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http://dx.doi.org/10.6108/KSPE.2016.20.3.054

Shape Characteristics of Exhaust Plume of Dual-Stage Plasma Thruster using Direct-Current Micro-Hollow Cathode Discharge  

Ho, Thi Thanh Trang (Flight Operations Engineering Department, Vietjet Air - Ho Chi Minh City)
Shin, Jichul (School of Mechanical Engineering, University of Ulsan)
Publication Information
Journal of the Korean Society of Propulsion Engineers / v.20, no.3, 2016 , pp. 54-62 More about this Journal
Abstract
Micro plasma thruster (${\mu}PT$) was studied experimentally with a dual-stage micro-hollow cathode discharge (MHCD) plasma. Electrostatic-like acceleration exhibiting more directional and elongated exhaust plume was achieved by a dual layer MHCD at the total input power less than 10 W with argon flow rate of 40 sccm. V-I characteristic indicated that there was an optimal regime for dual-stage operation where the acceleration voltage across the second stage remained constant. Estimated exhaust plume length showed a similar trend to the analytic estimate of exhaust velocity which scales with an acceleration voltage. ${\mu}PT$ with multiple holes exhibited similar performance with single-hole thruster indicating that higher power loading is possible owing to decreased power through each hole. Boltzmann plot of atomic argon spectral lines showed average electron excitation temperature of about 2.6 eV (~30,170 K) in the exhaust plume.
Keywords
Plasma Thruster; Micro Thruster; DC Discharge;
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