Abstract
The life test of the 30 cm diameter ion thruster developed by the Lanzhou institute of physics began in Apr. 2018 and ended in Jan. 2020, lasting 6,500 h. This paper introduces the results of the 6,500-h life test of the 30 cm diameter ion thruster completed on the ground, including the ground facility for life test, the variations of the thrusters working performance, the times of the breakdown and power restart, and the erosion of the key components. The results show that the performance parameters, such as thrust, specific impulse and efficiency, do not change obviously during the test and magnetic field of the discharge chamber has no change. With the increase of test time, breakdown times increased significantly, whereas the power restart time decreased correspondingly. The diameter of the cathode orifice decreases gradually and there is a blockage risk of orifice. However, the diameter of the keeper orifice increases and presents an inverted cone erosion pattern. The diameter of the decelerator grid aperture expanded from 1.6 to 1.8 mm from 0 to 1,000 h and slightly enlarged after that. The aperture diameter of the accelerator grid presented linear enlargement but the pits-and-grooves erosion is obvious.
Highlights
Ion thrusters (Chien et al 2006; Brophy 2002; Goebel et al 2002) have received a lot of attention in recent years due to high specific impulse and the highest work efficiency compared to the conventional chemical propulsion system
In the 8,200-h life test of the NASA Solar Electric Propulsion Technology Application Readiness (NSTAR) ion thruster (Polk et al 1999), serious corrosion appeared in the screen grid in the first 2,000 h and there were sputterings in the discharge chamber
This paper introduces the ground test equipment and the results of the first 6,500 h life test of the 30 cm diameter ion thruster, including the thruster performance parameters, breakdown numbers, power restart times and corrosion of key components in each test section
Summary
Ion thrusters (Chien et al 2006; Brophy 2002; Goebel et al 2002) have received a lot of attention in recent years due to high specific impulse (from 2,000 to 10,000 s) and the highest work efficiency (from 60 to 80%) compared to the conventional chemical propulsion system. This is the first time for China to perform a life test of high power 30 cm diameter ion thruster.
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