Influence of Different Energy Supply Methods on Performance of Ablative Pulsed Plasma Thrusters

Rui Zhang,Qiang Huang,Wenxiong Xi

doi:10.3389/fenrg.2021.752017

Abstract

For a certain configuration of ablative pulsed plasma thruster, changing the initial energy is an effective way to optimize the performance of the thruster. Different energy supply methods will not only affect the macro discharge characteristics and system performance of the thruster, but also affect the micro characteristics of the plasma in the discharge channel, the equivalent parameters of the discharge circuit, energy conversion efficiency and so on. In this study, the discharge characteristics, ablation characteristics and plasma motion characteristics of the thruster under different energy supply methods are analyzed experimentally and theoretically. The results show that using the method which includes increasing capacitance to heighten the initial energy of system under the same voltage, using a low-voltage, large-capacitor power supply method under the same initial energy, can effectively increase the impulse generated by Lorentz force and its proportion in the impulse bit. Moreover, the proportion of the ablative propellant effectively ionized and accelerated by Lorentz force increases. Therefore, the thruster has higher specific impulse and efficiency.

Highlights

The Ablative Pulsed Plasma Thruster (APPT) has the advantages of small impulse, high specific impulse, and simple structure (Lemmer, 2017)
As Ψ increases from 72.38 A2s to 673 A2s, the impulse generated by Lorentz force increases, which is conducive to the acceleration of plasma
The thruster can obtain a better system performance by increasing APPT capacitance to increase the initial energy of the thruster

Summary

Introduction

The Ablative Pulsed Plasma Thruster (APPT) has the advantages of small impulse, high specific impulse, and simple structure (Lemmer, 2017). It is especially suitable for position holding, resistance compensation, formation flight, and other space flight missions on small satellite (Huang et al, 2015; Silnikov et al, 2015). The discharge energy of the thruster is an important factor which affects the performance of the APPT system. Kazeev and Antropov et al found out the specific impulse and system efficiency of the APPT can be greatly improved by increasing system discharge energy (Kazeev et al, 2002; Antropov et al, 2003).

Methods

Results

Conclusion