Performance characterization of a high efficiency gas-fed pulsed plasma thruster (original) (raw)
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Pulsed Plasma Thrusters (PPTs) are long standing electric propulsion thrusters that are reliable, relatively simple and low cost. A main problem with PPTs is its low efficiency, typically between 3-8%. One of the main contributors for the low efficiency in PPTs is the sublimation of propellant that takes place after the main discharge. This late time ablation produces a low speed gas and macro particles that does not contribute significantly to produce thrust. The High Frequency Pulsed Plasma Thruster (HFB-PPT) aims at accelerating the late time ablation by employing additional discharges after the main discharge. This paper presents the research on HFB-PPT at the University of Southampton and the development and test of a rectangular HFB-PPT, the design of a coaxial HFB-PPT and the initial design of a low power HFB-PPT for use in the UniSat-5 satellite.
TRANSACTIONS OF THE JAPAN SOCIETY FOR AERONAUTICAL AND SPACE SCIENCES, AEROSPACE TECHNOLOGY JAPAN, 2011
Although the pulsed plasma thruster (PPT) was first utilized on a space mission in 1964, after more than four decades, it is still a space-rated technology which has performed various propulsion tasks, from station-keeping to three-axis attitude control for a variety of former missions. With respect to the rapid growth in the small satellite community and the growing interest for smaller satellites in recent years, the PPT is one of the promising electric propulsion devices for small satellites (e.g., CubeSats) due to the following advantages: simplicity, lightweight, robustness, low power consumption, low production cost and small dimensions. Therefore, a laboratory benchmark rectangular breech-fed pulsed plasma thruster using a self-inductor as a coupling element was designed, developed and successfully tested in a bell-type vacuum chamber at 10 -4 Pa for the first time in west Asia (Iran). The PPT has been tested using a 35 μF, 2.5 kV oil-filled capacitor, producing an impulse bit varying from 300 μN-s to 1.3 mN-s at a maximum specific impulse of 1100 s. As a result a research program in Iran was initiated for working on PPTs and the miniaturization of PPTs while increasing the performance parameters. The present paper briefly reviews the PPT design and development.
Review of Pulsed Plasma Thruster Development at IRS
Transactions of the Japan Society for Aeronautical and Space Sciences, Aerospace Technology Japan, 2010
The research and development process of the ablative pulsed plasma thruster SIMP-LEX is summarized. By experiment, the magnetic field in between the electrodes was measured with an induction probe, and a high-speed camera was applied to estimate the propagation of the plasma plume. Further, the optimization process towards higher thrust efficiency by means of geometric and electrical modifications is described. By analysis, the calculation of magnetic field and change in inductance is summarized and the numerical models for the performance simulation of SIMP-LEX introduced. A peak value of 0.7 T was found for the magnetic field created during an 80 J discharge whereas a propagation velocity of 28 km/s was estimated for the first plasma plume. The optimization process towards a new engineering model yielded an increase of 40% in mean exhaust velocity to 26 km/s, and a maximum thrust efficiency of 32% was evaluated respectively. Calculation of magnetic field and change in inductance based on the Biot-Savart law yield input for the slug model, which can then predict the general performance parameters with a good accordance.
Review of Thermal Pulsed Plasma Thruster - Design, Characterization, and Application
With increasing demand for small satellite, the miniaturization of propulsion system is unavoidable. This forces Pulsed Plasma Thruster (PPT) to operate in a low-energy mode in which their performance is comparatively low. In such case, most of the discharge energy dissipates on Ohmic heating. The performance of low-energy PPT might be dominated by electrothermal acceleration instead of the electromagnetic acceleration. Therefore, the importance of thermal PPT should be re-evaluated. However, no publication yet existed to summarize the development of miniaturized PPT. Therefore, this paper presents the history of the development on low-energy PPT (< 20J), including the design concept and parameter, experiments and numerical model. The important issue in miniaturized PPT will be concerned and discussed.
Enabling Low-Cost High-Energy Missions with Small Spacecraft by Using Pulsed Plasma Thrusters
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Pulsed Plasma Thrusters (PPTs) were the first Electric Propulsion devices ever to be employed in an actual space mission, and continue to be used today when simplicity, robustness and scalability to different power levels are dominant requirements. Therefore, they find a natural niche of application in small-spacecraft missions, where mass, volume and onboard power are at a premium, in spite of their low overall efficiency and not fully understood physical operating principles. While PPTs have drawn renewed attention from the international space community after a long hiatus, this has been generally limited, until now, to low Delta-V, low total impulse missions. In this paper, we investigate the possibility of performing high Delta-v, high total impulse missions, such as orbit raising or even deep-space missions, using PPTs onboard small spacecraft.
Development of a Dual-axis Pulsed Plasma Thruster for Nanosatellite Applications
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This paper reports on the development and evaluation of a dual-axis pulsed plasma thruster (dPPT) for Aoba Velox-III 2U CubeSat at Nanyang Technological University. The mission requirements and thruster design, including electronics and mechanics, are described in detail. A test campaign was conducted to evaluate the dPPT performance in terms of impulse bit Ibit, specific impulse Isp, mass bit mbit, discharge voltage, and current of energy storage unit (ESU) response. Finally, experiments were carried out to verify the design consistency with mission requirements. Experiment results were collected to optimize the thruster in the future.
Preliminary Results of a High Frequency Pulsed Plasma Thruster
43rd AIAA/ASME/SAE/ASEE Joint Propulsion Conference & Exhibit, 2007
Pulsed Plasma Thrusters (PPTs) are long standing electric propulsion thrusters that are reliable, relatively simple and low cost. One of the main issues with PPTs is its low efficiency (discharge energy vs. exhaust jet"s kinetic energy), typically between 3-8%. One of the main contributors for the low performance in PPTs is the late time ablation (LTA). LTA is the sublimation of propellant that takes place after the main discharge, due to the propellant, usually Teflon ® , temperature being above its sublimation point. The LTA produces a low speed gas and macro particles that does not contribute significantly to produce thrust. The High Frequency Pulsed Plasma Thruster (HFB-PPT) is a novel patented design that aims at accelerating the late time ablation by employing additional discharges after the main discharge. This paper presents the HFB-PPT concept and preliminary results.
Thrust efficiency optimization of the pulsed plasma thruster SIMP-LEX
Acta Astronautica, 2010
The effect of electric parameters on the thrust efficiency of an ablative pulsed plasma thruster was studied. Analytically, it was shown that a higher efficiency can be obtained by increasing energy of a bank of capacitors. This can be achieved by changing the inductance per distance of the plasma sheet, or reducing the resistance of the circuit and the mass bit. Further, an optimum discharge time was found when the capacitance and the inductance were varied. A low initial inductance increases the thrust efficiency. Experimentally, these trends can be verified by comparing two thrusters: SIMP-LEX and ADD SIMP-LEX, with their different initial inductances. For ADD SIMP-LEX, the optimal thrust efficiency for different capacities was determined to be 31% at 60 mF for a 17 J configuration.
Being part of the Stuttgart Small Satellite Program, the two missions Perseus and Lunar Mission BW1 will provide a test-bed for new technologies comprising two dif-ferent kinds of electric propulsion systems. The Pulsed Plasma Thruster (PPT) project, initiated at IRS, named SIMP–LEX will provide one of the thrusters installed. For an improved research and development of the system, international cooperation was aimed with help of a coalescent PPT community and direct research programs. This paper will give a brief overview about past cooperations and justifications for a research cooperation as well as some information about the PPT working group and it will explain the research plan for the combined effort between the universities in Stuttgart and Tokyo. Nomenclature B = magnetic field ∆L = change in inductance caused by the plasma propagation I = discharge current x, y, z = coordinates in the space between the electrodes x p = position of the plasma sheet along the electrodes.