Effects of Three Typical Resistivity Models on Pulsed Inductive Plasma Acceleration Modeling

The effects of three different typical resistivity models（Spitzer, Z＆L and M＆G） on the performance of pulsed inductive acceleration plasma are studied. Numerical results show that their influences decrease with the increase of the plasma temperature. The significant discriminations among them appear at the plasma temperature lower than 2.5 eV, and the maximum gap of the pulsed inductive plasma accelerated efficiency is approximately 2.5%.Moreover, the pulsed inductive plasma accelerated efficiency is absolutely related to the dynamic impedance parameters, such as voltage, inductance, capacitance and flow rate. However, the distribution of the efficiency as a function of plasma temperature with three resistivity models has nothing to do with the dynamic impedance parameter.

Overview of Circuit Topologies for Inductive Pulsed Power Supplies

The pulsed power supply(PPS)is one important component in the electromagnetic launch system.The inductive PPSs have attracted researchers’attentions with the major advantages of high energy storage density(over the capacitive PPSs)as well as simple structure and easy control(over the rotating mechanical PPSs).As for the inductive PPSs,the circuit topology of the basic module will directly determine the comprehensive performance of the whole system.From the perspectives of working principles,strengths,weaknesses,and comprehensive performance,this paper presents a historical and technical review of the major circuit topologies for the inductive PPSs.

Spatio-temporal measurements of overshoot phenomenon in pulsed inductively coupled discharge

Pulse inductively coupled plasma has been widely used in the microelectronics industry,but the existence of overshoot phenomenon may affect the uniformity of plasma and generate high-energy ions,which could damage the chip.The overshoot phenomenon at various spatial locations in pulsed inductively coupled Ar and Ar/CF_(4) discharges is studied in this work.The electron density,effective electron temperature,relative light intensity,and electron energy probability function(EEPF) are measured by using a time-resolved Langmuir probe and an optical probe,as a function of axial and radial locations.At the initial stage of pulse,both electron density and relative light intensity exhibit overshoot phenomenon,i.e.,they first increase to a peak value and then decrease to a convergent value.The overshoot phenomenon gradually decays,when the probe moves away from the coils.Meanwhile,a delay appears in the variation of the electron densities,and the effective electron temperature decreases,which may be related to the reduced strength of electric field at a distance,and the consequent fewer high-energy electrons,inducing limited ionization and excitation rate.The overshoot phenomenon gradually disappears and the electron density decreases,when the probe moves away from reactor centre.In Ar/CF_(4) discharge,the overshoot phenomenon of electron density is weaker than that in the Ar discharge,and the plasma reaches a steady density within a much shorter time,which is probably due to the more ionization channels and lower ionization thresholds in the Ar/CF_(4) plasma.

Comparisons of STRETCH meat grinders based on two different topologies of ICCOS

Inductive energy storage systems （IES）require opening switches which are technically much more difficult to realize than closing switches. Institute of Advanced Technology （ IAT ） puts forward a meat grinder with an inductive pulse power topology called slow transfer of energy through capacitive hybrid （STRETCH）. In this topology, an integrated gate-commutated thyristor （IGCT） is capable of breaking the charging currents on the order of 4 kA, and it may encounter difficulties in expanding to higher energy systems. German-French Institute of Saint Louis （ISL） has developed a high-power opening switch based on standard high-power thyristors by using their so-called inverse current commutation with semiconductor devices （ICCOS） countercurrent commutation principle. Two topologies of the STRETCH meat grinder with ICCOS are analyzed. And they are compared based on the voltage across the main switch, the current multiplication factor and other aspects by u- sing Matlab simulations. The advantages and disadvantages of the two topologies are shown through the comparisons. Therefore a more suitable topology can be chosen for realistic applications accord- ing to their performances.

Measurement of transient neutral gas puff pressure in the NUDT＿IPPTx by a fast ionization gauge

A gas injector was designed for the 400 J/pulse prototype of the planar inductive pulsed plasma thruster（IPPT） developed by the National University of Defense Technology（NUDT_IPPTx）.As the gas puff distribution over the coil surface is critical to the NUDT_IPPTx functioning efficiently, a fast ionization gauge was developed to investigate the neutral gas pressure profiles to seek the critical time when the thruster is ignited. The gauge was calibrated for argon by using a capacitance manometer. Time-resolved pressure profiles have been acquired in the condition of the gas puff mass matching with the discharge energy and the drive coil parameters of the NUDT_IPPTx. It is demonstrated that the gas injector can supply a gas puff with a sufficiently steep（dp/dt？≈？770 kPa s-1） leading and trailing edge, and the gas puff can be compressed against the drive coil as expected. The critical ignition moment is considered to appear at some instant between 525 μs and 650 μs after the valve trigger.

Investigation into the transient flow characteristics of noble gas propellants using the pulsed inductive discharge in electric propulsion

The Pulsed Inductive Thruster(PIT)has the advantages of repeatable startup,no corruption and in-situ propellant feed.To study the flow expansion and circuit characteristics of PITs,the circuit-fluid model is developed,and the high temperature thermodynamic and transport models are combined with the circuit-fluid model to predict the critical plasma parameters.The flow fields of initial mass of 2–8 mg and charge voltages of 10–14 k V are simulated.Comparison of the flow fields of argon and helium propellants suggests that,the flow field structures are similar.Slight differences exist on the magnitude of the density and magnetic field,caused by larger velocity in lighter atom case and difference on the ionization gap between adjacent ionization levels.Analysis of the circuit characteristics by the two-dimensional results indicates that the ratio of coil inductance to circuit inductance affects both the rise rate and phase of the plasma current,the larger the ratio,the greater the rise rate and the better the following characteristic.The calculations show that the magnetic energy obtained within the decoupling distance determines the overall performance the thruster can be obtained;self-induced field maintained by the thermal motion after the main pulse leads to the long attenuation process and difference on the total impulse when the angle of conical pylon is varied under constant coil dimension.