• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Propulsion Engineers Conference
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• 2008.03a
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• pp.550-552
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• 2008

A small hall thruster with a thrust of about 10 mN and a specific impulse of about 1500 s is being developed with an intent to control or maintain the orbits of small satellites. The total mass, consumed electric power and efficiency of the thruster are approximately 10 kg, 300W and 30%, respectively. The thruster system consists of a hall thruster with a cylindrical cross section, a power processing unit and a Xenon(Xe) gas feed system. Laboratory examination of the thruster performance finds that the thruster meets the design specification.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Aeronautical & Space Sciences
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• v.37 no.5
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• pp.490-495
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• 2009

A small Hall-effect thruster with a thrust range near 10 mN and a specific impulse of about 1500 s has been designed to control or maintain the orbits of small satellites. The thruster system consists of a hall-effect thruster head, a power processing unit and a Xenon (Xe) gas feed system. The total mass, the consumed electric power and the efficiency of the thruster are approximately 10 kg, 300W and 30%, respectively. Analyses results that support the selection of the thruster for small satellites are provided along with a brief description of the thruster system.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Propulsion Engineers Conference
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• 2008.03a
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• pp.574-578
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• 2008

In order to achieve thrust vector control and discharge stabilization in Hall thrusters, the azimuthal nonuniformity of propellant flow rate in an acceleration channel was created. A plenum chamber was divided into two rooms by two walls and propellant flow rate supplied to each section was independently controlled. In a magnetic layer type Hall thruster, steering angle of up to ${\pm}2.3$ degree was achieved. In an anode layer type Hall thruster, discharge current oscillation amplitude was decreased with the normalized differential mass flow rate.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Propulsion Engineers Conference
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• 2004.03a
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• pp.262-270
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• 2004

Basic experiments were carried out using the THT-IV low-power Hall thruster to examine the influences of magnetic field shape and strength, and acceleration channel length on thruster performance and to establish guidelines for design of high-performance Hall thrusters. Thrusts were measured with varying magnetic field and channel structure. Exhaust plasma diagnostic measurement was also made to evaluate plume divergent angles and voltage utilization efficiencies. Ion current spatial profiles were measured with a Faraday cup, and ion energy distribution functions were estimated from data with a retarding potential analyzer. The thruster was stably operated with a highest performance under an optimum acceleration channel length of 20 mm and an optimum magnetic field with a maximum strength of about 150 Gauss near the channel exit and with some shape considering ion acceleration directions. Accordingly, an optimum magnetic field and channel structure is considered to exist under an operational condition, related to inner physical phenomena of plasma production, ion acceleration and exhaust plasma feature. A new Hall thruster was designed with basic research data of the THT-IV thruster. With the thruster with many considerations, long stable operations were achieved. In all experiments at 200-400 V with 1.5-3 mg/s, the thrust and the specific impulse ranged from 15 to 70 mN and from 1100 to 2300 see, respectively, in a low electric power range of 300~1300 W. The thrust efficiency reached 55 %. Hence, a large map of the thruster performance was successfully made. The thermal characteristics were also examined with data of both measured and calculated temperatures in the thruster body. Thermally safe conditions were achieved with all input powers.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Aeronautical & Space Sciences
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• v.39 no.12
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• pp.1133-1140
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• 2011

Current design process for the Hall effect thruster has relied on expensive experimental method based on the limited historical data. In this study, a proper design space for the Hall effect thruster is chosen and associated design space exploration is conducted based on a recently proposed numerical method in order to improve current design process. According to the results of the design space exploration, performance envelope is determined for the given design space and the correlations between performance metrics are analyzed. Further analysis shows that main factors in performances for the Hall effect thruster are the anode mass flow rate and the discharge voltage.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Aeronautical & Space Sciences
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• v.48 no.8
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• pp.611-620
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• 2020

The effect of discharge voltage on electron mean energy, electric potential, ionization rate, neutral and ion density of Hall thruster was analyzed using a two-dimensional axisymmetric hybrid model. The results of the code developed for this study such as discharge current, thrust, and plasma distribution according to discharge voltage of SPT-100ML Hall thruster were compared by experiments and calculations of other researchers for validation. The results show that the electron mean energy, the ionization rate, and the ion density are increased while the neutral density is decreased as the discharge voltage is increased. The thrust and the discharge current are proportional to the discharge voltage.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Aeronautical & Space Sciences
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• v.37 no.5
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• pp.496-501
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• 2009

The thruster head unit of a 300 W cylindrical Hall thruster was developed for the propulsion system of small satellites. The magnetic topology in the thruster channel is a key parameter to achieve high performances. Two types of magnetic circuit structures were designed and manufactured to compare the thrust levels and efficiencies. Also the endurance test was conducted to measure the stable operation duration of the thruster head and to find degree of erosion after extended operation.

• International Journal of Aeronautical and Space Sciences
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• v.15 no.3
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• pp.320-334
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• 2014

Over the last two decades, numerous experimental and numerical efforts have examined physical phenomena in plasma discharge devices. The physical mechanisms that govern the anomalous electron diffusion from the cathode to the anode in the Hall Effect Thruster (HET) are not fully understood. This work used 1-D numerical method to improve our understanding and gain insight into the effect of the anomalous electron diffusion in the HET. To this end, numerical solutions are compared with various experimental HET performance measurements and the effects of anomalous electron diffusion are analyzed. The relationships between the anomalous electron diffusion and important parameters of the HET are also studied quantitatively. The work identifies the cathode mass flow rate fraction, radial magnetic field distribution, and discharge voltage as significant factors that affect anomalous electron diffusion. Additionally, the study demonstrates a computational process to determine the radial magnetic field distribution required to achieve specific thruster performance goals.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Aeronautical & Space Sciences
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• v.43 no.4
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• pp.377-386
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• 2015

DubaiSat-2 is the first satellite developed in Korea equipped with a hall-effect thruster. In this paper, the performance of the DubaiSat-2 hall-effect thruster is verified by analyzing the orbit information of DubaiSat-2. The preparation and performance of orbit operations during 8 months after launch (2013.11.21., UTC) is emphasized and the effects of solar activity on orbit evolution is analyzed. In particular, the hall-effect thruster's thrust is estimated by analyzing difference between observed orbit evolution and predicted orbit. As a result, the estimated thrust is similar to the ground experiment result of 11 mN. The summarized result in this paper would be important reference to improve the stability and effectiveness of satellite operation during the early operation and normal mission lifetime in case of low Earth orbit satellites.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Propulsion Engineers Conference
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• 2009.11a
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• pp.298-302
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• 2009

Low power Hall thruster is under development as one of the core technologies for STSAT-3. The Hall thruster has several advantages such as its simple structure, high thrust density and specific impulse etc. Development target values deduced by analyzing requirements are consumed electrical power, thrust, thrust efficiency, and specific impulse of < 300 W, > 10 mN, ~ 35%, and > 1000 s, respectively. In order to achieve the target specifications, two prototype Hall thrusters were developed and compared. To date, thrust and efficiency are 11 mN and 37% under the total power of 290 W with 0.97 mg/s Xe propellent supply.