommodate the particularities of medium power electrode-less plasma thrusters the thrust balance design includes the following features: an optical displacement sensor, water cooling, liquid metal connectors, dedicated vacuum-rated electronics for auto-leveling, remote (in-vacuum) calibration and temperature monitoring.To test the thrust balance, measurements were performed on a 500W Helicon Plasma Thruster breadboard model. When loaded with this thruster the measured stiffness of the system was 12.67 ± 0.01 mN/mm. For this stiffness the thrust range is 150 mN with a 0.1 mN resolution. The relative uncertainty on the thrust measurements is found to be on the order of 2%.

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Development of a Plasma Chemistry Model for Helicon Plasma Thruster analysis

Majorana

Souhair

Ponti

et al. 2021

Aerotec. Missili Spaz.

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The present work is part of a wider project aimed at improving the description of the plasma dynamics during the production phase of a Helicon Plasma Thruster. In particular, the work was focused on the development of a chemical model for Argon- and Xenon-based plasma. The developed model consists of a collisional radiative model suitable to describe the dynamics of the 1s and 2p excited levels. The model is meant to be complementary to 3D-VIRTUS, a numerical tool which enforces a fluid description of plasma, developed by the University of Padova to analyse helicon discharges. Once identified, the significant reactions for both propellants, the reaction rate coefficients, have been integrated exploiting cross sections from literature and assuming a Maxwellian velocity distribution function for all the species. These coefficients have been validated against experimental measurements of an Argon Inductively Coupled Plasma and compared with a well-established code. For Argon, the selected reactions have been reduced through a proposed lumping methodology. In this way, it was possible to reduce the number of equations of the system to solve, and implement them into 3D-VIRTUS. A validation against an experimental case taken from literature was performed, showing good agreement of the results. Regarding the Xenon model, only a verification has been performed against the results of another collisional-radiative model in literature. Finally, a predictive analysis of the propulsive performances of a Helicon Plasma Thruster for both Argon and Xenon is presented.

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Experimental characterization of a 1 kW Helicon Plasma Thruster

Cited by 38 publications

References 16 publications

Design of a novel high efficiency antenna for helicon plasma sources

Design of a novel high efficiency antenna for helicon plasma sources

Mechanically Amplified Milli-Newton Thrust Balance for Direct Thrust Measurements of Electric Thrusters for Space Propulsion

Development of a Plasma Chemistry Model for Helicon Plasma Thruster analysis

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