Rarefied xenon flow in orificed hollow cathodes

Taunay, Pierre-Yves C. R.; Villafana, Willca; Vinoth, Sangeeta P.; Kaganovich, Igor; Khodak, Andrei

doi:10.1063/5.0249172

Rarefied xenon flow in orificed hollow cathodes

Journal Article · Tue Apr 15 00:00:00 EDT 2025 · Journal of Applied Physics

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1063/5.0249172· OSTI ID:2564373

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US Naval Academy, Annapolis, MD (United States)
Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL), Princeton, NJ (United States)

A parametric study is conducted to quantify the effect of the keeper electrode geometry on the xenon neutral flow quantities within orificed hollow cathodes, prior to ignition. The keeper impinges directly on the flow out of the cathode orifice and its geometry influences the product between the pressure in the orifice–keeper region and the cathode-to-keeper distance. A representative cathode is simulated using the Direct Simulation Monte Carlo method. The numerical model is first validated with computational results from the literature. A parametric study is then conducted. Parameters include the cathode pressure–diameter in the range of 1–5 Torr cm and the following geometric ratios (and ranges): cathode orifice-to-inner radii (0.1–0.7), keeper orifice-to-cathode orifice radii (1–5), and keeper distance-to-cathode-orifice diameter (0.5–10). It is found that, if both keeper and cathode have identical orifice radii, the flow remains subsonic in the orifice-to-keeper region. In most cases, however, the flow becomes underexpanded and supersonic, and the static pressure within the orifice-to-keeper region is, on average, 4% that of the upstream pressure value. The orifice–keeper region pressure increases with either a decrease in the keeper orifice diameter or an increase in the distance between cathode and keeper, in agreement with literature data. Both trends are explained through conservation laws. A statistical study of numerical results reveals that the ratio of ignition-to-nominal mass flow rates has a most probable value of 50, which suggests that heaterless cathode ignition at a minimum DC voltage may be achieved by increasing the input mass flow rate by a factor of 50.

View Accepted Manuscript (DOE)

Research Organization:: Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL), Princeton, NJ (United States)

Sponsoring Organization:: USDOE

Grant/Contract Number:: AC02-09CH11466

OSTI ID:: 2564373

Journal Information:: Journal of Applied Physics, Journal Name: Journal of Applied Physics Journal Issue: 15 Vol. 137; ISSN 0021-8979

Publisher:: American Institute of Physics (AIP)Copyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

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