Modeling of plasma processes in the slowly diverging magnetic fields at the exit of an applied-field magnetoplasmadynamic thruster

Li, Min; Tang, Haibin; Ren, Junxue; York, Thomas M.

doi:10.1063/1.4824619

Cited by 14 publications

(8 citation statements)

References 24 publications

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“…It has been known that the thrust decreases with the increase of mass flow rate, while the ratio of applied-field thrust to self-field thrust increases with the increase of mass flow rate, which indicates that the effect of mass flow rate on the applied-field thrust is more significant. According to Equation (18), the variation of specific impulse with mass flow rate is consistent with the velocity of current sheet, as shown in Figure 10e. The change of mass flow rate cannot affect the input power of thruster.…”

Section: Mass Flow Ratementioning

confidence: 55%

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Modified Electromechanical Modeling and Parameters Analysis of Magnetoplasmadynamic Thruster

Wu¹,

Ou²,

Li³

et al. 2019

Energies

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To predict the thrust of magnetoplasmadynamic thrusters (MPDTs), a modified electromechanical model was proposed and a comparison with experimental results is presented in this paper. The motion of propellant in the thruster was divided into two portions: the axial motion which was accelerated by the interaction of current and induced self-field, and the swirling motion which was accelerated by the interaction of current and applied magnetic field. The electromechanical model was in good agreement with the experimental data, and the fitting degrees of the model were greater than 0.93. Furthermore, the influence of parameters on the performance of MPDT were investigated by utilizing the electromechanical model. The results indicate that the thrust performance of the thruster improved with the increase of discharge current, anode radius, applied magnetic field strength, and the decrease of mass flow rate. However, the large anode radius and low mass flow rate readily led to the failure of thruster function. Therefore, the model can not only predict the thrust performance of MPDTs, but also guide the design and operation optimization of the thruster.

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Section: Mass Flow Ratementioning

confidence: 55%

“…At the exit of the thruster, the azimuthal kinetic energy is partially converted into axial kinetic energy due to the effect of the magnetic nozzle [17,18]. The total thrust of the MPDT can be expressed as…”

Section: Swirling Motionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Modified Electromechanical Modeling and Parameters Analysis of Magnetoplasmadynamic Thruster

Wu¹,

Ou²,

Li³

et al. 2019

Energies

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“…Such thrusters have been proposed for use in nuclear planetary missions or near-earth object deflection missions due to their characteristics of high specific impulse and large thrust density. Comprehensive research on various types of AF-MPDTs has been conducted in different research institutions and organizations for decades [1][2][3]. Electron temperature (T e ) and density (n e ) are essential parameters for the description of the plasma in an AF-MPDT plume [4][5][6] and are the basis for the study of the law of macroscopic plume evolution, electron conduction and the effect of electromagnetic fields on the electron and ion distributions.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

High-spatial-resolution image reconstruction-based method for measuring electron temperature and density of the very near field of an applied-field magnetoplasmadynamic thruster

Han¹,

Zhang²,

Chen³

et al. 2021

J. Phys. D: Appl. Phys.

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A method based on image reconstruction is proposed for measuring the electron temperature ( T e ) and density ( n e ) distribution of the axisymmetric low-temperature argon plasma plume of applied-field magnetoplasmadynamic thrusters (AF-MPDTs). The method uses a complementary metal–oxide–semiconductor camera with narrowband filters of 460 and 500 nm to obtain the raw projection images in specific wavelength ranges. An image reconstruction method is developed to construct relative emission intensity profiles. The electron temperature distribution can be obtained by combining the relative emission intensity ratio of two profiles with a simple argon kinetic model. The electron density distribution can be calculated by constructing a function of relative emission intensity containing T e and n e . To verify the feasibility of this method, we diagnosed a very near field plume of a 15 kW AF-MPDT and obtained the distribution of parameters with a spatial resolution of 0.23 mm. The results show that the maximum T e and n e are located on the centerline near the exit plane of the thruster and decrease with both radial and axial distances. The second peak appears in the radial direction of both the T e and n e distributions, while their zones do not overlap. A comparative analysis of measurement results obtained by this method and the Langmuir probe method is performed to prove its accuracy. Moreover, this measurement method has the advantages of high spatial resolution and the ability to diagnose high-density and magnetized plasma. This method can be also applied to other optically thin axisymmetric low-temperature argon plasmas.

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“…Fortunately, the particle-in-cell (PIC) [12,13] method has been widely used to solve the above issues. Tang et al [14][15][16] introduced a particle-in-cell with Monte Carlo collision (PIC/MCC) model to simulate the physical processes, acceleration mechanisms, and energy conversion of applied-field MPDT. Yet, until now, there were few published particle models for the simulation of the discharge processes in self-field MPDT.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Particle Simulation Model for Self-Field Magnetoplasmadynamic Thruster

Cheng

et al. 2019

Energies

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In order to clarify the discharge principle of the self-field magnetoplasmadynamic thruster (MPDT), a two-dimensional axisymmetric particle-in-cell/Monte Carlo collision (PIC/MCC) model is proposed. The spatial distribution and the collision characteristics of discharge plasma were calculated using this model. In addition, the influence of the operation parameters on the plasma was analyzed including the voltage and mass flow rate. The effectiveness of the model was verified by comparison to the experimentally induced magnetic field. It was found that the electrons were mainly accelerated by the electric field in the cathode sheath and the electric field shielding effect of plasma was obvious in the bulk plasma region. Due to the pinch effect, the charged particles were constrained near the cathode. The results of the present work implied that the PIC/MCC model provides an approach to investigate the plasma distribution and a kinetic description of particles for the discharge of the self-field MPDT.

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Modeling of plasma processes in the slowly diverging magnetic fields at the exit of an applied-field magnetoplasmadynamic thruster

Cited by 14 publications

References 24 publications

Modified Electromechanical Modeling and Parameters Analysis of Magnetoplasmadynamic Thruster

Modified Electromechanical Modeling and Parameters Analysis of Magnetoplasmadynamic Thruster

High-spatial-resolution image reconstruction-based method for measuring electron temperature and density of the very near field of an applied-field magnetoplasmadynamic thruster

Particle Simulation Model for Self-Field Magnetoplasmadynamic Thruster

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