Ten-Ampere-Level, Applied-Field-Dominant Operation in Magnetoplasmadynamic Thrusters

In this paper, applied-field magnetoplasmadynamic thrusters were operated with a discharge current lower than 20 A and an argon propellant flow rate under 4.0  mg/s by using a thermionic electron emission-type hollow cathode. Both axisymmetric and rectangular channel configurations were examined. Th...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of propulsion and power 2017-03, Vol.33 (2), p.360-369
Main Authors: Ichihara, Daisuke, Uno, Tomoki, Kataoka, Hisashi, Jeong, Jaehun, Iwakawa, Akira, Sasoh, Akihiro
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Acceleration
Argon
Axisymmetric
Channels
Discharge
Electric potential
Electric power generation
Electric propulsion
Electron emission
Flow rate
Flow velocity
Hollow cathodes
Thrust
Thrusters
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Summary:In this paper, applied-field magnetoplasmadynamic thrusters were operated with a discharge current lower than 20 A and an argon propellant flow rate under 4.0  mg/s by using a thermionic electron emission-type hollow cathode. Both axisymmetric and rectangular channel configurations were examined. The characteristic value of the ratio of the applied-field electromagnetic thrust to the self-field electromagnetic thrust, which was a maximum of approximately 50 in previous research, increased to more than 800 in this study, whereas the specific power was in approximately the same range as in previous studies. The trends of thrust and discharge voltage were explained by referring to the “swirl acceleration” model. Such operation could be useful for near-future high-power electric propulsion applications.
ISSN:0748-4658
1533-3876
DOI:10.2514/1.B36179