Results from simulations of plasma and neutrals under conditions predictively characterizing the detached plasma regime in the linear machine MAGNUM-PSI are presented. The relaxation of the vibrationally excited hydro...Results from simulations of plasma and neutrals under conditions predictively characterizing the detached plasma regime in the linear machine MAGNUM-PSI are presented. The relaxation of the vibrationally excited hydrogen molecules is investigated in order to establish a relation between their relaxation and dwell times, and the role of the varions mechanisms of the molecular vibrational kinetics. Tile results obtained show that the individual vibrational states have to be inclllded in the transport code for neutrals as distinct species, since the relaxation time of tile vibrational states is sufficiently longer than the typical dwell time of hydrogen molecules in the detached plasma region. The parameters of plasma and neutrals are affected by the transport of the vibrationally excited hydrogen lnolecnles. Furthermore. the rate of molecular reconlbination is overestimated by a factor of - 5 provided that the transport of ilydrogen molecules only in their ground vibrational state is considered. The role of the various processes of vibrational kinetics is studied. The vibrational excitation through singlet electronic states ires a strong influence on the molecular densities for levels with vibrational quantum numbers v≥ 5. Vibration-vibration (V-V) collisions between vibrationally excited hydrogen molecules and vibration-translation (V-T) collisions between vibrationally excited hydrogen molecules and ground state molecules and atoms are of nlinor importance in MAGNUM-PSI.展开更多
A concept for plasma detachment in a magnetic nozzle is developed based on the detachment region which is found to decrease with the taper angle of the coils employed in the proposed flexible three coil setup.On taper...A concept for plasma detachment in a magnetic nozzle is developed based on the detachment region which is found to decrease with the taper angle of the coils employed in the proposed flexible three coil setup.On tapering the coils while resulting in the same crosssectional area,the plasma plume outside the throat grows radially that leads to an enhancement in the thrust from 2.67 mN to 5 mN at the final detachment plane for a rise in the taper angle from 0 to 13.The maximum thrust can reach about 9 mN when the middle coil is shifted closer to the right coil along with increasing middle-to-outer-coil diameter(inner)ratio from 1 to 3.Proposed three-tapered-coils arrangement for a magnetic nozzle turns out to be a robust candidate for space propulsion offering the ability to control plasma detachment and tune thrust in-flight simply via mechanical movements without changing the current.展开更多
基金the European Communities under the contract of Association between EURATOM/FOM
文摘Results from simulations of plasma and neutrals under conditions predictively characterizing the detached plasma regime in the linear machine MAGNUM-PSI are presented. The relaxation of the vibrationally excited hydrogen molecules is investigated in order to establish a relation between their relaxation and dwell times, and the role of the varions mechanisms of the molecular vibrational kinetics. Tile results obtained show that the individual vibrational states have to be inclllded in the transport code for neutrals as distinct species, since the relaxation time of tile vibrational states is sufficiently longer than the typical dwell time of hydrogen molecules in the detached plasma region. The parameters of plasma and neutrals are affected by the transport of the vibrationally excited hydrogen lnolecnles. Furthermore. the rate of molecular reconlbination is overestimated by a factor of - 5 provided that the transport of ilydrogen molecules only in their ground vibrational state is considered. The role of the various processes of vibrational kinetics is studied. The vibrational excitation through singlet electronic states ires a strong influence on the molecular densities for levels with vibrational quantum numbers v≥ 5. Vibration-vibration (V-V) collisions between vibrationally excited hydrogen molecules and vibration-translation (V-T) collisions between vibrationally excited hydrogen molecules and ground state molecules and atoms are of nlinor importance in MAGNUM-PSI.
文摘A concept for plasma detachment in a magnetic nozzle is developed based on the detachment region which is found to decrease with the taper angle of the coils employed in the proposed flexible three coil setup.On tapering the coils while resulting in the same crosssectional area,the plasma plume outside the throat grows radially that leads to an enhancement in the thrust from 2.67 mN to 5 mN at the final detachment plane for a rise in the taper angle from 0 to 13.The maximum thrust can reach about 9 mN when the middle coil is shifted closer to the right coil along with increasing middle-to-outer-coil diameter(inner)ratio from 1 to 3.Proposed three-tapered-coils arrangement for a magnetic nozzle turns out to be a robust candidate for space propulsion offering the ability to control plasma detachment and tune thrust in-flight simply via mechanical movements without changing the current.