Particle-in-cell simulation for effect of anode temperature on discharge characteristics of a Hall effect thruster

Hong LI (李鸿); Xingyu LIU (刘星宇); Zhiyong GAO (高志勇); Yongjie DING (丁永杰); Liqiu WEI (魏立秋); Daren YU (于达仁); Xiaogang WANG (王晓钢)

doi:10.1088/2058-6272/aaddf2

Plasma Science and Technology > 2018 > 20(12): 125504. > DOI: 10.1088/2058-6272/aaddf2

Hong LI (李鸿), Xingyu LIU (刘星宇), Zhiyong GAO (高志勇), Yongjie DING (丁永杰), Liqiu WEI (魏立秋), Daren YU (于达仁), Xiaogang WANG (王晓钢). Particle-in-cell simulation for effect of anode temperature on discharge characteristics of a Hall effect thruster[J]. Plasma Science and Technology, 2018, 20(12): 125504. DOI: 10.1088/2058-6272/aaddf2

Citation:

PDF (1024 KB)

Particle-in-cell simulation for effect of anode temperature on discharge characteristics of a Hall effect thruster

¹ Plasma Propulsion Laboratory, Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin 150001, People’s Republic of China
² AECC Harbin Dongan Engine (Group) Corporation Ltd, Harbin 150066, People’s Republic of China
³ Department of Physics, Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin 150001, People’s Republic of China

Funds: This work has been funded by National Natural Science Foundation of China (Nos. 51507040, 51736003 and 51777045), the Research Program (No. JSZL2016203C006) and the Funda- mental Research Funds for the Central Universities (No. HIT. NSRIF. 2015079).

More Information

Received Date: March 29, 2018

Graphical Abstract

Abstract

Abstract

Propellant gas flow has an important impact on the ionization and acceleration process of Hall effect thrusters (HETs). In this paper, a particle-in-cell numerical method is used to study the effect of the anode temperature, i.e., the flow speed of the propellant gas, on the discharge characteristics of a HET. The simulation results show that, no matter the magnitude of the discharge voltage, the calculated variation trends of performance parameters with the anode temperature are in good agreement with the experimental ones presented in the literature. Further mechanism analysis indicates that the magnitude of the electron temperature is responsible for the two opposing variation laws found under different discharge voltages. When the discharge voltage is low, the electron temperature is low, and so is the intensity of the propellant ionization; the variation of the thruster performance with the anode temperature is thereby determined by the variation of the neutral density that affects the propellant utilization efficiency. When the discharge voltage is high, the electron temperature is large enough to guarantee a high degree of the propellant utilization no matter the magnitude of the anode temperature. The change of the thruster performance with the anode temperature is thus dominated by the change of the electron temperature and consequently the electron-neutral collisions as well as the electron cross-field mobility that affect the current utilization efficiency.
- Hall effect thruster,
- anode temperature,
- neutral flow,
- discharge characteristics,
- particle-in-cell simulation

FullText(HTML)

References (38)

References

[1]	Mazouffre S 2016 Plasma Sources Sci. Technol. 25 033002
[2]	Goebel D M and Katz I 2008 Fundamentals of Electric Propulsion: Ion and Hall Thrusters (New Jersey: Wiley)
[3]	Wollenhaupt B, Le Q H and Herdrich G 2018 Aircr. Eng. Aerosp. Technol. 90 280
[4]	Wu Z et al 2017 Acta Astronaut. 137 8
[5]	Ahedo E 2011 Plasma Phys. Control. Fusion 53 124037
[6]	Takeshi M et al 2003 Influence of propellant-inlet condition on Hall thruster performance 28th Int. Electric Propulsion Conf. (Toulouse, France: IEPC)
[7]	Vial V et al 2003 Xenon gas injection in SPT thrusters 28th Int. Electric Propulsion Conf. (Toulouse, France: IEPC)
[8]	Garrigues L et al 2004 Appl. Phys. Lett. 85 5460
[9]	Raitses Y, Ashkenazy J and Guelman M 1998 J. Propuls. Power 14 247
[10]	Arhipov B, Goghaya E and Nikulin N 1999 Study of plasma dynamics in the variable section channel stationary plasma thruster 26th Int. Electric Propulsion Conf. (Kitakyushu, Japan)
[11]	Loyan A V and Oghienko S A 1999 Investigation of possibility to increase the thruster efficiency, discharge efficiency, and the SPT life-time by influence of the speed of the neutral propellant gas stream 26th Int. Electric Propulsion Conf. (Kitakyushu, Japan)
[12]	Yamamoto N, Komurasaki K and Arakawa Y 2005 J. Propuls. Power 21 870
[13]	Zhang X et al 2017 J. Phys. D: Appl. Phys. 50 095202
[14]	Martinez R A and Walker M L R 2013 J. Propuls. Power 29 528
[15]	Book C F and Walker M L R 2010 J. Propuls. Power 26 1036
[16]	Taccogna F et al 2008 Plasma Sources Sci. Technol. 17 024003
[17]	Adam J C et al 2008 Plasma Phys. Control. Fusion 50 124041
[18]	Qing S W et al 2014 J. Appl. Phys. 115 033301
[19]	Cao H J et al 2015 IEEE Trans. Plasma Sci. 43 130
[20]	Duan P et al 2016 Plasma Sci. Technol. 18 382
[21]	Liu H et al 2010 J. Phys. D: Appl. Phys. 43 165202
[22]	Héron A and Adam J C 2013 Phys. Plasmas 20 082313
[23]	Lafleur T and Chabert P 2017 Plasma Sources Sci. Technol. 27 015003
[24]	Croes V et al 2017 Plasma Sources Sci. Technol. 26 034001
[25]	Boeuf J P 2017 J. Appl. Phys. 121 011101
[26]	Boniface C et al 2006 Appl. Phys. Lett. 89 161503
[27]	Reid B M 2009 The influence of neutral flow rate in the operation of hall thrusters PhD University of Michigan, Michigan
[28]	Szabo J J 2001 Fully kinetic numerical modeling of a plasma thruster PhD Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Massachusetts
[29]	Szabo J et al 2014 J. Propuls. Power 30 197
[30]	Yu D R et al 2008 Phys. Plasmas 15 104501
[31]	Birdsall C K and Langdon A B 1991 Plasma Physics via Computer Simulation (Bristol: Adam Hilger)
[32]	Doss S and Miller K 1979 SIAM J. Numer. Anal. 16 837
[33]	Vahedi V and Surendra M 1995 Computer Phys. Commun. 87 179
[34]	Meeker D 2010 Finite Element Method Magnetics (Ver. 4.2) User’s Manual (www.femm.info/wiki/HomePage)
[35]	Zhang X et al 2017 J. Thermophys. Heat Transfer 31 743
[36]	Mazouffre S, Echegut P and Dudeck M 2007 Plasma Sources Sci. Technol. 16 13
[37]	Barral S et al 2003 Phys. Plasmas 10 4137
[38]	Gascon N, Dudeck M and Barral S 2003 Phys. Plasmas 10 4123