Development of a two-dimensional dual pendulum thrust stand for Hall thrusters
- Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics, University of Tokyo, 7-3-1, Hongo, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 113-8656 (Japan)
A two-dimensional dual pendulum thrust stand was developed to measure thrust vectors (axial and horizontal (transverse) direction thrusts) of a Hall thruster. A thruster with a steering mechanism is mounted on the inner pendulum, and thrust is measured from the displacement between inner and outer pendulums, by which a thermal drift effect is canceled out. Two crossover knife-edges support each pendulum arm: one is set on the other at a right angle. They enable the pendulums to swing in two directions. Thrust calibration using a pulley and weight system showed that the measurement errors were less than 0.25 mN (1.4%) in the main thrust direction and 0.09 mN (1.4%) in its transverse direction. The thrust angle of the thrust vector was measured with the stand using the thruster. Consequently, a vector deviation from the main thrust direction of {+-}2.3 deg. was measured with the error of {+-}0.2 deg. under the typical operating conditions for the thruster.
- OSTI ID:
- 21024597
- Journal Information:
- Review of Scientific Instruments, Vol. 78, Issue 11; Other Information: DOI: 10.1063/1.2815336; (c) 2007 American Institute of Physics; Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 0034-6748
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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