The Effect of the Discharge Chamber Structure on the Performance of a 5 Cm-Diameter Ecr Ion Thruster

Ke, Yujun; Sun, Xinfeng; Zhao, Yong; Chen, and Xuekang

doi:10.2528/pierl18030703

PIER Letters

2018

DOI: 10.2528/pierl18030703

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The Effect of the Discharge Chamber Structure on the Performance of a 5 Cm-Diameter Ecr Ion Thruster

Yujun Ke¹,

Xinfeng Sun²,

Yong Zhao³

et al.

Abstract: Abstract-Design and experimental optimization of a 5 cm-diameter electron cyclotron resonance (ECR) Ion Thruster was carried out. The experimental results with the shorten discharge chamber demonstrated that its maximum efficiency, specific impulse, and thrust were 38%, 4300 s, 2.3 mN with the power of 130 W, respectively. The beam current was increased with the increment of the propellant flow rate and screen grid voltage. In addition, the performance of the thruster was associated with the distance of the an… Show more

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Cited by 3 publications

References 12 publications

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Characteristics of microwave ECR ion thruster powered with plate antenna in cross-magnetic field: Standing wave, skin effect, and mode transition

Ding

2021

Physics of Plasmas

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In a 2.45 GHz electron cyclotron resonance xenon ion source powered with circular plate-antenna, a rapid evolution of radial plasma-profile with discharge power in a region below 35 W and the abrupt jump of ion beam current accompanied by sudden radial-expansion of discharge glow were observed. Based on analyses about quantified glow images captured from the end-view of the discharge chamber and the ion beam current against the discharge power, the fast evolution of the radial plasma-profile is attributed to the counteraction of standing wave and the skin effect, the coincidence of enhanced microwave absorption in the electron plasma resonance layer, and the transverse magnetic confinement of electrons. The jump of ion beam current and the sudden radial-expansion of discharge glow are confirmed to be originated from the extraordinary-wave discharge at the electron cyclotron resonance layer beyond the plate antenna when the skin effect is dominant.

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Characteristics of microwave ECR ion thruster powered with plate antenna in cross-magnetic field: Standing wave, skin effect, and mode transition

Ding

2021

Physics of Plasmas

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Detailed Density and Ion Energy Profiles Downstream of a Small ECR Plasma Source

Sado

Fredriksen

2020

IEEE Trans. Plasma Sci.

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Electron heating mode in magnetic field diffusion region of microwave discharge ion thruster

Fu,

Zhang,

Yang

et al. 2024

Acta Phys. Sin.

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In magnetic field design principle of microwave discharge ion thruster, it is generally agreed that enlarging the magnetic mirror region can confuse more electrons to acquire better energy utilization rate, while reducing the magnetic field diffusion region can prevent electrons lose at wall to decrease the discharge loss. However, a newly report of integrated simulation proposes a hypothesis that electrons can also be heating at magnetic field diffusion region if considering the Child-Langmuir sheath as a constraint condition for electrons. Therefore, the paper designed a magnetic field structure for the magnet array microwave discharge ion thruster to verify the hypothesis, in which the magnetic field diffusion region is located near the screen grid. Then, an integrated simulation was conducted for study the initial discharge and ion beam extraction stages of the thruster. The simulation results show that at magnetic field diffusion region, the electron temperature is 4-8 eV without grid system voltages, while the electron temperature is 4-12 eV with grid system voltages. And the plasma density of the latter has one order of magnitude higher than that of the former. It means that electrons are obviously heated at magnetic field diffusion region under being constrained between the Child-Langmuir sheath, the plasma sheath at antenna surface, and magnetic mirror. This electron heating mode produces more high energy electrons outside the magnetic mirror region to generate plasma in front of the grid system, which can significantly increase the plasma density and ion beam current density. The result shows that under the conditions of 0.3 sccm Xenon gas flow, 1 W input microwave power, 300 V screen grid voltage and -50 V acceleration grid voltage, the ion beam current and its density is 0.47 mA and 0.60 mA/cm<sup>3</sup> for magnet array microwave discharge ion thruster, while the ion beam current and its density is 1.2 mA and 0.38 mA/cm<sup>3</sup> for 2-cm microwave discharge ion thruster. The ion beam current density increases by 57.9%. Through the integrated simulation, a new electron heating mode at magnetic field diffusion region has been proved theoretically, which will provide the theoretical basis for the magnetic field structure optimization of microwave discharge ion thruster.

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The Effect of the Discharge Chamber Structure on the Performance of a 5 Cm-Diameter Ecr Ion Thruster

Cited by 3 publications

References 12 publications

Characteristics of microwave ECR ion thruster powered with plate antenna in cross-magnetic field: Standing wave, skin effect, and mode transition

Characteristics of microwave ECR ion thruster powered with plate antenna in cross-magnetic field: Standing wave, skin effect, and mode transition

Detailed Density and Ion Energy Profiles Downstream of a Small ECR Plasma Source

Electron heating mode in magnetic field diffusion region of microwave discharge ion thruster

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