The effect of anode axial position on the performance of a miniaturized cylindrical Hall thruster with a cusp-type magnetic field

Abstract

A 200 W cylindrical Hall thruster with a cusp-type magnetic field was proposed, manifesting convergent plume and high specific impulse. In this paper, a series of ring-shaped anodes are designed and the influence of anode axial position on the performance of CHT with a cusp-type magnetic field is studied. The experimental results indicate that the thruster keeps stable operation at the condition of 140-270 W discharge power. When the anode moves axially towards the upstream cusp field, the thrust enhances from 6.5 mN to 7.6 mN and the specific impulse enhances from 1658 s to 1939 s significantly. These improvements in thruster performance should be attributed to the enhancement of current utilization, propellant utilization, and acceleration efficiency. According to the analyses on the discharge characteristics, it is revealed that as the anode moves upstream, the electron transport path could be extended, the magnetic field in this extended path could impede electron cross-field transport and facilitate the ionization intensity, yielding to the enhancement of current utilization and propellant utilization efficiency. Moreover, along with this enhancement of upstream ionization at the given anode flow rate, the main ionization region is thought to move upstream and then separate clearer from the acceleration region, which has been demonstrated by the narrowing of IEDF shape. This change in the acceleration region could decrease the ion energy loss and enhance acceleration efficiency. This work is beneficial for optimizing the electrode structure of the thruster and recognizing the ionization and acceleration process under the cusp magnetic field.

Special issue on selected papers from CEPC 2021

“…This special issue is organized from the papers presented in the CEPC 2021. Interested readers can find the papers concerning investigations of plume thermal effect of the LIPS-200 ion thruster [1], the characteristics of non-Maxwellian magnetized sheath in Hall thruster acceleration region [2], the effect of anode axial position on the performance of a miniaturized cylindrical Hall thruster with a cusptype magnetic field [3], early experimental investigation of the C12A7 hollow cathode fed on iodine [4], experimental study on the degradation of the C12A7 hollow cathode [5], numerical simulation of the start-up process of a miniature ion thruster [6], micro-impulse and plasma plume produced by irradiating aluminum target with nanosecond laser pulses in double-pulse scheme [7], simulation of * Author to whom any correspondence should be addressed.…”