Numerical simulation of the effect of backpressure on the discharge characteristics of a Hall effect thruster
| Autor: | Daren Yu, Hong Li, Shengyi Hu, Yongjie Ding, Zhiyong Gao, Demai Zeng, Liqiu Wei |
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| Rok vydání: | 2020 |
| Předmět: |
Propellant
020301 aerospace & aeronautics animal structures Materials science Ion beam musculoskeletal neural and ocular physiology technology industry and agriculture macromolecular substances 02 engineering and technology Plasma Mechanics 01 natural sciences Atomic and Molecular Physics and Optics 010305 fluids & plasmas Anode body regions Acceleration 0203 mechanical engineering Hall effect Ionization 0103 physical sciences Vacuum chamber |
| Zdroj: | The European Physical Journal D. 74 |
| ISSN: | 1434-6079 1434-6060 |
| DOI: | 10.1140/epjd/e2019-100331-7 |
| Popis: | The backpressure in the ground vacuum chamber significantly influences the discharge characteristics and performance of Hall effect thrusters (HETs). In this study, the propellant supplied from the anode and the propellant ingested from the background are treated as two separate components. Their ionization and acceleration processes are then studied numerically with a Particle-in-cell discharge model. It is found that the background propellant is mainly ionized near the outlet of the channel, thus affecting the local electron mobility and potential distribution inside and outside the channel. This results in an improvement in the ionization and acceleration of the anode propellant, an enhancement in the utilization of the propellant, and a reduction in the divergence of the ion beam. Consequently, the performance of the HETs is augmented. In particular, the increment in the thrust caused by the introduction of backpressure is not only due to the ionization and acceleration of the background propellant but also due to the improvement in the anode propellant discharge. |
| Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
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