TY - CONF
T1 - Performance characterization of a high efficiency gas-fed pulsed plasma thruster
AU - Ziemer, J. K.
AU - Cubbin, E. A.
AU - Choueiri, E. Y.
AU - Birx, Daniel
N1 - Funding Information:
Research supported by Science Research Laboratory Inc. through a NASA-JPL SBIR. Portion of the work was also supported by the Air Force Office of Scientific Research, grant number: F49620-95-1-0291.
Funding Information:
'Research supported by Science Research Laboratory Inc. through a NASA-.IPL SBIR. Portion of the work was also supported by the Air Force Office of Scientific Research, grant number: F49620-95-1-0291. *Graduate Student, Research Assistant. Member AIAA. 'Graduate Student, Research Assistant. Member AIAA. sdiief Scientist at EPPDyL. Assistant Professor, Applied Physics Group. Senior Member AIAA. ^Presented at the 33rrf AIAA Joint Propulsion Conference. Seattle, WA, July 6-9, 1997.
Publisher Copyright:
© 1997, American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Inc.
PY - 1997
Y1 - 1997
N2 - We present a characterization of the performance of a recently developed gas-fed pulsed plasma thruster (GF-PPT) at low discharge energies (≤5 J). The impulsive thrust measurements were made using EPPDyL’s high-accuracy interferometric microthrust stand. The thruster is best suited for small satellite applications and is operated in an unsteady pulsed mode (3 μs/pulse). It is the result of a series of design iterations aimed at achieving the highest thrust efficiencies for unsteady electromagnetic acceleration at low discharge energies. The use of advanced nonlinear magnetic switching technology, which insured a total system inductance of 3-4 nH, combined with an electrode geometry and radial gas injection that favor low profile losses, yielded a total efficiency of 50% at 5 J with argon (at an impulse bit of 32 μNs and a mass bit of.2 μg/shot). This is the highest measured efficiency ever reported for a PPT at this low energy level. Moreover, the low mass utilization efficiency problem that plagued previous gas-fed pulsed thrusters was solved using a scheme based on an allsolid- state modulator with IGBT commutation that allows high repetition rate pulsing of the discharge (5000 pps) developed at SRL Inc. The scheme results in a mass utilization efficiency close to 100%.
AB - We present a characterization of the performance of a recently developed gas-fed pulsed plasma thruster (GF-PPT) at low discharge energies (≤5 J). The impulsive thrust measurements were made using EPPDyL’s high-accuracy interferometric microthrust stand. The thruster is best suited for small satellite applications and is operated in an unsteady pulsed mode (3 μs/pulse). It is the result of a series of design iterations aimed at achieving the highest thrust efficiencies for unsteady electromagnetic acceleration at low discharge energies. The use of advanced nonlinear magnetic switching technology, which insured a total system inductance of 3-4 nH, combined with an electrode geometry and radial gas injection that favor low profile losses, yielded a total efficiency of 50% at 5 J with argon (at an impulse bit of 32 μNs and a mass bit of.2 μg/shot). This is the highest measured efficiency ever reported for a PPT at this low energy level. Moreover, the low mass utilization efficiency problem that plagued previous gas-fed pulsed thrusters was solved using a scheme based on an allsolid- state modulator with IGBT commutation that allows high repetition rate pulsing of the discharge (5000 pps) developed at SRL Inc. The scheme results in a mass utilization efficiency close to 100%.
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M3 - Paper
AN - SCOPUS:84962828419
T2 - 33rd Joint Propulsion Conference and Exhibit, 1997
Y2 - 6 July 1997 through 9 July 1997
ER -