266 results about "Ion thruster" patented technology

A plasma source for processing or imaging a substrate, for ion source for proton therapy, for ion thrusters, or for high energy particle accelerators includes a coolant circuit passing adjacent to a plasma ion reactor chamber and RF antenna coils. In a method for operating the plasma ion source having an induction coil adjacent to a reaction chamber for inductively coupling power into the plasma from a radio frequency power source, the method comprises pumping a dielectric fluid into contact with induction coils of the plasma ion source along the coolant circuit. Use of the dielectric fluid both electrically insulates the plasma chamber, so that it can be biased to 30 kV and up, and efficiently transfers heat away from the plasma chamber.

The invention discloses a near-field plume mass-spectroscopic diagnostic E*B probe based on the Faraday cup and belongs to the technical field of plasma mass-spectroscopic diagnosis. The probe mainly applied to measuring near-field plumes of an ion thruster and of a Hall thruster comprises a central frame, ferrite permanent magnets, a flat electrode plate, an electrode plate holder, a collimator tube, a drift tube, a Faraday cup, six carbon steel shells and an anti-sputtering heat-insulating layer. According to the connectional relation, the central frame is used as a core part, the ferrite permanent magnets are distributed on upper and lower surfaces of the central frame, the electrode plate is fixed in the central frame, and an orthogonal electromagnetic field area is formed. The six carbon steel shells are used for packaging, and the front ends of the shells are coated with an anti-sputtering heat-insulating layer. The collimator tube of stainless steel and the drift tube are fitly fixed to the centers of two ends of the central frame through shaft holes. Ions different in valence are screened by adjusting voltage among the electrode plates, univalent and bivalent ion currents are acquired with the Faraday cup of aluminum, and the ratio of near-field plum bivalent ions is acquired by analytical computing.

The invention discloses an ion thruster discharge chamber magnetic pole structure which comprises a lower magnetic pole (1), a middle magnetic pole (2), an upper magnetic pole (3), a lower pole shoe (4), a middle pole shoe (5) and an upper pole shoe (6). The lower pole shoe (4), the middle pole shoe (5) and the upper pole shoe (6) are correspondingly connected with the lower magnetic pole (1), the middle magnetic pole (2) and the upper magnetic pole (3). The structure further comprises permanent magnets (9 and 10). A magnetic force line loop is formed among the magnetic poles through the pole shoes (4, 5 and 6) and the permanent magnets (9 and 10). A loop tip cusped magnetic field is formed in a discharge chamber. The structure is characterized in that positive pole cylinders (7 and 8) of the discharge chamber are arranged in the cusped magnetic field, all the magnetic poles extend to the inner surfaces of the positive pole cylinders (7 and 8) and are charged with negative electricity relative to the positive pole cylinders (7 and 8), and a discharge chamber negative pole (11) installed on the lower pole shoe (4) directly extends into the discharge chamber under the circumstance without the positive pole cylinders ahead. The invention further discloses a design method for the ion thruster discharge chamber magnetic pole structure. When the structure is used, the primary electron utilization rate can be increased, and the discharging efficiency and the beam uniformity are improved.

The invention discloses a method and device for clearing an ion thruster grid of contaminants. A typical method includes applying a power supply to a grid to clear contaminants, monitoring an energy applied to the grid of the applied power supply and suspending application of the power supply to the grid after the monitored energy substantially reaches a predetermined value. A typical device includes a controller for applying a power supply to a grid to clear the grid of contaminants and a timer for monitoring an energy applied to the grid of the applied power supply and suspending application of the power supply to the grid after the monitored energy substantially reaches a predetermined value.

The present invention is an apparatus and method for producing very large area and large volume plasmas. The invention utilizes electron cylcotron resonances in conjunction with permanent magnets to produce dense, uniform plasmas for long life ion thruster applications or for plasma processing applications such as etching, deposition, ion milling and ion implantation. The large area source is at least five times larger than the 12-inch wafers being processed to date. Its rectangular shape makes it easier to accommodate to materials processing than sources that are circular in shape. The source itself represents the largest ECR ion source built to date. It is electrodeless and does not utilize electromagnets to generate the ECR magnetic circuit, nor does it make use of windows.

A plasma source for processing or imaging a substrate, for ion source for proton therapy, for ion thrusters, or for high energy particle accelerators includes a coolant circuit passing adjacent to a plasma ion reactor chamber and RF antenna coils. In a method for operating the plasma ion source having an induction coil adjacent to a reaction chamber for inductively coupling power into the plasma from a radio frequency power source, the method comprises pumping a dielectric fluid into contact with induction coils of the plasma ion source along the coolant circuit. Use of the dielectric fluid both electrically insulates the plasma chamber, so that it can be biased to 30 kV and up, and efficiently transfers heat away from the plasma chamber.

The invention discloses a flexible insulator for a grid component of an ion thruster. The insulator comprises a first screw rod, a second screw rod, a spring and insulating ceramic, preferably the insulator further comprises a shielding hood, wherein the shielding hood is of a cavity structure, an opening is formed in one side of the cavity structure, the insulating ceramic is placed in the cavity of the shielding hood, and threaded holes are formed in both end surfaces of the insulating ceramic; the both ends of the spring are respectively connected with the first screw rod and the second screw rod in a welding manner, and the second screw rod penetrates through the bottom surface of the shielding hood and is connected with the threaded hole of one end surface of the insulating ceramic by screw threads, so that the shielding hood and the insulating ceramic are connected together to form the flexible insulator; the threaded hole of the other end surface of the insulating ceramic is used for being in threaded connection with a support ring of a piece of grid through the screw rods, and the first screw rod is used for being in screw joint with the other piece of grid by screw threads. Through the utilization of the grid component of the ion thruster, which is assembled by the flexible insulator, the changes of the spacing between the two grid pieces of the grid component can be effectively reduced, the spacing and the insulation of the two grid pieces are ensured, and the reliability of the ion thruster and the stability of the thrust are ensured.

An arcing protection circuit for the screen and accelerator grids of an ion thruster engine includes an impedance, which in one embodiment, is fixed, and in another, is variable, coupled in series between the accelerator grid of the engine and a current return path of the grid in such a way that an increase in accelerator grid current resulting from a plasma arc occurring between the screen grid and the accelerator grid is converted by the impedance into a rapid reduction in the voltage difference between the screen and accelerator grids, thereby extinguishing the arc. The arcing protection circuit also includes a monitoring circuit coupled to the accelerator grid that senses an increase in the voltage on the accelerator grid resulting from the plasma arc, and in response thereto, causes the accelerator grid power supply to reduce the voltage on the accelerator grid.

A thrust producing system includes an RF ion thruster with a discharge chamber having a gas inlet and an outlet, and a coil about the discharge chamber. The system further includes an RF cathode proximate the discharge chamber outlet of the RF ion thruster for ion beam neutralization. The RF cathode includes a discharge chamber having a gas inlet and an outlet and a coil about the discharge chamber. A tank for containing iodine in solid form and a heater associated with said tank to produce iodine vapor. A feed subsystem fluidly couples the tank with the RF ion thruster discharge chamber gas inlet and with the RF cathode discharge chamber gas inlet.

The invention relates to a loading test apparatus for simulating a ship thruster. The loading test apparatus comprises a propeller simulation block, an axial static thrust loading device, a dynamic force loading device, torque loading devices and a three-component dynamic force measuring device. The propeller simulation block is installed at the tail end of a propeller shaft screw shaft; the axial static thrust loading device is connected with the propeller shaft to realize axial force transmission; the dynamic force loading device can load dynamic forces along axial and radio directions; the torque loading devices are arranged at the two sides of the propeller shaft symmetrically and transmission between the torque loading devices and the propeller shaft is realized by a narrow V-band mechanism; and the three-component dynamic force measuring device can measure practical dynamic force component force values transmitted to X, Y, and X directions of the propeller shaft. With the test apparatus provided by the invention, various loads in mutual interaction between the propeller and the propeller shaft during the ship operating process can be simulated comprehensively; and loading of an axial static thrust, a dynamic force, and a torque can be realized.