A space electric thruster plume neutralizer

Abstract

The invention discloses a plume neutralizer of a space electric thruster. The neutralizer comprises an ignition electrode, a top hole plate, a heater, a heat shielding cylinder, an emitting body and a support pipe; the emitting body is mounted in the support pipe; the top hole plate shields out of the emitting body, and is fixedly connected with the support pipe; the heater is mounted out of the support pipe opposite to the emitting body; a heating area covers the whole emitting body; the heater is wrapped with an insulation ceramic layer; the heat shielding cylinder covers the heater, and forms gaps with the heater and the insulation ceramic layer; the ignition electrode is mounted at the downstream of the top hole plate, and forms a gap with a small hole of the top hole plate; and a center hole of the ignition electrode is coaxial with the small hole of the top hole plate. The neutralizer generates a lot of electrons through a hot electron ionized gas discharge mode; continuously emitted electrons are high in density; after the gas discharge is stabilized, the self-heating can be performed to maintain discharge, so that the system power consumption is saved; the equivalent potential is low; the effective acceleration voltage of the thruster is higher; and the specific impulse of the thruster is high.

Description

technical field [0001] The invention belongs to the field of aerospace, and in particular relates to a space electric thruster plume neutralizer, which is suitable for plume neutralization of electric thrusters such as Hall, ion, microwave and field emission. Background technique [0002] Compared with chemical propulsion, electric propulsion has a high specific impulse. It can be widely used in missions such as spacecraft orbit transfer, orbit maintenance, attitude control, drag-free control, and main propulsion for deep space exploration. agents, increase spacecraft life, or reduce onboard requirements. With the development of space propulsion technology, electric propulsion has been commercially applied since the 1990s and has been successfully applied to hundreds of spacecraft. Space powers such as the United States, Europe, Russia, and Japan have adopted electric propulsion as a space power competition, deep space The symbolic factor of exploration and commercial appli...

AI Technical Summary

Problems solved by technology

However, the emission current of products with a lifetime of tens of thousands of hours in a vacuum electron source is generally microampere or milliampere level, and it needs to work in a vacuum degree better than 1×10 -4 In the ultra-high vacuum environment of Pa, products with an emission current of several amperes or tens of amperes require thousands of volts of high voltage and thousands of watts of continuous power supply, and the equivalent potential of the emitted electron current is relatively high

Thrusters in the field of space electric propulsion must be fed with a certain flow rate of propellant medium when working, and the vacuum degree of the ground test environment is generally 5×10 -3 Around Pa, the partial vacuum of the thruster reaches hundreds to thousands of Pa, and the propellant will pollute the emitter material to a certain extent, so the electron source in the field of vacuum electronics technology is not suitable for use in space electric propulsion systems

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