Operational characteristics and plasma measurements in cylindrical Hall thrusters

Journal Article · Sun Apr 01 04:00:00 EDT 2007 · Journal of Applied Physics

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1063/1.2720093· OSTI ID:20982790

Shirasaki, Atsushi; Tahara, Hirokazu ^[1]

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1. Division of Mechanical Engineering, Department of Mechanical Science and Bioengineering, Graduate School of Engineering Science, Osaka University, 1-3, Machikaneyama, Toyonaka, Osaka 560-8531 (Japan)

The cylindrical Hall thruster (CHT) is an attractive approach to achieve a long lifetime thruster operation especially in low power space applications. Because of the larger volume-to-surface ratio than conventional coaxial Hall thrusters, the cylindrical Hall thrusters are characterized by a reduced heating of the thruster parts and potential lower erosion. Existing CHTs can feature a short coaxial channel in order to sustain a high ionization in the thruster discharge. A 5.6 cm diameter cylindrical Hall thruster was developed and operated with and without a short coaxial region of the thruster channel, in the power range of 70-300 W. It is shown that the CHT without coaxial region can operate stable and achieve higher thrust efficiency, 22%-32% more than that with a coaxial region. Plasma probe measurements inside the thruster channel and ion energy measurements in the plasma plume suggest that the ionization/acceleration region in the CHT is located near the anode region where a radial magnetic field is stronger.

• OSTI ID: 20982790
• Journal Information: Journal of Applied Physics, Journal Name: Journal of Applied Physics Journal Issue: 7 Vol. 101; ISSN JAPIAU; ISSN 0021-8979
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY
ACCELERATION
ANODES
EROSION
HALL EFFECT
HEATING
IONIZATION
LIFETIME
MAGNETIC FIELDS
MAGNETOHYDRODYNAMICS
PLASMA
PLASMA GUNS
POWER RANGE 10-100 W
POWER RANGE 100-1000 W
PROPULSION
THRUSTERS