Coupling plasma plume of a low-power magnetically shielded Hall thruster with a hollow cathode

作     者：Guangchuan ZHANG Junxue REN Wei LIANG Ning OUYANG Chao LU Haibin TANG Guangchuan ZHANG;Junxue REN;Wei LIANG;Ning OUYANG;Chao LU;Haibin TANG

作者机构：School of Space and EnvironmentBeihang UniversityBeijing 100083China School of AstronauticsBeihang UniversityBeijing 100083China Shanghai Institute of Space PropulsionShanghai 201112China Key Laboratory of Spacecraft Design Optimization&Dynamic Simulation TechnologiesMinistry of EducationBeijing 100083China Laboratory of Space Environment Monitoring and Information ProcessingMinistry of Industry and Information TechnologyBeijing 100083China 

出 版 物：《Chinese Journal of Aeronautics》 (中国航空学报（英文版）)

年 卷 期：2020年第33卷第12期

页      面：3018-3026页

核心收录：

学科分类：080703[工学-动力机械及工程] 08[工学] 0807[工学-动力工程及工程热物理] 0802[工学-机械工程] 0825[工学-航空宇航科学与技术] 0801[工学-力学（可授工学、理学学位）] 

基　　金：supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China(No.11872093)。 

主　　题：Coupling region Electron conduction Hall thruster Hollow cathode Utilizations of propellant and current 

摘      要：The coupling region of a Hall thruster with a hollow cathode is the region between the cathode and the thruster plume.The characteristics of plasma in that region are complicated and strongly associated with the thruster working conditions and the cathode position.In this paper,a laboratory 100 W class magnetically shielded Hall thruster was coupled with a hollow cathode.Optical imaging and electrostatic probe were employed to monitor and scan the plasma plume.Plume characteristics in the coupling region in non-self-sustained mode and self-sustained mode were compared.Evolution of the coupling plume with the cathode position was studied.Experiments show that,when turning the thruster into self-sustained mode or moving the cathode further away axially,the discharge current can be reduced by 6.4–10.6%restraining the electron current and improving ionization.In particular,when the cathode is moved further,the electron conduction near the channel walls is suppressed.The electron current is reduced by 27.4%and the ion beam current is increased by 7%.Overall,this work shows that the working mode of the thruster and the position of the cathode greatly affect the coupling plasma plume.Both play an important role in improving the utilizations of propellant and current.