Real-time Monitoring of Trace Erosion Products in Boron Nitride Ceramic Channels of Hall Thrusters Based on Emission Spectroscopy

Erosion of the ceramic channel wall constitutes a significant limiting factor in the lifetime of Hall thrusters, impacting the assessment of lifetime of ceramic channels under diverse operating conditions, which is instrumental for the optimisation design of Hall thruster lifetime. The only reliable...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Zheng, B.-W., Zhu, X.-M.
Format: Conference Proceeding
Language:English
Subjects:
Atomic measurements
Attitude control
Boron
Lifetime estimation
Real-time systems
Spectroscopy
Stimulated emission
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Summary:Erosion of the ceramic channel wall constitutes a significant limiting factor in the lifetime of Hall thrusters, impacting the assessment of lifetime of ceramic channels under diverse operating conditions, which is instrumental for the optimisation design of Hall thruster lifetime. The only reliable method available at present is the full lifetime test. Nonetheless, given time and cost limitations, such tests typically only conduct a singular operating condition lifetime test. Consequently, the current full lifetime test results cannot provide a valid reference for lifetime evaluation of ceramic channels under varying operating conditions. Hence, the development of real-time monitoring methods for ceramic channel erosion characteristics is necessitated. This research utilises the non-invasive characteristic of Optical Emission Spectroscopy (OES) method to perform real-time monitoring of the erosion characteristics of boron nitride ceramic channels under various operating conditions. Consequently, trace boron atom signals are successfully observed, and by establishing a collision radiation model, real-time density measurements of boron atoms throughout the thruster operation process are obtained. By using spectroscopic characteristics gathered during a full lifetime test as a benchmark, researchers can map spectroscopic signals under any given operating condition to lifetime, thereby achieving the optimised design of thruster lifetime. This paper emphasises the feasibility and precision of OES method as a non-invasive real-time monitoring method in observing real-time erosion of ceramic channels in Hall thrusters.
ISSN:2576-7208
DOI:10.1109/ICOPS58192.2024.10626912