Download or read book Numerical Modelling of a Radio frequency Micro Ion Thruster written by Michael Meng-Tsuan Tsay and published by . This book was released on 2006 with total page 114 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A simple performance model is developed for an inductively-coupled radio-frequency micro ion thruster. Methods of particle and energy balance are utilized for modeling the chamber plasma discharge. A transformer model is incorporated in the equations of energy balance for investigating the effect of plasma on the primary circuit and for calculating the absorbed power by the plasma. A simple and one-dimensional ion extraction model is developed based on experimental observation and the result is validated with experimental data. Performance of the RF micro ion thruster is satisfactory with thrust and specific impulse of approximately 2 mN and 2000 seconds, respectively. Comparison is made with a miniature bombardment-type ion thruster, and the RF ion thruster is found to be more efficient when the coupling efficiency is above 80%. Optimization in driving frequency increases power absorption and ionization fraction tremendously. It has a positive but limited effect on propulsive performance as the ion beam current is space-charge limited.

Download or read book Numerical Modelling and Optimisation of Radio frequency Ion Thrusters written by Martin Felix Closs and published by Herbert Utz Verlag. This book was released on 2002 with total page 162 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Results from Numerical Modelling of RF Ion Thrusters written by Martin F. Cross and published by . This book was released on 2000 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Two dimensional Numerical Modeling of Radio Frequency Ion Engine Discharge written by Michael Meng-Tsuan Tsay and published by . This book was released on 2010 with total page 109 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Small satellites are gaining popularity in the space industry and reduction in spacecraft size requires scaling down its propulsion system. Low-power electric propulsion poses a unique challenge due to various scaling penalties. Of high-performance plasma thrusters, the radio-frequency ion engine is most likely to succeed in scaling as it does not require an externally applied magnetic field and is structurally simple to construct. As part of a design package an original two-dimensional simulation code for radio-frequency ion engine discharge is developed. The code models the inductive plasma with fluid assumption and resolves the electromagnetic wave in the time domain. Major physical effects considered include magnetic field diffusion and coupling, plasma current induction and ambipolar plasma diffusion. The discharge simulation is benchmarked with data from an experimental thruster. It shows excellent performance in predicting the load power and the internal power loss of the plasma. Predictability of anode current depends on the operating power but is generally adequate. Optimum skin depth on the order of half of chamber radius is suggested by the simulation. The code also demonstrates excellent scaling ability as it successfully predicts the performance of a smaller thruster with errors less than 10%. Using the code a brief optimization study was conducted and the results suggest the maximum thrust efficiency does not necessarily occur at the same frequency that maximizes the power coupling efficiency of the matching circuit.

Download or read book Numerical Simulation of Ion Thruster Optics written by and published by . This book was released on 2003 with total page 18 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Numerical Modeling of Ion Dynamics in a Carbon Nanotube Field ionized Thruster written by Sarah F. Michael and published by . This book was released on 2011 with total page 105 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Carbon nanotube field ionization technology has the potential to make ion propulsion feasible for use in micro and nano-satellites. To better understand the phenomenon and optimize the ion thruster design, it is useful to have an accurate model of the system. Numerical modeling of large-scale electron bombardment ion engines is a relatively mature field, but modeling of field-ionized ion engines is in its infancy. A simpler code may be appropriate for the early modeling stages of carbon nanotube field ionization technology; one such software package is spiffe. Spiffe is intended for modeling axisymmetric radio frequency guns, but it contains all the code necessary for basic modeling of ion optics in a field-ionized ion thruster. This work analyzes the feasibility of spiffe software for use in modeling field-ionized ion thrusters. It also provides detailed procedures for its use. In this work, spiffe is first verified to agree with theoretical predictions of limits in a one-dimensional approximation using electrons. Two primary geometries and their boundary conditions are investigated. The geometry is then varied to test the limits of the one-dimensional approximation. This was further altered to simulate singly-charged Argon ions and verified against theoretical onedimensional limits. A supplemental user's guide was developed to aid students with minimal programming experience to quickly become familiar with the methods used in spiffe and the impact of program options on the results. A guide to quickly post-processing the data was also developed.

Download or read book Numerical Simulations of the Plumes of Electric Propulsion Thrusters written by Douglas Bryan VanGilder and published by . This book was released on 2000 with total page 370 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Development of a Plasma Simulation Tool for Radio Frequency Ion Thrusters written by Robert Henrich and published by . This book was released on 2013 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Analysis of a Miniature Radio Frequency Ion Thruster with an Inductively Coupled Plasma Source written by Peter Paul Bumbarger and published by . This book was released on 2013 with total page 144 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Numerical Simulation of Ion Thruster and Stationary Plasma Thruster Exhaust Beam Electrostatic Potential Fields written by Michael Sanghun Rhee and published by . This book was released on 1995 with total page 288 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Development of a Miniature Radio Frequency Ion Thruster with Inductively Coupled Plasma ICP Source for CubeSat Propulsion written by and published by . This book was released on 2021 with total page 125 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Modelling and Design of Inductively Coupled Radio Frequency Gridded Ion Thrusters with an Application to Ion Beam Shepherd Type Space Missions written by Mantas Dobkevicius and published by . This book was released on 2017 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Numerical Simulation of Ion Thruster Optics written by Cody C. Farnell and published by . This book was released on 2003 with total page 11 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Numerical Models of Hall Thruster Ionization Oscillations written by Ewan Samuel Kay and published by . This book was released on 2016 with total page 143 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this thesis, low frequency ionization oscillations in Hall thrusters resembling the breathing mode are studied through computational simulation. The relationship between wall erosion and discharge current oscillations is analyzed using particle-in-cell simulation, and a series of parametric simulations is used to determine the effects of macro-particle size, floating body potential, electron injection region, ion time step size, grid refinement, heavy particle mass reduction, and an artificial permittivity factor. These studies help to determine the parameters that will produce accurate simulations in the future, and identify the parts of the model that need improvement. One-dimensional steady and unsteady Hall thruster models, as well as a generalized sheath model are then developed, and the effects of the parameters that determine stability on the thruster’s operating conditions are determined.

Download or read book The Creation Analysis and Verification of a Comprehensive Model of a Micro Ion Thruster written by Maxwell Bodnar and published by . This book was released on 2016 with total page 225 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A computational model of the micro-ion thruster MiXI has been developed, analyzed, and partially verified. This model includes submodels that govern the physical, magnetic, electrostatic, plasma physics, and power deposition of the thruster. Over the past few years, theses have been conducted with the goal of running tests and analyzing the results; this model is used to understand how the thruster components interact so as to make predictions about, and allow for optimization of, the thruster operation. Testing is then performed on the thruster and the results are compared to the output of the code. The magnetic structure of the thruster was analyzed and numerous different configurations generated which were also evaluated by the optimizer and tested. Using the different configurations, models, and optimization tools, the total efficiency of the thruster is theoretically able to reach 69.4%. Operational testing of the thruster at many different throttle settings demonstrated a maximum total efficiency of 45.9 ±24.6%, discharge loss values as low as 109 ±25 eV/ion, and total power required as low as 50.5 ±0.1W to maintain thruster operation with beam extraction. Measurements of the plasma were taken using a Langmuir probe and the interpretation of the tests are used to verify the plasma physics submodel. Power draw measurements and analysis of the throttle inputs during testing are compared to the performance model outputs but were not accurate or consistent enough to fully verify the power deposition and plasma physics models. Analysis of the models and operational testing in this study have led to an increased understanding of the performance and operation of the MiXI-CP-V3 thruster, furthering the effort to create an efficient, flight capable micro-ion thruster.

Download or read book Fully Kinetic Numerical Modeling of a Plasma Thruster written by James Joseph Szabo and published by . This book was released on 2001 with total page 375 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A Hall effect plasma thruster with conductive acceleration channel walls was numerically modeled using 2D3V Particle-in-Cell (PIC) and Monte-Carlo Collision (MCC) methodolo- gies. Electron, ion, and neutral dynamics were treated kinetically on the electron time scale to study transport, instabilities, and the electron energy distribution function. Axisymmet- ric R-Z coordinates were used with a non-orthogonal variable mesh to account for important small-scale plasma structures and a complex physical geometry. Electric field and sheath structures were treated self-consistently. Conductive channel walls were allowed to float electrically. The simulation included, via MCC, elastic and inelastic electron-neutral colli- sions, ion-neutral scattering and charge exchange collisions, and Coulomb collisions. The latter were also treated through a Langevin (stochastic) differential equation for the particle trajectories in velocity space. Ion-electron recombination was modeled at the boundaries, and neutrals were recycled into the flow. The cathode was modeled indirectly by inject- ing electrons at a rate which preserved quasineutrality. Anomalous diffusion was included through an equivalent scattering frequency. Free space permittivity was increased to allow a coarser grid and longer time-step. A method for changing the ion to electron mass ratio and retrieving physical results was developed and used throughout. Results were compared with theory, experiments. Gradients and anisotropy in electron temperature were observed. Non-Maxwellian electron energy distribution functions were observed. The thruster was numerically redesigned; substantial performance benefits were predicted.

Download or read book Analytical and Numerical Study of a Hall Effect Thruster with a Particle in cell Model written by Alejandro Benítez Martín and published by . This book was released on 2018 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Space propulsion, and more specifically electric propulsion, has been growing widely strong for the last 20 years thanks to the increasingly frequent technological advances in this field. That's why there are plenty of studies arising seeking for new ways of computing simulations of propulsion systems. This is the case of the Particle-in-Cell method. This method is nowhere near new, for it started being used in the 1950s, but the computational advances in the recent years have opened new doors for this numerical method that makes it one of the best options. So, this thesis has the main purpose of proving that Particle-in-Cell simulations of a onedimensional Hall-effect thruster channel give similar results to experimental data obtained via analytical models. For it, first an introduction to different electric propulsion systems and plasma physics will be done in order to have the basis of Hall thrusters functioning so the analysis can be performed. Once the basis are settled, the analytical model will be performed comparing the results with those obtained by professor E. Ahedo and then, using the results obtained in the analytical model as reference, the numerical model using the PIC method will be computed. Finally, by discussing and comparing the two models, we will see that the results obtained in both models resemble a lot those obtained by professor E. Ahedo and the experimental data from real life thrusters, with the only difference that some discrepancies appear. In the case of the analytical model, values in electrons temperature will tend to have a sudden decrease due to not taking into account wall losses and plume divergence, while in the PIC numerical model a little oscillation appears at the beginning due to the finite difference solver used. Although the appearance of such discrepancies, the results obtained are exactly the ones that were expected, hence proving the viability of the PIC model for plasma computation.