Download or read book Evaluation of Pulsed Plasma Thruster Micropulsing written by National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and published by Createspace Independent Publishing Platform. This book was released on 2018-06-21 with total page 30 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This paper evaluates the concept of pulsed plasma thruster (PPT) micropulsing. Micropulsing was a premise behind a power processing unit (PPU) and an energy storage unit (ESU) design that for certain mission profiles, it was advantageous to operate a PPT at lower energy but higher frequency rather than at a higher energy but lower frequency. This premise allows for reductions in the ESU volume and mass without paying a penalty in thrust. To complete the evaluation, an independent spark plug initiation unit, a high voltage power supply and a variety of mica foil capacitors at 2.6, 5, 10, and 20 capacitance were used to conduct a series of tests on a single PPT to map performance levels of thrust, impulse bit, efficiency and specific impulse over a comparable power range. Testing at NASA Glenn Research Center was conducted with breadboard PPT hardware. The test results showed that operating in the lower energy ESU micropulsing mode produced similar thrust levels to a higher energy ESU operating at high power level. Further testing however showed a reduction in specific impulse and efficiency when the smaller capacitances were used at the highest power levels. This would require more fuel mass for a mission that was predominately high power, potentially negating the ESU mass savings. Therefore, micropulsing is advantageous where most of a mission profile occurs at low power, but retains the ability to conduct high thrust maneuvers when necessary. Arrington, Lynn Glenn Research Center NASA/CR-2004-213209, AIAA Paper 2004-3458, E-14717

Download or read book Evaluation of Pulsed Plasma Thruster Electrical Eomponents written by Eric J. Pencil and published by . This book was released on 2001 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Evaluation of Low Power Pulsed Plasma Thruster for U LabSat II written by Kohji Tamura and published by . This book was released on 2002 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Numerical Simulation of Pulsed Plasma Thruster written by Jianjun Wu and published by Springer. This book was released on 2024-11-20 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book are valuable in gaining an understanding of the working mechanism of pulsed plasma thrusters. It facilitates the evaluation of the thruster's working characteristics and propulsive performance, thereby providing a crucial theoretical foundation and reference for the design, development, and engineering application of pulsed plasma thrusters. Additionally, this book significantly contributes to the advancement of space electric propulsion technology. Researchers and engineers in the aerospace propulsion field can greatly benefit from the insights presented within this book. This is an open access book.

Download or read book Assessment of the Plume Characteristics of a Miniaturized Pulsed Plasma Thurster written by Richard Henry [Verfasser] Sypniewski Jr. and published by . This book was released on 2016 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Pulsed Plasma Thrusters are one of the most simplistic constructions in the electric propulsion family and are categorized among the electromagnetic class of thrusters. This classification of electromagnetics deals with the underlying physics of the pulsed plasma thruster and is much more complex with less understanding then other electric propulsion systems. However, due to the mechanical simplicity, wide range of specific impulses, non-toxic propellant, and the numerous applications, these thrusters are an ideal candidate for integrating into CubeSats. CubeSats are nanosatellites that are designed in three typical standard sizes (1 Unit, 2 Unit, and 3 Unit), each with standardized footprints. The smallest volumetric dimensions are the 1 Unit CubeSat, which is 10 x 10 x 10 cm. The volume and mass of CubeSats are quite small and therefore the miniaturization of the Pulsed Plasma Thruster is necessary to adhere to these constraints. Current research has shown that when miniaturization of a Pulsed Plasma Thruster there is a tendency for the thruster to work and perform in the electrothermal regime rather than in the electromagnetic one. Understanding which regime the thruster is operating in is critical for understanding how to optimize the design. For example, a thruster operates with higher efficiencies in the electromagnetic regime because there is much less loss from Ohmic heating. Preliminary testing of the Micro-Pulsed Plasma Thruster design was performed by the research company called FOTEC and determined a thruster chamber design. To understand thoroughly the Micro-Pulsed Plasma Thruster, characterization of the thruster and its plume will be conducted experimentally. This characterization will determine parametric features such as current/voltage waveform, electron temperatures, electron densities, and exhaust velocities. Performing the initial characterizations will give insight into the Micro-Pulsed Plasma Thruster and will provide further understanding into the regime that the thruster is operating in. The characteristics that resulted from this thesis concluded that the Micro-Pulsed Plasma Thruster is operating in the electromagnetic regime. This was concluded based on several characteristic traits that only conclude for electromagnetic acceleration mechanisms. These were that the peak currents reached were approximately 5,000 A and the exhaust velocity was in the 50 km/sec range. Further information was measured and the total resistance and inductance was calculated to be 13 m and 24 nH. Details on this information and how it was calculated is discussed in this thesis.*****Pulsed Plasma Thrusters are one of the most simplistic constructions in the electric propulsion family and are categorized among the electromagnetic class of thrusters. This classification of electromagnetics deals with the underlying physics of the pulsed plasma thruster and is much more complex with less understanding then other electric propulsion systems. However, due to the mechanical simplicity, wide range of specific impulses, non-toxic propellant, and the numerous applications, these thrusters are an ideal candidate for integrating into CubeSats. CubeSats are nanosatellites that are designed in three typical standard sizes (1 Unit, 2 Unit, and 3 Unit), each with standardized footprints. The smallest volumetric dimensions are the 1 Unit CubeSat, which is 10 x 10 x 10 cm. The volume and mass of CubeSats are quite small and therefore the miniaturization of the Pulsed Plasma Thruster is necessary to adhere to these constraints. Current research has shown that when miniaturization of a Pulsed Plasma Thruster there is a tendency for the thruster to work and perform in the electrothermal regime rather than in the electromagnetic one. Understanding which regime the thruster is operating in is critical for understanding how to optimize the design. For example, a thruster operates with higher efficiencies in the electromagne

Download or read book Analysis of a Pulsed Electromagnetic Plasma Thruster written by Peter Michael Waltz and published by . This book was released on 1969 with total page 68 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Analysis of Solid Teflon Pulsed Plasma Thruster written by Robert Vondra and published by . This book was released on 1970 with total page 7 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Performance and Analysis of a Coaxial Electrothermal Pulsed Plasma Thruster written by Filip Rysanek and published by . This book was released on 2002 with total page 178 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Plume Characterization of a One Millipound Solid Teflon Pulsed Plasma Thruster written by L. C. Pless and published by . This book was released on 1978 with total page 103 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An evaluation was made of the pulsed plasma thruster plume-wall backscatter characteristics of the MOLSINK facility. On the thruster axis, this backscatter drops off to zero as the angle between the axis and wall location reaches 40. This wall backscatter was found to be essentially symmetric about the plume axis. The total integrated backscatter from the MOLSINK wall is approximately equal to 5% of the total mass injected from the pulsed plasma thruster during the discharge pulse.

Download or read book Stationary Plasma Thruster Evaluation in Russia written by National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and published by Createspace Independent Publishing Platform. This book was released on 2018-07-11 with total page 40 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A team of electric propulsion specialists from U.S. government laboratories experimentally evaluated the performance of a 1.35-kW Stationary Plasma Thruster (SPT) at the Scientific Research Institute of Thermal Processes in Moscow and at 'Fakel' Enterprise in Kaliningrad, Russia. The evaluation was performed using a combination of U.S. and Russian instrumentation and indicated that the actual performance of the thruster appears to be close to the claimed performance. The claimed performance was a specific impulse of 16,000 m/s, an overall efficiency of 50 percent, and an input power of 1.35 kW, and is superior to the performance of western electric thrusters at this specific impulse. The unique performance capabilities of the stationary plasma thruster, along with claims that more than fifty of the 660-W thrusters have been flown in space on Russian spacecraft, attracted the interest of western spacecraft propulsion specialists. A two-phase program was initiated to evaluate the stationary plasma thruster performance and technology. The first phase of this program, to experimentally evaluate the performance of the thruster with U.S. instrumentation in Russia, is described in this report. The second phase objective is to determine the suitability of the stationary plasma thruster technology for use on western spacecraft. This will be accomplished by bringing stationary plasma thrusters to the U.S. for quantification of thruster erosion rates, measurements of the performance variation as a function of long-duration operation, quantification of the exhaust beam divergence angle, and determination of the non-propellant efflux from the thruster. These issues require quantification in order to maximize the probability for user application of the SPT technology and significantly increase the propulsion capabilities of U.S. spacecraft. Brophy, John R. Jet Propulsion Laboratory NAS7-918...

Download or read book 40th AIAA ASME SAE ASEE Joint Propulsion Conference Exhibit July 11 14 2004 Fort Lauderdale FL no 3699 written by and published by . This book was released on 2004 with total page 564 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Investigation of Thrust Mechanisms in a Water Fed Pulsed Plasma Thruster written by Carsten A. Scharlemann and published by . This book was released on 2003 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Abstract: Analytic models predict the possibility of extending the range of performance parameters of Pulsed Plasma Thrusters (PPT) by using propellants other than the traditionally used Teflon. A theoretical and experimental effort was initiated at The Ohio State University to investigate the use of alternative propellants for PPT. Analytical and numerical calculations (MACH2) indeed indicate a significant broadening of the obtainable range of specific impulse and thrust-to-power ratios when alternative propellants such as lithium or water are utilized. Consequently, in an effort to investigate changes in physical phenomena and thruster performance experimentally, a hybrid thruster was designed and built, facilitating the use of alternatively water or Teflon. The thruster design includes a unique water propellant feed system, allowing the supply of the water propellant without detrimentally affecting the inherent simplicity of the PPT system. ii The thruster operation and performance was investigated by several different diagnostic methods, including current and voltage measurements, Langmuir probes, and magnetic field probes. Furthermore, impact pressure measurements in the plume of the thruster allowed new insight into the plume structure and the accurate evaluation of impulse bits. Employment of the diagnostic methods for Teflon and water propellant enabled the unambigous identification of propellant related effects such as reduced electron temperature and higher exhaust velocites in the case of water propellant. The electromagnetic nature of the water thruster was clearly identified. For 30 J discharge energy, the water thruster requires only 5% of the mass bit of a Teflon thruster to produce an impulse bit 30% of the magnitude of the Teflon thruster, suggesting greatly increased propellant efficiencies. In agreement with the plasma diagnostic results, a specific impulse for the water thruster of up to 8000 s and efficiencies of up to 16% were evaluated.

Download or read book Experimental and Theoretical Analysis of Pulsed Plasma Exhaust Plumes written by Dominic J. Palumbo and published by . This book was released on 1978 with total page 37 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Pulsed plasma plume diagnostic studies performed in the past have shown that considerable uncertainty exists because of the degree of backscatter encountered in ground test facilities. The large level of backscatter is attributable to the extremely high mass expulsion rate characteristic of solid propellant pulsed plasma thrusters (30 to 40 g/s on the average). The study reported upon herein had the objective of obtaining a suitable analytic model and computational scheme for calculation of the plume characteristics of a 23 mN-s pulsed plasma thruster. The calculated results were compared to experimental measurements of electron number density and temperature, obtained using specially designed Langmuir probes, only up to the point in the time when backscatter of plume effluents off the vacuum chamber walls became significant. A secondary objective of the program was to design a suitable driver circuit for the Langmuir Sangmuir probes so that a voltage ramp could be pulsed for one microsecond at any given time subsequent to thruster discharge initiation and the volt-ampere characteristic could be displayed on an XY oscilloscope.

Download or read book Liquid Pulsed Plasma Thruster Plasma Plume Investigation and MR SAT Cold Gas Propulsion System Performance Analysis written by Jeremiah Daniel Hanna and published by . This book was released on 2017 with total page 103 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "The plasma plume produced by a liquid pulsed plasma thruster is investigated using a Langmuir triple probe and a nude Faraday probe. The Langmuir triple probe failed to produce results which are suspected caused by the presence of ionic liquid in the plume resulting in shorting of the probe. The nude Faraday probe is able to record the ion current density which revealed a high level of inconsistency in the plasma plume. Ion current density recorded by the nude Faraday probe had a relative standard deviation of upwards of 100% of the mean value. Controlling the amount of propellant used during each pulse was extremely difficult. Investigating the plasma plume with more complex probes was not done due to the inconsistency measured by the nude Faraday probe and the expulsion of ionic liquid from the thruster which is highly corrosive to metals. Examining the historical thrust test data performed by the Missouri Satellite Research Team, a revised model with new assumptions was created and resulted in an improvement in accuracy to within 4.5%. The cold gas propulsion system developed over the years had undergone testing which resulted in measured thrust half of what was predicted. Developing a thrust prediction scheme that incorporates the effects of the solenoid control valve decreases the error to between 1-3% depending on temperature considerations. This thrust prediction scheme can be applied to the current design for the NanoSat 8 competition and results in an accurate prediction of thrust"--Abstract, page iii.

Download or read book Review of Micro Propulsion Ablative Devices written by and published by . This book was released on 2004 with total page 31 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: OUTLINE: * Examples of micro propulsion ablative devices * Fundamentals of ablation * Detailed analysis of specific devices: Micro-Pulsed Plasma Thruster -- Micro-Laser Plasma Thruster -- Micro-Vacuum Arc Thruster * SUMMARY: * Various microthruster technologies based on ablative mechanism were developed. * Self-consistent modeling approach for ablative micro-thrusters was formulated based on a kinetic ablation model and particle plume simulation. * Most extensive validation of the modeling approach was performed for micro-pulsed plasma thruster. Plasma density, surface temperature, ablation rate, ablation profile were compared with experiment. Optimization criteria were formulated for some devices, such as microPPT.

Download or read book Radiation Hardness Assessment of the Millipound Pulsed Plasma Thruster Electronic Subsystem written by Steven H. Face and published by . This book was released on 1981 with total page 129 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A preliminary assessment of the radiation hardness of the electronics subsystem of the Fairchild pulsed plasma thruster is presented. Both the natural and artificial radiation environment in space are considered. The total dose and transient effects of high-energy electrons, gamma rays, x-rays, neutrons and electromagnetic pulsed are reviewed for various types of solid-state devices, including transistors, diodes, SCRs, integrated circuits, resistors and capacitors. Recommendations are made for component choices, circuit designs, shielding and testing to minimize long term degradation and circuit upsets from space radiation. (Author).

Download or read book Characterization of an Exploding Micro wire Pulsed Plasma Thruster written by Diego Mejia Montano and published by . This book was released on 2019 with total page 64 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Pulsed Plasma Thrusters typically live in the low-range efficiency realm compared to other types of electric propulsion thrusters. In an attempt to explore if any added benefits could be gained from experimenting with a new propellant type, additional physics had to be incorporated into the classical RLC model approach. A study into modeling how a micro-wire propellant would react when subjected to energy deposition via current-driven heating was undertaken. Once a first-order estimate, verified with computational estimates, was obtained then the classical RLC series circuit model could be used to compare and validate the results obtained from experimentation. It was found that while the proposed propellant type is feasible, it produced performance differences that could not be explained solely by the classical model and a more exhaustive investigation into various phenomena will have to be pursued.