Effect of discharge parameters on pulse current during hall thruster start-up

Abstract

The high amplitude pulse current during Hall thruster start-up is an important source of electromagnetic interference, which impacts the safety and reliability of the propulsion system. The characteristics of the pulse current, including the pulse current's integrated area, peak value, and transient time, are studied experimentally and theoretically under different Hall thruster discharge parameters. Results show that the pulse current's integrated area is determined by the atom density in the channel before Hall thruster start-up; the effects of coil current on the peak value and transient time of the pulse current are negligible. As the discharge voltage and mass flow rate increase, the pulse current peak value increases, the pulse current duration is inversely proportional to the discharge voltage and directly proportional to the mass flow rate.