Particle‐in‐cell simulation of the effect of curved magnetic field on wall bombardment and erosion in a hall thruster

A curved, convex towards the channel bottom magnetic field is an important feature of an advanced Hall thruster that allows confining the plasma flow in the channel center, reducing the divergence angle of the ejected ion beam, and improving the discharge performance. In this article, the discharge behaviour of a Hall thruster in magnetic fields with different degrees of curvature is simulated with a particle‐in‐cell numerical method, and the effect of curved magnetic field on the ion bombardment and wall erosion and the associated mechanisms are studied and analysed. The results show that, as the curvature of the magnetic field increases, the propellant ionization becomes more confined at the channel center, the potential drop inside the channel decreases, and the acceleration region shifts outside the channel, which lead to the attenuation of the ion energy bombarding the wall and the deviation of the bombardment angle from the optimal sputtering angle. Conversely, the ion flux bombarding the wall near the channel exit increases. Nevertheless, the bombardment energy and angle are the dominant factors for the wall erosion, and the wall erosion rate clearly decreases with the increasing curvature of the magnetic field. These findings are closely related to the behaviour of electron conduction under a curved magnetic field; the relevant mechanisms are clarified in this article.     

Surface‐Driven Asymmetry and Instability in the Acceleration Region of Hall Thruster

It has been shown experimentally that the channel wall material has a substantial effect on the behaviour of Hall discharges. For this reason, the radial profile inside the Hall thruster SPT‐100 is investigated in detail. This is done by a one‐dimensional fully kinetic self‐consistent Particle‐in‐Cell model between the two walls in the acceleration region of the channel. A detailed Monte Carlo probabilistic model for secondary electron emission is implemented as boundary module. Using the local field approximation, two different operative conditions (axial electric field E_z =100 V/cm and 300 V/cm) have been simulated. For high discharge voltage case, a strong radial asymmetry and a stream instability propagating all along the radial domain are detected, while in the low voltage case a stable classical situation is recovered. The critical parameters for triggering this unstable regime are the electron azimuthal drift energy and the induced secondary electron emission, while the saturation mechanism is the increasing of the temperature of the initially cold secondary‐electrons. (© 2008 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

Laser-induced fluorescence measurements of velocity within a Hall discharge

The results of a study of laser-induced fluorescence velocimetry of neutral and singly ionized xenon in the plume and interior portions of the acceleration channel of a Hall thruster plasma discharge operating at powers ranging from 250 to 725 W are described. Axial ion and neutral velocity profiles for four discharge voltage conditions (100 V, 160 V, 200 V, 250 V) are measured as are radial ion velocity profiles in the near-field plume. Ion velocity measurements of axial velocity both inside and outside the thruster as well as radial velocity measurements outside the thruster are performed using laser-induced fluorescence with nonresonant signal detection on the xenon ion 5d[4]_7/2–6p[3]_5/2 excitation transition while monitoring the signal from the 6s[2]_3/2–6p[3]_5/2transition. Neutral axial velocity measurements are similarly performed in the interior of the Hall thruster using the 6s[3/2]⁰ ₂–6p[3/2]₂transition with resonance fluorescence collection. Optical access to the interior of the Hall thruster is provided by a 1-mm-wide axial slot in the insulator outer wall. While the majority of the ion velocity measurements used partially saturated fluorescence to improve the signal-to-noise ratio, one radial trace of the ion transition was taken in the linear fluorescence region and yields a xenon ion translational temperature between 400 and 800 K at a location 13 mm into the plume. Received: 27 September 2000 / Revised version: 2 March 2001 / Published online: 9 May 2001     

A 200-W permanent magnet Hall thruster discharge with graphite channel wall

A 200-W Hall thruster was designed using permanent magnets placing the axial maximum magnetic field outside of the channel, and the anode/gas distributor as an integrated U-shaped structure. A split structure is adopted for the discharge channel to conveniently change the wall material. With the initial conditions that the anode mass flow is maintained at 0.8 mg/s, 1.0 mg/s and 1.2 mg/s over a voltage range of 150–400 V (at 50 V intervals), the discharge properties were determined for the two thruster models with the channel walls composed of graphite and boron nitride (BN). The results demonstrate that under identical operating parameters, the properties of the thruster with the graphite channel walls are similar to the properties of the thruster with the BN channel walls. The maximum difference of the discharge current between the two wall materials is 6.2%; the maximum difference of the thrust and the specific impulse is 3.3%, and that of the anode efficiency is 1.7% (absolute value). These differences are smaller than the corresponding parameter differences observed from changing wall materials in other common Hall thrusters.     

Particle‐in‐Cell Simulations for Ion Thrusters

The Particle‐in‐Cell (PIC) method was used to study two different ion thruster concepts: Hall Effect Thrusters (HETs) and High Efficiency Multistage Plasma Thrusters (HEMPs), in particular the plasma properties in the discharge chamber due to the different magnetic field configurations. Special attention was paid to the simulation of plasma particles fluxes on the thrusters inner surfaces. In both cases PIC proved itself as a powerful tool, delivering important insight into the basic physics of the different thruster concepts.The simulations demonstrated that the new HEMP thruster concept allows for a high thermal efficiency due to both minimal energy dissipation and high acceleration efficiency. In the HEMP thruster the plasma contact to the wall is limited only to very small areas of the magnetic field cusps, which results in much smaller ion flux to the thruster channel surface as compared to HET. (© 2009 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

霍尔推力器放电通道溅射腐蚀计算

 为了预示霍尔推力器的寿命,建立了推力器粒子束放电通道的2维电磁场模型,模拟的推进剂为氙。利用PIC方法跟踪粒子在电磁场中的运动。磁场的求解采用拉普拉斯方程,电场的求解采用泊松方程。电子由阴极喷入通道,并在电磁场中与原子发生电离碰撞生成离子。在跟踪离子的过程中记录下撞击到内外壁面的离子个数、角度和能量。利用记录下的参数进行腐蚀计算,得到当溅射阈值能量分别为10,20,30,40,50 eV时通道壁面的腐蚀速率。推力器放电通道出口附近的最大腐蚀速率约为1.7×10^-9 m/s。     

外磁场作用下的磁等离子体动力学过程仿真

磁等离子体动力学推力器是空间高功率电推进装置的典型代表,磁等离子体动力学过程是其核心工作机制.为深入理解外磁场对其工作特性的影响,本文采用粒子云(particle in cell,PIC)方法结合基于自相似准则的缩比模型,进行外加磁场作用下磁等离子体动力学推力器工作过程的建模仿真,通过与实验结果对比验证模型和方法的可靠性,并重点分析推力器点火启动过程的等离子特性参数分布,以及外磁场和阴极电流对推力器工作性能的影响.研究结果表明:阴阳极放电电弧构建是推力器启动和高效工作的关键步骤;外磁场强度较低工况不利于构建稳定放电电弧,等离子体束流集中于轴线附近,推力主要产生机制是自身场加速;外磁场强度较高时,阴阳极放电电弧稳定,推力产生主要机制是涡旋加速,推力、比冲随外磁场强度线性增大;推力器效率随阴极电流和外磁场强度增大而增大;放电电压随阴极电流增大而增大,但随外磁场强度的增大表现出先减小后增大的趋势.     

外磁场作用下的磁等离子体动力学过程仿真

磁等离子体动力学推力器是空间高功率电推进装置的典型代表,磁等离子体动力学过程是其核心工作机制.为深入理解外磁场对其工作特性的影响,本文采用粒子云(particle in cell,PIC)方法结合基于自相似准则的缩比模型,进行外加磁场作用下磁等离子体动力学推力器工作过程的建模仿真,通过与实验结果对比验证模型和方法的可靠性,并重点分析推力器点火启动过程的等离子特性参数分布,以及外磁场和阴极电流对推力器工作性能的影响.研究结果表明:阴阳极放电电弧构建是推力器启动和高效工作的关键步骤;外磁场强度较低工况不利于构建稳定放电电弧,等离子体束流集中于轴线附近,推力主要产生机制是自身场加速;外磁场强度较高时,阴阳极放电电弧稳定,推力产生主要机制是涡旋加速,推力、比冲随外磁场强度线性增大;推力器效率随阴极电流和外磁场强度增大而增大;放电电压随阴极电流增大而增大,但随外磁场强度的增大表现出先减小后增大的趋势.     

Particle-in-cell simulation for different magnetic mirror effects on the plasma distribution in a cusped field thruster

Magnetic mirror used as an efficient tool to confine plasma has been widely adopted in many different areas especially in recent cusped field thrusters. In order to check the influence of magnetic mirror effect on the plasma distribution in a cusped field thruster, three different radii of the discharge channel(6 mm, 4 mm, and 2 mm) in a cusped field thruster are investigated by using Particle-in-Cell Plus Monte Carlo(PIC-MCC) simulated method, under the condition of a fixed axial length of the discharge channel and the same operating parameters. It is found that magnetic cusps inside the small radius discharge channel cannot confine electrons very well. Thus, the electric field is hard to establish. With the reduction of the discharge channel's diameter, more electrons will escape from cusps to the centerline area near the anode due to a lower magnetic mirror ratio. Meanwhile, the leak width of the cusped magnetic field will increase at the cusp. By increasing the magnetic field strength in a small radius model of a cusped field thruster, the negative effect caused by the weak magnetic mirror effect can be partially compensated. Therefore, according to engineering design, the increase of magnetic field strength can contribute to obtaining a good performance, when the radial distance between the magnets and the inner surface of the discharge channel is relatively big.     

Particle-in-cell simulation for the effect of magnetic cusp on discharge characteristics in a cylindrical Hall thruster

The cylindrical Hall thruster has the good prospect of serving as a miniaturized electric propulsion device.A 2 D-3 V particle-in-cell plus Monte Carlo(PIC-MCC) method is used to study the effect of the magnetic cusp on discharge characteristics of a cylindrical Hall thruster.The simulation results show that the main ionization region and the main potential drop of the thruster are located at the upstream of the discharge channel.When the magnetic cusp moves toward the anode side,the main ionization region is compressed and weakened,moving upstream correspondingly.The ionization near the cusp is enhanced,and the interaction between the plasma and the wall increases.The simulation results suggest that the magnetic cusp should be located near the channel exit.     

多模式离子推力器栅极系统三维粒子模拟仿真

栅极系统是离子推力器推力产生的主要部件,推力器的性能和寿命都与栅极系统密切相关.对于具有多种工作模态的离子推力器,基于电流电压入口的仿真可以有效评估推力器的工作状况.采用三维粒子模拟方法对两栅极系统等离子体输运过程进行了仿真,获得了不同模式下的推力器性能参数,对比NSTAR的在轨测试参数,验证了模型的正确性;分析了工作模式变化对栅极区域电场分布和束流状态的影响以及离子推力器多模式设计需求.分析结果表明:远离栅极系统的外凸型屏栅鞘层和内凹型零等势面、低鞍点电势值和平缓的下游电势分布,有利于提高栅极系统离子通过率,抑制电子返流,减小Pits-and-Grooves腐蚀,是离子推力器工作模式的设计方向;提高束流电压会导致发散角损失增大,但可扩展栅极工作电流范围,在束流强度较大的模式下,使束流具有较好的聚焦状态,有利于减小Barrel腐蚀.研究结果为多模式离子推力器工作模式设计提供了参考.     

Scaling Design and Experimental Study on Hall Thrusters with Curved Magnetic Field

The existing scaling theories of Hall thrusters are based on the hypothesis of a one‐dimensional straight magnetic field, which is not suitable for the design of modern thrusters with a two‐dimensional curved magnetic field. In this paper, using the equation analysis method, we derive new similarity criterions in a curved magnetic field by analyzing the momentum equations of charged particles; consequently, we propose a new modeling design method for Hall thrusters with a constant discharge voltage. This method is further validated by experiments. A designed model with a power of 1.5 kW is made based on our proposed method from a prototype model with a power of 1 kW. The experimental results demonstrate that these two thrusters have little differences in performance and physical processes as expected from the scaling. Therefore, our method is well suited for designing a Hall thruster with a curved magnetic field (© 2011 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

霍尔推力器磁场位形及其优化的数值研究

基于麦克斯韦方程,在轴对称假设下建立了霍尔推力器磁场的数学模型.用有限差分方法对模型进行了离散.给出了数值求解模型的迭代法.通过对模型的数值求解,得到了相应的数值结果.通过对所得数值结果的分析,研究了磁场线圈电流变化对霍尔推力器磁场位形的影响.通过调整磁场线圈电流的大小找到了理想磁场位形.研究表明,对于理想磁场位形,内通道的磁镜比在3—3.5之间,外通道的磁镜比在0.4—0.9之间;增加磁场线圈的电流,出口的磁场强度随着增加,但不能增加磁镜比.通道内部的磁场强度几乎不随着磁场线圈电流的变化而变化. 关键词： 霍尔推力器 磁场位形 磁场线圈电流 磁镜比     

磁场强度对霍尔推力器放电特性影响的实验研究

为探索霍尔推力器通道内优化磁场的标准,本文研究了磁场强度对其放电特性的影响规律.通过在保持磁场形貌不变（“聚焦”形）下改变磁场强度的大小,使用朗缪尔探针、光谱仪等测量手段分析了工作于不同磁安特性曲线段的推力器放电特性.研究表明：当磁场强度小于优化值时,电子横越磁场的传导以近壁传导机制为主;反之,当磁场强度大于优化值时,放电电流反常变化,而现有的电子输运传导机制不能解释这种现象. 关键词： 霍尔推力器 磁场强度 放电特性     

Effects of Coupling Oscillations on the Electron Conductivity of Hall Thrusters

It is known that the static magnetic field of a Hall thruster remains unchanged with the product of coil current and coil turn kept constant. This is called the ampere‐turns equivalence principle, which is used in the static magnetic field design of Hall thrusters. It is found that the discharge characteristic is different with the same static magnetic field which is formed by the same ampere‐turns but different coil turns. The effects of the fluctuating magnetic field on the static magnetic field are studied experimentally and theoretically, and the effective collision frequency is calculated based on the dispersion relation of coupling oscillations and the estimation of the fluctuating magnetic field. Results indicate that the different coil turns are accompanied by different coupling intensities which lead to different magnetic field fluctuations. The different magnetic field fluctuations cause differences in the effective electron collision frequency and therefore the electron conductivity and the discharge characteristic of Hall thrusters (© 2012 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

Effect of permanent magnet configuration on discharge characteristics in cylindrical Hall thrusters

Magnetic field design is important in cylindrical Hall thrusters and using permanent magnets to generate magnetic field is very promising in the future. In two typical permanent magnet configurations (i.e., ring and cylindrical configurations) of cylindrical Hall thrusters, discharge characteristics are compared in this paper through the experiments and simulations. The study shows that the cylindrical configuration can bring about higher thruster performance in the same working condition. The reason is that the potential drop of the cylindrical configuration is mainly concentrated in the channel, which is beneficial for the electrons to obtain energy to promote the ionization of the propellant. However, the voltage regulation range of the cylindrical configuration is lower because the anode is more easily overheated.     

微型电子回旋共振离子推力器离子源结构优化实验研究

微型电子回旋共振(ECR)离子推力器可满足微小航天器空间探测的推进需求. 为此, 本文开展直径20 mm的微型ECR离子源结构优化实验研究. 根据放电室内静磁场和ECR谐振区的分布特点, 研究不同微波耦合输入位置对离子源性能的影响, 结果表明环形天线处在高于ECR谐振强度的强磁场区域时, 微波与等离子体实现无损耦合, 电子共振加热效果显著, 引出离子束流较大. 根据放电室电磁截止特性, 结合微波电场计算, 研究放电容积对离子源性能的影响, 实验表明过长或过短的腔体长度会导致引出离子束流下降甚至等离子体熄灭. 经优化后离子源性能测试表明, 在入射微波功率2.1 W、氩气流量14.9 μg/s下, 可引出离子束流5.4 mA, 气体放电损耗和利用率分别为389 W/A和15%.     

20 cm氙离子推力器放电室性能优化

束流离子生产成本和推进剂利用率是表征离子推力器放电室性能的重要参数。在考虑不改变放电室几何结构、磁场分布并保持离子推力器比冲和效率的前提下,利用一维经验分析模型对兰州空间技术物理研究所研制的LIPS-200离子推力器放电室性能进行了优化分析,以实现推力器的推力从40 mN提高到60 mN的目标要求。分析结果表明,提高放电室推进剂流率至2.06 mg/s,放电室内放电电流维持在6.9 A,放电室内平均氙离子密度达到2.1671017 m-3时,可以保证引出1.2 A的束流,推力器达到60 mN的推力。与之对应的推进剂利用率为92%,束流离子生产成本约为188.515 W/A,相比推力40 mN时,推进剂利用率为88%、束流离子生产成本为188.29 W/A的情况,放电室性能有所提高。另外,放电室性能优化过程中其鞘层电位始终保持在3.80~6.65 eV范围内。     

霍尔效应推力器放电双稳态机理研究

实验发现霍尔效应推力器在自励磁模式下具有两个稳定的放电工作点,且运 行过程中在这两个工作点上往复跳变,很大程度上影响了推力器通道内等离子体的放 电物理过程及其综合性能.本文结合推力器放电磁安特性曲线与励磁电流曲线的相互关 系,给出了推力器放电双稳态特性形成的物理机理．在此基础上提出了通过改变励磁电 流曲线斜率,使推力器稳定工作于单放电工作点的方法,结合一维动态流体模型给予了物 理解释,并通过实验加以验证.     

电子温度对霍尔推进器等离子体鞘层特性的影响

采用二维粒子模拟方法研究了霍尔推进器通道中电子温度对等离子体鞘层特性的影响, 讨论了不同电子温度下电子数密度、鞘层电势、电场及二次电子发射系数的变化规律. 结果表明: 当电子温度较低时, 鞘层中电子数密度沿径向方向呈指数下降, 在近壁处达到最小值, 鞘层电势降和电场径向分量变化均较大, 壁面电势维持一稳定值不变, 鞘层稳定性好; 当电子温度较高时, 鞘层区内与鞘层边界处电子数密度基本相等, 而在近壁面窄区域内迅速增加, 壁面处达到最大值, 鞘层电势变化缓慢, 电势降和电场径向分量变化均较小, 壁面电势近似维持等幅振荡, 鞘层稳定性降低; 电子温度对电场轴向分量影响较小; 随电子温度的增大, 壁面二次电子发射系数先增大后减少. 关键词： 霍尔推进器 等离子体鞘层 电子温度 粒子模拟