Krypton performance optimization in high-voltage hall thrusters

Krypton is being considered for use as a propellant to find approximate anode flow rates and discharge voltages for Hall thrusters. The NASA-173Mv 1 Hall effect thruster was used to characterize the performance of the krypton propellant. The thruster used a trim coil to shape the magnetic field topology in addition to the standard inner and outer magnetic coils. The added magnetic field control offered by the coil was found to improve thruster efficiency by providing both a magnetic plasma lens through the bulk of the channel width and magnetic mirrors at the channel wall. The real-time efficiency was calculated from the monitored Hall-thruster conditions and the magnets were then varied to find the true peak efficiency. The Hall thruster was optimized over a period of 30 minutes to two hours to reach a steady operation point. It was found that krypton efficiency is optimized above a discharge voltage of 500 V and with an Αvalue of at least 0.015 mg/(mm.s).

Duke Scholars

Author Alec Gallimore Thomas Lord Department of Mechanical Engineering and Materia ...