Self-pulsing of hollow cathode discharge in various gases

Qin, Yu; He, Feng; Jiang, Xiaohua; Xie, Kan; Ouyang, Jiting

doi:10.1063/1.4885640

Cited by 18 publications

(19 citation statements)

References 31 publications

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“…But if further decreasing the pressure, the NDR region can still be shown. This has also been reported by previous works 25 , 26 in low-pressure air.…”

Section: Resultssupporting

confidence: 91%

Trichel pulse in various gases and the key factor for its formation

Zhang

Xia

Jiang

et al. 2017

Sci Rep

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We confirm in this paper that Trichel pulse of negative corona is a common phenomenon that can occur in various gases rather than only in electronegative gases as considered in the last 70 years since G W Trichel firstly reported. Trichel pulse is exactly a mode transition between low-current Townsend and high-current normal glow regime, two pulseless stages of negative corona with different operating conditions and ion flux threshold. The rising of the pulse corresponds to the breakdown and formation of temporal glow discharge, the decay corresponds to the destroy of temporal sheath, and the interval (or repetition frequency of pulses) is determined by the re-building of the positive ion cloud to enhance significantly the local electric field for glow discharge to form again. The positive ions play a predominant role for the pulse formation and the mode transition, while the negative ions in electronegative gas are not necessary even if they affect greatly the pulsing process.

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“…But if further decreasing the pressure, the NDR region can still be shown. This has also been reported by previous works 25 , 26 in low-pressure air.…”

Section: Resultssupporting

confidence: 91%

Trichel pulse in various gases and the key factor for its formation

Zhang

Xia

Jiang

et al. 2017

Sci Rep

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“…The actual source of this power in the sub-5 kHz power band can be tied to the cathode as shown in Fig. 14, as spectral power in this frequency range is correspondent to the self-pulsing of the cathode discharge due to the internal plasma resistance of the hollow-cathode discharge [41]. Further evidence indicative that electrons from the cathode directly impinge on the radial plate is shown in Fig.…”

Section: B Electrical Interaction Between the Thruster And The Radiamentioning

confidence: 94%

Electrical Facility Effects on Hall-Effect-Thruster Cathode Coupling: Discharge Oscillations and Facility Coupling

Walker¹,

Frieman²,

Walker³

et al. 2016

Journal of Propulsion and Power

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The physical mechanisms that govern the electrical interaction between the Hall-effect-thruster electrical circuit and the conductive vacuum-facility walls are not fully understood. As a representative test bed, an Aerojet Rocketdyne T-140 Hall-effect thruster is operated at 3.05 kW and a xenon mass flow rate of 11.6 mg∕s with a vacuum facility operating neutral pressure of 7.3 × 10 −6 torr, corrected for xenon. Two electrical witness plates, representative of the facility chamber walls, are placed 2.3 m radially outward from thruster centerline and 4.3 m axially downstream from the thruster exit plane. The cathode is radially translated from 18.1 to 77.8 cm away from the thruster centerline. At each cathode position, the discharge current and the electrical waveform of the radial and axial plates are simultaneously measured. As the cathode radial position changes from 18.1 to 77.8 cm from the thruster centerline, the discharge-current oscillation frequency decreases between 17 and 35% for the electrically grounded thruster-body case, and between 15 and 23% for the electrically floating thruster-body case. The analysis of the electron current collected by the radial plate suggests that electrons directly sourced from the cathode impinge on the radial plate at large cathode positions. Overall, the results of this work show that the chamber walls act as an artificial electrical boundary condition that keeps the Hall-effect-thruster plume plasma potential to within certain bounds.

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“…At a higher pressure, selfpulse is due to the periodic ignition of a spark discharge. In addition to the sandwich electrode mentioned above, regular pulsing currents are also observed over a range of conditions in a cylindrical hollow cathode electrode at a low pressure [13][14][15].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In summary, although self-oscillations in hollow cathode discharge have been studied experimentally and theoretically, some of the properties of this regime still require further clarification, and its mechanism is argumentative. In some previous literatures, self-pulses in a cylindrical hollow cathode are proposed to be a mode transition between Townsend discharge and glow discharge according to the experimental results [13][14][15]. They proposed that positive space charges play important roles in self-pulse formation.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Self-pulsing discharge in hollow cathode simulated by a fluid model

He¹,

Zhao²,

Ha³

et al. 2021

J. Phys. D: Appl. Phys.

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A fluid model without an external circuit is used in simulating self-pulses in hollow cathode discharge under a He-Ar gas at 10 Torr. The average discharge current increases with anode potential, and three types of self-pulsing discharge modes are obtained: (a) regular self-pulse, (b) low amplitude self-pulse, and (c) damped oscillating pulses modes. The temporal and spatial distributions of plasma parameters in the self-pulsing discharge mode are studied. Results show that the electron density, electric potential, electric field, total net electron production rates integrated over the entire discharge cell and net positive charge density change periodically in a self-pulsing period. Self-pulsing frequency ranges from tens of kHz to more than 100 kHz, and increases linearly with the average discharge current approximately. In the present average discharge current range, the peak value and current amplitude of pulsing current increases and then decreases with the increasing average current, whereas the minimum pulsing current consistently increases. The change trend of extreme self-pulsing discharge current is consistent with the change trends of total net electron production rate and net positive charge density in the discharge space. Finally, the mechanism of self-pulse in a hollow cathode discharge is proposed. Simulated results show that the phases of different plasma parameters are different in different discharge regions in a self-pulsing period. Non-equilibrium fluctuation of plasma parameters in different discharge regions is one of important factors in the formation of self-pulse. Self-pulse does not depend on an external circuit and originates from the internal microcosmic mechanism of discharge: the enhancement and weakening of the positive charge layer.

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Self-pulsing of hollow cathode discharge in various gases

Cited by 18 publications

References 31 publications

Trichel pulse in various gases and the key factor for its formation

Trichel pulse in various gases and the key factor for its formation

Electrical Facility Effects on Hall-Effect-Thruster Cathode Coupling: Discharge Oscillations and Facility Coupling

Self-pulsing discharge in hollow cathode simulated by a fluid model

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