Torsional thrust stand for characterization of microthrusters

4th AEROTECH- Innovation in Aerospace Engineering and Technology

航空航天工程

Cheah, K.H.^1 ; Low, K.S.^2

School of Engineering, Taylor's University, Malaysia^1

Satellite Research Centre, School of EEE, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, Singapore^2

关键词: Constant force;    Impulse bit;    Micro thruster;    Steady state;    Thrust stand;    Torsional pendulum;   

Others  :  https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1757-899X/152/1/012019/pdf
DOI  :  10.1088/1757-899X/152/1/012019

学科分类：航空航天科学

来源: IOP

【 摘 要 】

This paper describes the setup of a precise thrust stand based on torsional pendulum design for characterizing the performance of microthrusters. Calibration has been carried out by using an improved version of electrostatic calibrator, which produces a wide range of accurate and repeatable calibration force. After the calibration, the thrust stand can resolve constant force from 40μN to 3.4mN and impulse bit from 7μNs to 340μNs. The usefulness of the thrust stand has been demonstrated by measuring the performance of two different microthrusters: a pulsed plasma thruster that produces impulse bit of 23.15μNs and a vaporizing liquid microthruster that produces steady state thrust of 633.5μN.