Performance characteristics according to the radial position of gas distributor holes in a low-power cylindrical Hall thruster

Abstract

The effect of radial position of gas holes in the distributor on the performance of cylindrical Hall thruster was investigated. A series of gas distributors with different radial positions (Rg) of holes were designed in the experiment. The results show that the larger Rg leads to the higher ion current and electron current; meanwhile, the beam angle in plume is narrowed. Nevertheless, the peak energy in ion energy distribution function increases, together with the narrowing of ion energy distribution function. As a result, the overall performance is enhanced. It is suggested that the growing of Rg could lead to the movement of the main ionization region towards anode, which could promote ion velocity and the clearer separation of acceleration region from ionization region. This work can provide some optimal design ideas to improve the performance of the thruster.