Abstract
Summary form only given. Among Hall thruster technologies, the thruster with anode layer (TAL) seems to have much wider technical capabilities. Various aspects of the quasi-neutral plasma flow in a high power thruster with anode layer are studied. A model of plasma flow in the TAL channel is developed based on a 2D hydrodynamic approach. In particular, plasma-wall interactions are studied in detail. Formation of the sheath near the acceleration channel wall and sheath expansion in the acceleration channel are calculated. Both single- and two-stage TALs are investigated. It is found that the high voltage sheath expands significantly and the quasi-neutral plasma region is confined in the middle of the channel. For instance, in the case of a 3 kV discharge voltage, the sheath thickness is about 1 cm, which is a significant portion of the channel width. An effect of sheath expansion on the acceleration region is studied using a quasi 1D simplified model. It is found that sheath expansion leads to decrease of the acceleration region length. A particular example of this thruster, high voltage TAL (D-80) is also studied. The model predicts a non-monotonic behavior of thruster efficiency with discharge voltage. The location of maximum efficiency is found to be in agreement with experiment.
Published Version
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