A low-cost method for simulating plume characteristics of a Hall effect accelerator
By simplifying the boundary conditions of the Hall effect accelerator model and ignoring specific effects, a low-cost plume simulation method was developed, which solves the problem of high research time in Hall effect accelerator on-orbit missions. This method realizes a fast and low-cost simulation model, supporting accelerator design optimization and performance improvement.
Patent Information
- Application Number
- CN202511404566.5
- Authority / Receiving Office
- CN · China
- Patent Type
- Patents(China)
- Current Assignee / Owner
- Filing Date
- 2025-09-29
- Publication Date
- 2025-12-26
- Estimated Expiration
- 2045-09-29
AI Technical Summary
Current technologies for Hall effect accelerator plume research are time-consuming and costly, making it difficult to meet the short-cycle development requirements of on-orbit missions and affecting spacecraft design optimization and payload layout.
Commercial software was used to establish a model of the discharge channel and plume region of the Hall effect accelerator. Boundary conditions were simplified, the effects of the plasma self-consistent electric field and cathode were ignored, and the particle distribution was simulated using fluid equations. The model was iteratively optimized to reduce costs and improve accuracy.
A fast and low-cost Hall effect accelerator plume simulation model was developed, reducing development costs by 70% and simulation time by 80%, and supporting the design optimization and performance improvement of Hall effect accelerators.
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Figure CN120995820B_ABST
Abstract
Description
TECHNICAL FIELD
[0001] The application relates to a low-cost Hall effect accelerator plume characteristic simulation method and belongs to the field of space propulsion. BACKGROUND
[0002] Based on the advantages of low cost and high reliability, Hall effect accelerators are increasingly widely used in satellite altitude control, orbit adjustment and other on-orbit tasks. Since the Hall effect accelerator plume contains electrons, ions, atoms and sputtering materials, it can cause spacecraft plume pollution and surface charging. Therefore, with the continuous expansion of on-orbit application, the influence of the accelerator plume on the spacecraft is paid more and more attention. At the same time, the study of the interaction between the plume and the spacecraft is the key to determining the installation position of the accelerator and the layout of the spacecraft payload, such as the installation position of the solar cell panel and the receiving antenna. In addition, the plume density and distribution also determine the performance parameters of the accelerator, such as the beam divergence angle and the thrust density, that is, the higher the plume density in the axial direction of the accelerator, the smaller the beam divergence angle (generally calculated based on 95% of the beam distribution), and the higher the thrust density. In summary, in order to optimize the performance of the Hall effect accelerator and expand its on-orbit application tasks, it is necessary to carry out plume characteristic research.
[0003] At present, although many simulation analysis and experimental measurements have been carried out on the Hall effect accelerator plume in the world, most of the current researches choose full-particle simulation or hybrid simulation, which is time-consuming and has high model development cost. For the short period of current on-orbit task development requirements, the development cycle of the accelerator is greatly shortened, and the number of design improvement iterations is strictly controlled. Therefore, the development of a plume simulation model with certain precision, rapidness and low cost has obvious theoretical and engineering value for accelerating the design optimization iteration and performance improvement of the Hall effect accelerator.
[0004] In summary, the main purpose of the present application is to obtain the Hall accelerator plume characteristics by using commercial software, carry out plume measurement to verify the calculation results, and evaluate the accuracy and effectiveness of the model according to the comparison results of simulation and experiment, so as to innovatively develop a low-cost Hall effect accelerator plume characteristic simulation method. SUMMARY
[0005] The technical problem solved by the application is that: since the Hall effect accelerator plume contains electrons, ions, atoms and sputtering, it can cause spacecraft plume pollution and surface charging, therefore, with the continuous expansion of on-orbit mission application, the influence of the accelerator plume on the spacecraft is paid more and more attention. At the same time, the research on the interaction between the plume and the spacecraft is the key to determine the installation position of the accelerator and the layout of the spacecraft payload, such as the installation position of the solar cell panel, the receiving antenna and the like. In addition, for the short period development requirement of the current on-orbit task, the development period of the accelerator is greatly shortened, and the number of iteration of design improvement is strictly controlled, therefore, it is urgent to develop a plume simulation model with certain precision, rapidness and low cost to accelerate the design optimization iteration and performance improvement of the Hall effect accelerator.
[0006] The technical solution of the application is: a low-cost Hall effect accelerator plume characteristic simulation method, comprising the following steps:
[0007] Step 1: obtaining the structure size and working parameters of the Hall effect accelerator;
[0008] Step 2: establishing a discharge channel and plume zone model of the Hall effect accelerator according to the structure size and working parameters; the discharge channel and plume zone model only retains the discharge channel, the coil, the magnetic conductive base and the shell for simulating the discharge process;
[0009] Step 3: simplifying and ignoring the boundary conditions of the discharge channel and plume zone model based on the fluid method; including: all three types of particles in the plume are simulated by using the fluid equation; the influence of the self-consistent electric field of the plasma is ignored, and only the influence of the static electric field distribution on the electric field of the plume zone is considered; the influence of the cathode on the plume is ignored, and only the electron flux boundary is set in the model to simulate the electron emission process of the cathode; the influence of the plasma sheath on the potential distribution is ignored;
[0010] Step 4: model trial calculation on the simplified and ignored discharge channel and plume zone model;
[0011] Step 5: evaluating the convergence of the model trial calculation result and determining the simplified boundary condition affecting the convergence;
[0012] Step 6: determining the simplified or ignored boundary condition with the greatest influence weight according to the evaluation result of step 5, returning to step 3 to modify the boundary condition until the convergence of the model meets the requirements;
[0013] Step 7: performing error analysis and model optimization on the calculation result, if the comparison error does not meet the requirements, returning to step 2 to change and optimize the model input parameters and setting conditions, if the calculation comparison error meets the requirements, then solidifying the current model and setting parameters.
[0014] Optionally, the plume zone axial dimension of the discharge channel and plume zone model is 2-3 times the diameter of the discharge channel.
[0015] Optionally, the plume zone of the discharge channel and plume zone model comprises an upper boundary, a lower boundary and a wall boundary, and the upper boundary to the lower boundary and the upper boundary to the accelerator outlet distance are set according to the actual position of the probe during plume measurement.
[0016] Optionally, step 4 comprises: based on the unified Hall effect accelerator discharge channel and plume zone model, model trial calculation is carried out, if the model trial calculation result converges within 200 iteration times, it is considered that the model convergence is effective, otherwise, the simplified boundary condition affecting the convergence needs to be confirmed, and the simplified or ignored boundary condition with the largest influence weight is evaluated, so that the boundary condition with the largest influence weight is changed, and the convergence result is ensured.
[0017] Optionally, step 7 comprises: based on the model calculation result evaluation based on the previous plume beam current measurement result, if the comparison error is ≥10%, return to step 2 to change the model input parameters and setting conditions, the change amplitude of each parameter is ≤5%, and according to the increase or decrease of the comparison error after the single parameter change, the parameter is increased or decreased by 5%, and finally the comparison error between the model calculation result and the previous plume beam current measurement result is ensured to be ≤10%.
[0018] Optionally, based on the calculation and optimization of steps 1-7, a Hall effect accelerator plume simulation model with certain accuracy is obtained, the model and the boundary conditions and setting parameters of the model are solidified, and the actual working parameters of the Hall effect accelerator are corrected based on the model calculation result feedback to obtain more ideal plume characteristic parameters.
[0019] The beneficial effects of the present application compared with the prior art are:
[0020] (1) By modeling and simulating the discharge plasma of the Hall effect accelerator discharge channel, simplifying and ignoring the boundary conditions in the model, then performing trial operation and result convergence evaluation on the model, and optimizing the model and reducing the error according to the previous test result, a Hall effect accelerator plume simulation model with certain accuracy, rapidity and low cost is finally established. Through comparison, the development cost of the low-cost Hall effect accelerator plume model is reduced by 70% compared with the full particle simulation or hybrid simulation model.
[0021] (2) According to the comparison of the simulation and test results at present, the low-cost Hall effect accelerator plume model can quickly obtain the plume characteristic parameters, and the simulation operation time is reduced by 80% compared with the operation time of the full particle simulation or hybrid simulation model used in the previous stage, and this method is suitable for the research of Hall effect accelerator macroscopic parameters.
[0022] (3) Based on the low-cost Hall effect accelerator plume characteristic simulation method, a Hall effect accelerator plume simulation model with certain accuracy can be obtained, and according to the calculation results of the model, the iteration correction of the actual working parameters of the Hall effect accelerator can be carried out, which avoids repetitive parameter adjustment test and saves a lot of test cost, and provides theoretical guidance for obtaining more ideal plume characteristic parameters of the real Hall effect accelerator. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS
[0023] Figure 1 is a flow chart of a low-cost Hall effect accelerator plume characteristic simulation method provided by an embodiment of the present application;
[0024] Figure 2 is a schematic diagram of a discharge channel and plume area model provided by an embodiment of the present application. DETAILED DESCRIPTION
[0025] The technical solutions in the embodiments of the present application will be clearly and completely described below with reference to the drawings in the embodiments of the present application. Obviously, the described embodiments are only part of the embodiments of the present application, not all. Based on the embodiments in the present application, all other embodiments obtained by those skilled in the art without creative labor are within the scope of protection of the present application.
[0026] In order to make the above-mentioned purposes, features and advantages of the present application more obvious and easy to understand, the present application will be further described in detail below with reference to the drawings and specific embodiments.
[0027] As shown in Figure 1 and Figure 2 , the present embodiment provides a low-cost Hall effect accelerator plume characteristic simulation method. The design idea of the method is to model and simulate the discharge plasma of the Hall effect accelerator discharge channel according to the structure size and working parameters of the Hall effect accelerator, and to simplify and ignore the boundary conditions in the model. Then, the model is tested and the convergence of the results is evaluated, and the model is optimized and the error is reduced according to the previous test results, and finally a Hall effect accelerator plume simulation model with certain accuracy, rapidity and low cost is established.
[0028] The specific implementation steps are as follows:
[0029] Step 1: Obtain the structure size and working parameters of the Hall effect accelerator. In the present embodiment, it includes upper boundary 1, lower boundary 2, wall boundary 3, symmetry axis 4, upper magnetic pole 5, inner coil 6, outer coil 7, anode 8, gas inlet 9 and magnetic guide base 10.
[0030] Step 2: Calculate the real structure size and working parameters of the Hall Effect Accelerator according to the required calculation of the plume distribution characteristics, and establish a model of the discharge channel and plume area of the Hall Effect Accelerator based on the commercially available software COMSOL. The simulation area is generally the symmetry axis 4 and includes the accelerator and the plume diffusion area. The accelerator model is constructed according to the real size, and only the discharge channel (including the upper magnetic pole 5, the anode 8, the gas inlet 9), the coil (including the inner coil 6 and the outer coil 7), the magnetic conducting base 10 and the shell are retained to simulate the discharge process. The axial size of the plume area can be 2-3 times the diameter of the discharge channel, and the three boundaries of the plume area are the upper boundary 1, the lower boundary 2 (the installation plane of the accelerator) and the wall boundary 3. The distance from the upper boundary to the lower boundary 2 and from the upper boundary 1 to the outlet of the accelerator can be set according to the real position of the probe during plume measurement.
[0031] It should be noted that since the plasma discharge of the accelerator mainly occurs in the discharge channel, and the discharge process completely depends on the coupling effect of the magnetic field and the electric field, therefore, in the process of modeling, on the one hand, the main discharge area can be retained, on the other hand, the coil, the magnetic conducting base and other components are retained for calculating the magnetic field, and the anode, the shell and other components are retained for simulating the electric field distribution, and the remaining accelerator components such as pipelines and ceramic parts do not need to be modeled, as they have no effect on the discharge process.
[0032] Step 3: Simplify and ignore the boundary conditions of the discharge channel and plume area model based on the fluid method. The main contents of simplification include: first, all three types of particles (electrons, ions and atoms) in the plume are simulated by fluid equations; second, the influence of the electric field in the plume area is only considered as the static electric field distribution, i.e. the influence of the self-consistent electric field of the plasma is ignored; third, the influence of the cathode on the plume is ignored, and only the electron flux boundary is set in the model to simulate the electron emission process of the cathode; finally, the influence of the plasma sheath on the electric potential distribution is ignored.
[0033] It should be noted that the self-consistent electric field of the plasma mainly exists in the initial stage of the discharge (millisecond level), and since the electric field is not stable at this stage, it has a certain influence, but after the discharge is stable (less than 0.1 second), the electric field is basically stable, and the model mainly simulates the steady-state discharge process, so it can be ignored. Second, the cathode itself emits an electron beam, and the model mainly simulates ions in the simulation, and the number of electrons in the discharge channel is several orders of magnitude higher than the number of electrons emitted by the cathode, so the influence of the cathode electron beam is negligible. The influence of the plasma sheath is mainly in the electric potential boundary loading of the electric field, which can be approximately added to the original electric potential to simulate the existence of the electric field of the plasma sheath, so in the setting, the existence of the self-consistent electric potential can be ignored, and only the electric potential boundary loading is considered.
[0034] In this embodiment, the ignored process is to set the self-consistent potential of the plasma to 0v in the modeling process, and then the model does not consider the plasma warping layer, and does not set this boundary condition, and the electron emission flux of the cathode is set to 0, that is, the influence of the electron beam emitted by the cathode on the whole plume is ignored.
[0035] Step 4: After completing the condition simplification and ignoring, the model is calculated, and if the model calculation result converges within 200 iterations, the model convergence is considered effective.
[0036] Step 5: If the convergence is not required, the boundary condition affecting the convergence (simplified) needs to be confirmed, and the maximum boundary condition affecting the weight is evaluated.
[0037] Specifically, in this embodiment, the judgment of calculation convergence is mainly affected by the gas flow field, electric field and magnetic field, and the influence of the three on the discharge stability is: gas flow field > electric field > magnetic field. Therefore, if the calculation cannot converge, first adjust the gas supply boundary, and the adjustment range is 5% as a step. If the convergence deviation is too large (> 10%), continue to adjust the gas supply boundary. If the convergence deviation is small (< 10%), keep the gas supply boundary unchanged, and adjust the electric field boundary. Similarly, if the convergence deviation is too large (> 5%), continue to adjust the electric field boundary. If the deviation is small, adjust the magnetic field boundary, so as to complete the calculation convergence deviation of the whole model.
[0038] Step 6: Return to step 3 to change the boundary condition until the settlement result can converge.
[0039] Step 7: Based on the previous plume beam current measurement results, the evaluation of the (convergent) model calculation result is carried out. If the comparison error is ≥10%, return to step 2 for model optimization, mainly to change the model input parameters and setting conditions. The change range of each parameter is ≤5%, and according to the increase or decrease of the comparison error after changing the single parameter, the parameter is increased or decreased by 5%, so as to finally ensure that the comparison error between the model calculation result and the previous plume beam current measurement result is ≤10%.
[0040] Step 8: Based on the change and optimization of the input parameters and setting conditions, a Hall effect accelerator plume simulation model with certain accuracy is obtained. The model and the boundary conditions and setting parameters of the model are solidified, and the actual working parameters of the Hall effect accelerator are corrected based on the model calculation result feedback, so as to obtain more ideal plume characteristic parameters of the real Hall effect accelerator.
[0041] The simulation method provided by the embodiment is to model and simulate the discharge plasma of the discharge channel of the Hall effect accelerator, simplify and ignore the boundary conditions in the model, then perform trial operation on the model and evaluate the convergence of the results, optimize the model and reduce errors according to the results of the previous test, and finally realize the establishment of a Hall effect accelerator plume simulation model with certain precision, rapidness and low cost. Through comparison, the development cost of the low-cost Hall effect accelerator plume model is reduced by 70% compared with the full particle simulation or hybrid simulation model.
[0042] In addition, according to the comparison of the simulation and test results, the low-cost Hall effect accelerator plume model can quickly obtain the plume characteristic parameters, and the simulation operation time is reduced by 80% compared with the operation time of the full particle simulation or hybrid simulation model used in the early stage, and the method is suitable for the research on the macroscopic parameters of the Hall effect accelerator.
[0043] The scheme is based on the low-cost Hall effect accelerator plume characteristic simulation method, and a Hall effect accelerator plume simulation model with certain precision can be obtained. According to the calculation results of the model, the iteration correction of the actual working parameters of the Hall effect accelerator can be performed, and the process avoids repetitive parameter adjustment tests, which can save a lot of test cost and provide theoretical guidance for obtaining more ideal plume characteristic parameters of the real Hall effect accelerator.
[0044] The above-described embodiments only describe the preferred modes of the present application, and do not limit the scope of the present application. Without departing from the design spirit of the present application, various modifications and improvements to the technical solutions of the present application made by those skilled in the art shall fall within the protection scope determined by the claims of the present application.
Claims
1. A low-cost method of simulating plume characteristics of a Hall effect accelerator, characterized by, The method comprises the following steps: Step 1: obtaining the structural size and working parameters of the Hall effect accelerator; Step 2: establishing a discharge channel and plume zone model of the Hall effect accelerator according to the structural size and working parameters; the discharge channel and plume zone model only retains the discharge channel, coil, magnetic conductive base and shell for simulating the discharge process; Step 3: simplifying and ignoring the boundary conditions of the discharge channel and plume zone model based on the fluid method; including: all three types of particles in the plume are simulated by using the fluid equation; the influence of the self-consistent electric field of the plasma is ignored, and only the influence of the static electric field distribution on the electric field of the plume zone is considered; the influence of the cathode on the plume is ignored, and only the electron flux boundary is set in the model to simulate the electron emission process of the cathode; the influence of the plasma sheath on the electric potential distribution is ignored; Step 4: model trial calculation is performed on the simplified and ignored discharge channel and plume zone model; Step 5: evaluating the convergence of the model trial calculation results and determining the simplified boundary conditions affecting the convergence; Step 6: determining the simplified or ignored boundary condition with the largest influence weight according to the evaluation results of step 5, returning to step 3 to modify the boundary condition until the convergence of the model meets the requirements; Step 7: performing error analysis and model optimization on the calculation results, if the comparison error does not meet the requirements, returning to step 2 to change and optimize the model input parameters and setting conditions, if the calculation comparison error meets the requirements, the current model and setting parameters are solidified.
2. The low-cost simulation method of the plume characteristics of a Hall effect accelerator according to claim 1, characterized in that: The axial size of the plume zone of the discharge channel and plume zone model is 2-3 times the diameter of the discharge channel.
3. The low-cost simulation method of the plume characteristics of a Hall effect accelerator according to claim 1, characterized in that: The plume zone of the discharge channel and plume zone model includes an upper boundary, a lower boundary and a wall boundary, and the distance from the upper boundary to the lower boundary and the distance from the upper boundary to the accelerator outlet are set according to the actual position of the probe during plume measurement.
4. The low-cost simulation method of the plume characteristics of a Hall effect accelerator according to claim 1, characterized in that, Step 4 includes: based on the unified Hall effect accelerator discharge channel and plume zone model, the model trial calculation result is considered to be valid if it converges within 200 iterations; otherwise, the simplified boundary condition affecting the convergence needs to be confirmed, and the simplified or ignored boundary condition with the largest influence weight is evaluated, so as to change the boundary condition with the largest influence weight to ensure that the calculation result can converge.
5. The low-cost simulation method of the plume characteristics of a Hall effect accelerator according to claim 1, characterized in that, Step 7 includes: based on the previous plume beam current measurement results, if the comparison error is greater than or equal to 10%, returning to step 2 to change the model input parameters and setting conditions, the change range of each parameter is less than or equal to 5%, and according to the increase or decrease of the comparison error after changing the parameter once, the parameter is increased or decreased by 5%, finally ensuring that the comparison error between the model calculation result and the previous plume beam current measurement result is less than or equal to 10%.
6. The low-cost simulation method of the plume characteristics of a Hall effect accelerator according to claim 1, characterized in that: After the calculation and optimization based on steps 1-7, a Hall effect accelerator plume simulation model with target precision is obtained, the model and the boundary conditions and setting parameters of the model are solidified, and the actual working parameters of the Hall effect accelerator are corrected based on the model calculation result feedback to obtain more ideal plume characteristic parameters.
Citation Information
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