Ionization, plume properties, and performance of cylindrical hall thrusters

Kevin D. Diamant, James E. Pollard, Yevgeny Raitses, Nathaniel J. Fisch

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

32 Scopus citations

Abstract

It is shown experimentally that the cylindrical Hall thruster (CHT) produces a highly ionized plasma flow with mass utilization efficiencies greater than 100% due to generation of multicharged ions. For the CHT employing geometries with and without a short annular section, used to enhance ionization, plume divergence reductions of approximately 25% were demonstrated by running a cathode-keeper discharge along with the main cathode-anode discharge. Thruster anode efficiencies varied from approximately 15% to 35% over input powers from 70 to 220 W. A 2-A keeper discharge resulted in an approximately 20% increase in anode specific impulse for both geometries, and the specific impulse for the case of no annular section was, on average, 13% higher than that with the annular section. The multicharged ion fraction increased with keeper current, and the quantity of channel erosion products in the plume was correlated with that of multicharged ions.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Article number5432988
Pages (from-to)1052-1057
Number of pages6
JournalIEEE Transactions on Plasma Science
Volume38
Issue number4 PART 4
DOIs
StatePublished - Apr 2010

All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes

  • Nuclear and High Energy Physics
  • Condensed Matter Physics

Keywords

  • Charge state
  • Hall thruster
  • Ion flux
  • Performance
  • Plume

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