Electron Cross-field Transport in a Miniaturized Cylindrical Hall Thruster

Smirnov Artem, Raitses Yevgeny, Fisch Nathaniel J

Princeton University. Plasma Physics Laboratory.

关键词: Transport Hall Thrusters;    70 Plasma Physics And Fusion Technology;    Anomalous Collision;    Electron Crossfield Transport;    Hall Thrusters;   

DOI  :  10.2172/899585
RP-ID  :  PPPL-4118
RP-ID  :  DE-AC02-76CH03073
RP-ID  :  899585

美国|英语

来源: UNT Digital Library

【 摘 要 】

Conventional annular Hall thrusters become inefficient when scaled to low power. Cylindrical Hall thrusters, which have lower surface-to-volume ratio, are more promising for scaling down. They presently exhibit performance comparable with conventional annular Hall thrusters. The present paper gives a review of the experimental and numerical investigations of electron crossfield transport in the 2.6 cm miniaturized cylindrical Hall thruster (100 W power level). We show that, in order to explain the discharge current observed for the typical operating conditions, the electron anomalous collision frequency {nu}{sub b} has to be on the order of the Bohm value, {nu}{sub B} {approx} {omega}{sub c}/16. The contribution of electron-wall collisions to cross-field transport is found to be insignificant. The optimal regimes of thruster operation at low background pressure (below 10{sup -5} Torr) in the vacuum tank appear to be different from those at higher pressure ({approx} 10{sup -4} Torr).