High Power HEMP-Thruster Module, Status and Results of a DLR and ESA Development Program

Kornfeld, Guenter; Koch, Norbert; Harmann, Hans-Peter; Micheli, P.L.; Meusemann, Hans; Gengembre, E.

doi:10.2514/6.2006-4476

Cited by 14 publications

(7 citation statements)

References 4 publications

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“…Previous studies have shown that the low-frequency oscillations in a cusped field thruster are similar to those in a Hall thruster, which can also be explained using the predatorprey model [9,14]. The current ripple in figure 3 may be caused by an imbalance between the supply of neutral gas and ionization locally.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 80%

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Simulation study of the influence of leak electrons on the discharge characteristics of a cusped field thruster

Liu

Niu

et al. 2019

Plasma Sci. Technol.

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Previous studies have shown that leak electrons in cusped field thrusters can move along the channel axis to the anode after crossing the magnetic cusp on the exit. In this paper, a onedimensional fluid model is built along two typical electron paths to study the influence of leak electrons on the discharge characteristics of a cusped field thruster, considering the electron temperature equation. It is found that the frequencies of low-frequency oscillations increase with a decrease in the proportion of leak electrons, which is related to an increase in the ion speed in the channel. Simulation results show that the position of the peak electron temperature is near the magnetic cusp on the exit and the position of the peak electron density is located downstream from the middle magnetic tip. With a decrease in the proportion of the leak electrons, the peak electron temperature and peak electron density decrease and the position of the peak electron density moves away from the exit, which is related to a decrease in the potential fall on the exit and an increase in confinement of electrons to the middle magnetic cusp.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 80%

“…Experimental study shows that the thrust can be continuously adjusted in a large range, as was the case with HEMP3050 in Ulm, the thrust of which can be adjusted from 200 μN to 150 mN. This means that a cusped field thruster has the potential for gravitational wave detection [9,10].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 93%

Simulation study of the influence of leak electrons on the discharge characteristics of a cusped field thruster

Liu

Niu

et al. 2019

Plasma Sci. Technol.

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“…104 We do not provide a detailed description of all individual thruster types here and refer the reader-to beside the already mentioned-to other relevant literature. 41,[105][106][107][108][109][110][111][112] All three main thruster types have in common that electrical energy is converted into kinetic energy of the exhausted particles to generate or increase thrust. This energy conversion process differs in efficiency for the three types and is also very different in terms of the complexity of the technical implementation.…”

Section: Electromagnetic Thrustersmentioning

confidence: 99%

Ion thrusters for electric propulsion: Scientific issues developing a niche technology into a game changer

Holste

Dietz

Scharmann

et al. 2020

Review of Scientific Instruments

136

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The transition from OLD SPACE to NEW SPACE along with increasing commercialization has a major impact on space flight, in general, and on electric propulsion (EP) by ion thrusters, in particular. Ion thrusters are nowadays used as primary propulsion systems in space. This article describes how these changes related to NEW SPACE affect various aspects that are important for the development of EP systems. Starting with a historical overview of the development of space flight and of the technology of EP systems, a number of important missions with EP and the underlying technologies are presented. The focus of our discussion is the technology of the radio frequency ion thruster as a prominent member of the gridded ion engine family. Based on this discussion, we give an overview of important research topics such as the search for alternative propellants, the development of reliable neutralizer concepts based on novel insert materials, as well as promising neutralizer-free propulsion concepts. In addition, aspects of thruster modeling and requirements for test facilities are discussed. Furthermore, we address aspects of space electronics with regard to the development of highly efficient electronic components as well as aspects of electromagnetic compatibility and radiation hardness. This article concludes with a presentation of the interaction of EP systems with the spacecraft.

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“…Kornfeld et al used this special magnetic field in the design of a new concept electric thruster, and it was firstly named as the high efficiency multi-stage plasma thruster (HEMPT) [1][2][3][4]. The thruster employs several permanent magnet rings to form a unique multi-cusped field [5][6][7][8]. The plasmas could be well confined by the magnetic field in a cylindrical discharge channel, and the plasma erosion rates on the channel wall could be dramatically reduced.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Magnet stage optimization of 5 kW multi-cusped field thruster

Hu¹,

Yu²,

Shen³

2020

Plasma Sci. Technol.

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The multi-cusped field thruster is a unique electric thruster device, which has many advantages such as long lifetime, large-range thrust throttling ability, high thrust density, and low mass. The thruster employs several alternating polarity permanent magnets to create a periodic magnetic field with several cusps. Previous studies have indicated that the basic ionization and acceleration processes are directly related to the electron motion behavior, which mainly depends on the magnetic field characteristics. The magnet number and magnet stage length are two key magnetic field parameters that have important effects on the thruster performances. In this paper, both the magnet number and magnet stage length parameters are studied for the optimization of a 5 kW multi-cusped field thruster. The results indicate that the three-stage thruster has a better electron confinement than the two-stage thruster. It has lower ion energy loss at the wall, and shows a higher ionization rate. Therefore, the three-stage magnetic field is a superior magnetic field configuration. Besides, the three-stage magnetic field simulation results indicate that an optimal accelerating electric field distribution and ionization region distribution could be obtained when the magnet length ratio is 78:25:20.

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High Power HEMP-Thruster Module, Status and Results of a DLR and ESA Development Program

Cited by 14 publications

References 4 publications

Simulation study of the influence of leak electrons on the discharge characteristics of a cusped field thruster

Simulation study of the influence of leak electrons on the discharge characteristics of a cusped field thruster

Ion thrusters for electric propulsion: Scientific issues developing a niche technology into a game changer

Magnet stage optimization of 5 kW multi-cusped field thruster

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