Helicon wave ion source beam divergence control system
By using a spiral wave ion source beam divergence control system, and utilizing an arc-shaped curved grid and a magnetic expansion horn, uniform diffusion and confinement of plasma are achieved. This solves the problems of high plasma density and energy supply over a large area, reduces system weight and power consumption, and is suitable for spacecraft stealth technology.
Patent Information
- Authority / Receiving Office
- CN · China
- Patent Type
- Patents(China)
- Current Assignee / Owner
- LANZHOU INST OF PHYSICS CHINESE ACADEMY OF SPACE TECH
- Filing Date
- 2023-06-06
- Publication Date
- 2026-04-14
AI Technical Summary
Existing plasma stealth technologies struggle to generate high-density plasma over large areas, and the plasma diffusion is uneven, resulting in excessive power consumption and weight, which makes it difficult to meet the application requirements of spacecraft stealth.
The spiral wave ion source beam divergence control system includes a discharge chamber, electromagnetic coils, antenna, arc-shaped curved grid, and magnetic expansion horn. The arc-shaped curved grid generates an electric field, and the magnetic expansion horn achieves uniform diffusion and confinement of the plasma. The magnetic field is controlled by high-temperature excitation wires and permanent magnets, which reduces energy consumption and weight.
It achieves uniform diffusion of high-density plasma over a large area, reduces system weight and power consumption, and meets the application requirements of spacecraft stealth.
Smart Images
Figure CN116981146B_ABST
Abstract
Description
Technical Field
[0001] This application relates to the field of aerospace electric propulsion technology, and more specifically, to a spiral wave ion source beam divergence control system. Background Technology
[0002] Stealth technology is one of the most important cutting-edge technologies in the world today. With the continuous development of detection technologies worldwide, various military targets on future battlefields will face severe threats, and stealth technology is a key technology for improving the survivability of spacecraft. Currently, the method of achieving active stealth by coating with radioactive materials requires consideration of the spacecraft structure, and it is difficult to effectively control the stealth process. There are also issues with the effectiveness and safety of its use.
[0003] Plasma stealth technology utilizes the interaction between electromagnetic waves and plasma. Through mechanisms such as reflection, refraction, absorption, scattering, frequency conversion, and phase shifting of electromagnetic waves by plasma, the probability of detection is reduced. Furthermore, plasma parameters (plasma frequency, collision frequency, etc.) can be controlled to evade detection by electromagnetic waves of different frequency bands. When the plasma frequency is higher than the incident electromagnetic wave frequency, the electromagnetic wave will not enter the plasma; in this case, the plasma reflects the electromagnetic wave. When the plasma frequency is lower than the incident electromagnetic wave frequency, the electromagnetic wave is not blocked by the plasma and can enter and propagate within it. During propagation, some energy is transferred to charged particles in the plasma and absorbed by the charged particles, while the wave's own energy gradually decays. However, current plasma stealth technology struggles to generate high-density plasma over large areas, plasma diffusion is uneven, and the required power and weight are too high, making it difficult to meet the stealth application requirements of spacecraft. Summary of the Invention
[0004] This application provides a spiral wave ion source beam divergence control system, which solves the high requirements of existing plasmas for power supply design and energy supply system in maintaining high density in a large space.
[0005] To achieve the above objectives, this application provides a spiral wave ion source beam divergence control system, including a discharge chamber, a fixed support, an electromagnetic coil, an antenna, a gas supply device, an arc-shaped curved surface grid, and a magnetic expansion horn. The discharge chamber is mounted on the fixed support via a first support frame. The electromagnetic coil is annular and is entirely wrapped around the outer wall of the discharge chamber, with its bottom positioned on the first support frame. The antenna is a right-hand spiral copper antenna, wrapped around the outer wall of the discharge chamber and connected to a radio frequency power supply. The gas supply device is mounted on the fixed support via a second support frame and connected to the inlet of the discharge chamber via a ceramic gas distributor. The arc-shaped curved surface grid is mounted on the fixed support via a third support frame, entirely covering the outlet of the discharge chamber. The magnetic expansion horn is bolted to the fixed support, located entirely at the outlet of the discharge chamber, with its small end face close to the third support frame.
[0006] Furthermore, the electromagnetic coil is made of high-temperature excitation wire and is powered by an independent DC power supply. It includes a first electromagnetic coil and a second electromagnetic coil, which are respectively set on both sides of the antenna.
[0007] Furthermore, the discharge chamber is made of quartz glass, the second support frame is made of stainless steel, and the third support frame is made of quartz glass.
[0008] Furthermore, a floating potential is provided on the curved grid.
[0009] Furthermore, permanent magnets are attached to the inner wall of the magnetic expansion horn, and the permanent magnets are evenly distributed on the inner wall of the magnetic expansion horn.
[0010] Furthermore, the inner wall of the magnetic expansion horn is parallel to the divergence direction of the electric field generated by the arc-shaped curved grid.
[0011] The spiral wave ion source beam divergence control system provided by this invention has the following beneficial effects:
[0012] This application utilizes an arc-shaped curved grid and a magnetic expansion horn to achieve high-density spiral wave ion source beam divergence control. The arc-shaped curved grid only requires a 10V-15V voltage, and the magnetic expansion horn uses permanent magnets to achieve plasma confinement. The principle is simple and reliable, and it will not significantly increase the weight and power consumption of future aerospace applications. It has great application potential and solves the high requirements of existing plasmas for maintaining high density in a large space range on power supply design and energy supply system. Attached Figure Description
[0013] The accompanying drawings, which form part of this application, are used to provide a further understanding of the application and to make other features, objects, and advantages of the application more apparent. The illustrative embodiments and descriptions of this application are used to explain the application and do not constitute an undue limitation of the application. In the drawings:
[0014] Figure 1 This is a schematic diagram of the structure of the spiral wave ion source beam divergence control system provided in the embodiments of this application;
[0015] In the figure: 1-discharge chamber, 2-fixed bracket, 31-first electromagnetic coil, 32-second electromagnetic coil, 4-antenna, 5-gas supply device, 6-arc curved surface grid, 7-magnetic expansion horn mouth, 71-permanent magnet, 8-first support frame, 9-second support frame, 10-third support frame. Detailed Implementation
[0016] To enable those skilled in the art to better understand the present application, the technical solutions in the embodiments of the present application will be clearly and completely described below with reference to the accompanying drawings. Obviously, the described embodiments are only some embodiments of the present application, and not all embodiments. Based on the embodiments in the present application, all other embodiments obtained by those of ordinary skill in the art without creative effort should fall within the scope of protection of the present application.
[0017] It should be noted that the terms "first," "second," etc., in the specification, claims, and accompanying drawings of this application are used to distinguish similar objects and are not necessarily used to describe a specific order or sequence. It should be understood that such data can be interchanged where appropriate for the embodiments of this application described herein. Furthermore, the terms "comprising" and "having," and any variations thereof, are intended to cover non-exclusive inclusion; for example, a process, method, system, product, or apparatus that comprises a series of steps or units is not necessarily limited to those steps or units explicitly listed, but may include other steps or units not explicitly listed or inherent to such processes, methods, products, or apparatus.
[0018] In this application, the terms "upper," "lower," "left," "right," "front," "rear," "top," "bottom," "inner," "outer," "middle," "vertical," "horizontal," "lateral," and "longitudinal" indicate the orientation or positional relationship based on the orientation or positional relationship shown in the accompanying drawings. These terms are primarily for the purpose of better describing this application and its embodiments, and are not intended to limit the indicated device, element, or component to having a specific orientation, or to be constructed and operated in a specific orientation.
[0019] Furthermore, in addition to indicating location or positional relationship, some of the aforementioned terms may also have other meanings. For example, the term "above" may also be used in some cases to indicate a certain dependency or connection relationship. Those skilled in the art can understand the specific meaning of these terms in this application based on the specific circumstances.
[0020] In addition, the term "multiple" should mean two or more.
[0021] It should be noted that, unless otherwise specified, the embodiments and features described in this application can be combined with each other. This application will now be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings and embodiments.
[0022] like Figure 1 As shown, this application provides a spiral wave ion source beam divergence control system, including a discharge chamber 1, a fixed support 2, an electromagnetic coil, an antenna 4, a gas supply device 5, an arc-shaped curved surface grid 6, and a magnetic expansion horn 7, wherein: the discharge chamber 1 is mounted on the fixed support 2 via a first support frame 8; the electromagnetic coil is annular and is entirely wrapped around the outer wall of the discharge chamber 1, with its bottom positioned on the first support frame 8; the antenna 4 is a right-hand spiral copper antenna, which is wrapped around the outer wall of the discharge chamber 1 and connected to a radio frequency power supply; the gas supply device 5 is mounted on the fixed support 2 via a second support frame 9 and is connected to the inlet end of the discharge chamber 1 via a ceramic gas distributor; the arc-shaped curved surface grid 6 is mounted on the fixed support 2 via a third support frame 10 and is entirely covered at the outlet end of the discharge chamber 1; the magnetic expansion horn 7 is mounted on the fixed support 2 via bolts and is entirely located at the outlet end of the discharge chamber 1, with the small end face of the magnetic expansion horn 7 close to the third support frame 10.
[0023] Specifically, the spiral wave ion source beam divergence control system provided in this application embodiment forms a high-density spiral wave ion source using a discharge chamber 1, an electromagnetic coil, an antenna 4, and a gas supply device 5. Then, by applying a floating potential to the arc-shaped curved surface grid 6 set at the outlet end of the discharge chamber 1, an electric field perpendicular to the arc surface is generated, which uniformly diffuses the plasma generated inside the discharge chamber 1 and pulls the plasma to accelerate out. A magnetic expansion horn 7 is set at the rear end of the arc-shaped curved surface grid 6, which can reduce the dissipation of plasma in space, so that the divergence range of the plasma is controlled by the horn 7, thereby achieving the purpose of uniform diffusion.
[0024] More specifically, in this embodiment, the discharge chamber 1 is mainly used to generate a discharge reaction, thereby producing plasma; the fixed bracket 2 mainly serves as a fixed support; the electromagnetic coil is mainly used to generate a magnetic field to confine the electrons inside the discharge chamber 1; the antenna 4 is preferably a right-hand spiral copper antenna 4, mainly used to connect to the radio frequency power supply, coupling radio frequency energy to the spiral wave, and the spiral wave then transfers energy to the electrons inside the discharge chamber 1 through the TG-H coupling mode. The right-hand spiral copper antenna generates non-axisymmetric radio frequency energy coupling, which has a relatively higher absorption power compared to other types of antennas and can generate a higher electron density. In addition, when the loaded power is too high, the antenna 4 can be water-cooled to prevent the antenna 4 from overheating and causing radio frequency energy loss and damage to the antenna 4; the gas supply device 5 is mainly used to provide a certain flow rate of working gas to the discharge chamber 1 to participate in the discharge reaction; the arc-shaped curved grid 6 is mainly used to generate an electric field to make the generated plasma diffuse uniformly; magnetic expansion The horn-shaped opening 7 is mainly used to limit the diffusion range of the plasma, reduce the dissipation of the plasma in space, and enable it to diffuse uniformly. The first support frame 8 is mainly used to fix and support the entire discharge chamber 1. The second support frame 9 is mainly used to fix and support the gas supply device 5, so that the gas supply device 5 can be connected to the inlet end of the discharge chamber 1 through the ceramic gas distributor to ensure the smooth entry of gas. The third support frame 10 is mainly used to fix and support the arc-shaped curved grid 6, so that the arc-shaped curved grid 6 can stably cover the outlet end of the discharge chamber 1, so that the generated plasma can diffuse. The third support frame 10 also plays a certain supporting role for the magnetic expansion horn-shaped opening 7. The entire magnetic expansion horn-shaped opening 7 is connected and fastened to the fixed bracket 2 by bolts. However, the small end face of the magnetic expansion horn-shaped opening 7 is close to the third support frame 10, so that the magnetic expansion horn-shaped opening 7 can be fastened behind the arc-shaped curved grid 6, so that the plasma generated by the discharge chamber 1 can directly and quickly diffuse into the magnetic expansion horn-shaped opening 7.
[0025] Furthermore, the electromagnetic coils are wound with high-temperature excitation wire and powered by an independent DC power supply. They include a first electromagnetic coil 31 and a second electromagnetic coil 32, respectively positioned on both sides of the antenna 4. Preferably, the electromagnetic coils are wound with high-temperature excitation wire and provide a uniform axial magnetic field through the applied current to confine electrons within the discharge chamber 1. To ensure the magnetic field strength within the discharge chamber 1, multiple sets of electromagnetic coils can be set according to the actual length of the discharge chamber 1. In this embodiment, two electromagnetic coils are preferably provided. The inner diameters of both the first electromagnetic coil 31 and the second electromagnetic coil 32 are larger than the inner diameter of the discharge chamber 1, forming a ring shape. They are respectively wound around the outer wall of the discharge chamber 1, located on the left and right sides of the antenna 4, providing a uniform axial magnetic field inside the discharge chamber 1. Both electromagnetic coils are powered by an independent DC power supply. The magnetic field strength inside the discharge chamber 1 is controlled by changing the applied current. The electromagnetic coils can also increase the uniformity of radio frequency energy absorption, allowing the magnetic field strength and the applied radio frequency power to couple, resulting in a higher and more uniform plasma density.
[0026] Furthermore, the discharge chamber 1 is made of quartz glass, the second support frame 9 is made of stainless steel, and the third support frame 10 is made of quartz glass. The discharge chamber 1 requires insulating and heat-resistant materials. Quartz glass has high heat resistance, with a normal operating temperature of 1100℃-1200℃ and a short-term operating temperature of up to 1400℃, meeting the experimental temperature requirements. Secondly, quartz glass is inexpensive, easy to mold, quick to process, and facilitates observation of discharge phenomena. The second support frame 9 is made of stainless steel primarily to support the gas supply device 5. Grooves can be provided on the second support frame 9 to nest within the discharge chamber 1, ensuring a stable connection between the gas supply device 5 and the discharge chamber 1. The third support frame 10 also uses insulating quartz material, mainly to avoid interfering with the plasma, allowing the plasma to diffuse directly and rapidly into the magnetic expansion horn mouth 7 through the curved grid 6.
[0027] Furthermore, a floating potential is provided on the arc-shaped curved surface grid 6. The arc-shaped curved surface grid 6 is mainly used to generate an electric field. By applying a floating potential to the arc-shaped curved surface grid 6, an electric field perpendicular to the arc surface can be generated, which uniformly diffuses the plasma in the discharge chamber 1 and pulls the plasma to accelerate its ejection. In this embodiment, only a low voltage of 10V-15V needs to be applied to the arc-shaped curved surface grid 6 to achieve plasma diffusion.
[0028] Furthermore, permanent magnets 71 are attached to the inner wall of the magnetic expansion horn 7, and the permanent magnets 71 are evenly distributed on the inner wall of the magnetic expansion horn 7. The purpose of evenly attaching permanent magnets 71 along the inner wall of the magnetic expansion horn 7 is mainly to realize the escape of plasma in the magnetic gap confinement space, reduce the dissipation of plasma in space, and make the diffusion range of plasma controlled by the horn, thereby achieving the purpose of uniform diffusion.
[0029] Furthermore, the inner wall of the magnetic expansion horn 7 is parallel to the divergence direction of the electric field generated by the arc-shaped curved grid 6. The direction of the inner wall of the magnetic expansion horn 7 is exactly parallel to the diverging electric field direction, which allows the generated plasma to diverge along the electric field lines. At the same time, its outward diffusion is suppressed by the magnetic field. Under the constraint of the horn horn magnetic field, electrons will collide with the working gas again, further increasing the plasma density, thereby achieving a more uniform plasma density and diffusion effect.
[0030] It can be seen that the spiral wave ion source beam divergence control system provided in this application realizes high-density spiral wave ion source beam divergence control by using the arc-shaped curved surface grid 6 and the magnetic expansion horn 7. It can not only generate high-density plasma over a large area, but also make the plasma diffuse uniformly, without significantly increasing weight and power consumption. It solves the high requirements of existing plasma to maintain high density in a large space for power supply design and energy supply system.
[0031] The above description is merely a preferred embodiment of this application and is not intended to limit this application. Various modifications and variations can be made to this application by those skilled in the art. Any modifications, equivalent substitutions, improvements, etc., made within the spirit and principles of this application should be included within the protection scope of this application.
Claims
1. A spiral wave ion source beam divergence control system, characterized in that, It includes a discharge chamber, a fixed support, an electromagnetic coil, an antenna, a gas supply device, an arc-shaped curved grid, and a magnetic expansion horn, wherein: The discharge chamber is mounted on the fixed bracket via a first support frame; The electromagnetic coil is ring-shaped and is wrapped around the outer wall of the discharge chamber. The bottom of the electromagnetic coil is set on the first support frame. The antenna is a right-hand spiral copper antenna, which is wrapped around the outer wall of the discharge chamber and connected to the radio frequency power supply. The gas supply device is mounted on the fixed bracket via a second support frame and is connected to the inlet end of the discharge chamber via a ceramic gas distributor. The arc-shaped curved surface grid is mounted on the fixed bracket by a third support frame, and the whole grid covers the outlet end of the discharge chamber; The magnetic expansion horn is bolted to the fixed bracket and is located at the outlet end of the discharge chamber. The small end face of the magnetic expansion horn is close to the third support frame.
2. The spiral wave ion source beam divergence control system according to claim 1, characterized in that, The electromagnetic coil is made of high-temperature excitation wire and is powered by an independent DC power supply. It includes a first electromagnetic coil and a second electromagnetic coil, which are respectively located on both sides of the antenna.
3. The spiral wave ion source beam divergence control system according to claim 2, characterized in that, The discharge chamber is made of quartz glass, the second support frame is made of stainless steel, and the third support frame is made of quartz glass.
4. The spiral wave ion source beam divergence control system according to claim 1, characterized in that, A floating potential is provided on the arc-shaped curved grid.
5. The spiral wave ion source beam divergence control system according to claim 4, characterized in that, Permanent magnets are attached to the inner wall of the magnetic expansion horn opening, and the permanent magnets are evenly distributed on the inner wall of the magnetic expansion horn opening.
6. The spiral wave ion source beam divergence control system according to claim 5, characterized in that, The inner wall of the magnetic expansion horn is parallel to the divergence direction of the electric field generated by the arc-shaped curved grid.