Characterization of an ionic liquid electrospray thruster with a porous ceramic emitter

Chong CHEN (陈冲); Maolin CHEN (陈茂林); Haohao ZHOU (周浩浩)

doi:10.1088/2058-6272/ab9528

Plasma Science and Technology > 2020 > 22(9): 94009-094009. > DOI: 10.1088/2058-6272/ab9528

Chong CHEN (陈冲), Maolin CHEN (陈茂林), Haohao ZHOU (周浩浩). Characterization of an ionic liquid electrospray thruster with a porous ceramic emitter[J]. Plasma Science and Technology, 2020, 22(9): 94009-094009. DOI: 10.1088/2058-6272/ab9528

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Characterization of an ionic liquid electrospray thruster with a porous ceramic emitter

Combustion, Internal Flow and Thermal-Structure Laboratory, Northwestern Polytechnical University, Xi'an 710072, People's Republic of China

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Received Date: January 01, 2020
Revised Date: May 18, 2020
Accepted Date: May 19, 2020

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Abstract

Abstract

An ionic liquid (IL) electrospray thruster was developed for application in micro-nano satellites or gravitational wave detectors. The thruster employed a porous ceramic emitter with seven emitter strips located on its emission surface. Without any liquid-supply device, IL was delivered through porous media to emitter strips via capillary effect. Multiple emission sites then formed at the tip of each strip. A charged beam of up to 350 μA (with a current density of 540 μA cm⁻² ) was stably produced in the negative mode. However, in the positive mode, a corona was observed which could prevent the thruster from emitting larger current. A time-of-flight mass spectrometer with significantly improved signal-to-noise ratio was built, which was used to obtain the mass distribution of the beam of the thruster. A retarding potential analysis was also performed. The test results showed that the thruster worked in the pure-ion regime, and delivered a maximum thrust of 67.1 μN with specific impulses of 3952 s and 3117 s in the positive and negative modes, respectively.
- electrospray thruster,
- time-of-flight (TOF),
- retarding potential analysis (RPA)

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References

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Characterization of an ionic liquid electrospray thruster with a porous ceramic emitter