Wall Ion Loss Reduction by Acceleration Zone Shifting in Anode-Layer Hall Thruster

Abstract

Channel wall sheath thickness in an anode-layer Hall thruster RAIJIN66 was investigated by a two-dimensional hybrid simulation and a one-dimensional sheath model. A hybrid particle-fluid model with the quasineutrality assumption was used to obtain the wall ion flux and plasma property at plasma−sheath edge. The plasma property inside the sheath was estimated by the nonneutral sheath model. The simulated ion wall current density at the channel exit was 100 A/m 2 , and the estimated sheath thickness was 0.64 mm. If the wall ion current density is reduced to 1/20 of this value, the sheath region will be extended to cover 50% of the channel width.