A NEW LOW-POWER HALL THRUSTER CONCEPT
- Paper number
IAC-08.C4.4.6
- Author
Prof. Mauricio Moshe Guelman, Technion, I.I.T., Israel
- Coauthor
Dr. Alexander Kapulkin, Asher Space Research Institute, Technion, I.I.T., Israel
- Coauthor
Dr. Vladimir Balabanov, Asher Space Research Institute, Technion, I.I.T., Israel
- Coauthor
Mr. Leonid Rabinovich, RAFAEL, Israel
- Coauthor
Mr. Gabriel Appelbaum, SOREQ NRC, Israel
- Year
2008
- Abstract
A worldwide effort is presently being invested in the development of small spacecraft, propelled using advanced electric propulsion engines. Among the electric rocket engines that are considered as the candidates for application on small spacecraft, Hall thrusters (HTs) occupy a prominent place. This is due to the following factors: 1. At large and moderate powers, HTs possess the highest efficiency at specific impulses of 1200-2500 s; 2. Owing to intensive investigations over a long period of time, the physics of HT has been clarified to a greater degree than other plasma engines. This fact makes a search of ways of building effective thrusters of small power a noticeably easier problem.
However, in the case of HT, operation at powers of 50-250 W, as needed to propel small spacecraft, leads to such strong lifetime limitations, raising doubts upon the possibility of creating small power HTs with high performance using a conventional design.
This paper is devoted to a new approach to solving the problem of propellant ionization in low power Hall thrusters developed at the Asher Space Research Institute. This approach is based on a new co-axial configuration of the anode assembly and a new topology of the magnetic field. This new configuration provides an unobstructed ion passage to reach the acceleration region and enables to choose the ionization area extent depending on the propellant mass flow rate density.
Based on this approach an experimental model of a low power Hall thruster, the CAMILA HT-55 (Co-Axial Magneto-Isolated Longitudinal Anode, 55 is the acceleration channel outer diameter) was built. The experiments carried out at the SOREQ, NRC facility with cryogenic pumping yielded high results: At 200 W power, anode efficiency is 43%, at 250 W – efficiency is 52%, at 500 W - efficiency is 65%. Furthermore, it is of the utmost importance to emphasize that the expected lifetime is above 4000 Hours at a power of 200 W. Such a large lifetime is due to the relatively low density of the ion current (channel width is 12mm) and rather large thickness of the walls. The results of the experiments show that the CAMILA Hall thruster is probably, at the present time, the best Hall thruster in the power range of 150-500 W.
- Abstract document
- Manuscript document
IAC-08.C4.4.6.pdf (🔒 authorized access only).
To get the manuscript, please contact IAF Secretariat.