低功率圆柱形霍尔推进器实验特性研究

Discharge Characteristics of Low-Power Cylindrical Hall Thruster

随着航天技术的发展以及微小型卫星应用数量的不断增多,空间推进领域对低功率电力推进的需求越来越多。常见的环形霍尔推进器缩放至低功率时效率低下。圆柱形霍尔推进器具有较低的表面积与体积比,有利于通过磁镜效应更好地束缚电子以减少通道壁处的粒子损失,从而减小通道的刻蚀和发热,这使得CHT对于低功率应用很有前景。文章进行低功率圆柱形霍尔推进器实验特性研究,在50 W功率范围内运行。实验得到了推进器在高电压、小气量、低电流工况下的工作特性、离子束特点等结果。实验表明:低功率圆柱形霍尔推进器工作电压在1000~2400 V之间,使用Ar体积流量在1.0~4.0 mL/min内,其比冲在218~1419 s,推力范围在0.118~0.78 mN,最大电流利用率为87%,最大推力效率为20.39%与先进霍尔推力器效率相当。同时发现在气体体积流量变大过程中,离子束出现强弱两种工作模式。

With the development of aerospace technology and the increasing number of micro-satellite applications,there is a growing demand for low-power electric propulsion in the field of space propulsion.Traditional annular Hall thrusters(AHT)are inefficient when scaled to low powers.Cylindrical Hall thrusters(CHT)have a lower surface-to-volume ratio,therefore,potentially smaller wall losses in the channel.And their performance is comparable to conventional AHT of similar size.This article conducts a study on the experimental characteristics of a low-power CHT operating in the 50 W power range.The experiment obtained the results of the thruster's operating characteristics and ion beam characteristics under high voltage,small air volume,and low current conditions.Experiments show that the operating voltage of the low-power cylindrical Hall thruster is between 1000~2400 V,the Ar volume flow rate is within 1.0~4.0 mL/min,its specific impulse is between 218~1419 s,the thrust range is between 118~780μN,and the maximum current utilization rate is 87%,and the maximum thrust efficiency is 20.39%,which is equivalent to the efficiency of advanced Hall thrusters.At the same time,it was found that as the gas volume flow rate increases,the ion beam appears in two working modes:strong and weak.