Air-Breathing Plasma Thruster Without Inlet Air Compression
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing air-breathing thrusters for satellites at very low earth orbits require propellant storage and air compression, which limits lifetime and increases power demands due to drag and recoil issues.
Innovation Solution
An air-breathing plasma thruster design that eliminates the need for propellant storage and reduces air compression requirements by utilizing incoming air, featuring a thruster wall with an anode, cathode, and intermediate electrodes, along with magnetic fields and electron beams to ionize and accelerate air, generating a plasma jet.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If a compressor is placed at the inlet to increase air pressure for ionization, then ionization can be sustained, but air drag increases and power requirements increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent removes the compressor component from the inlet system entirely. Instead of compressing air before ionization, the design allows atmospheric air to enter the channel at ambient pressure and achieves ionization through electron bombardment from electrons emitted by the cathode, which gain sufficient kinetic energy to ionize air molecules along the channel length.
Solution Approach 2:
The mechanical compression system (compressor) is replaced with an electromagnetic field-based ionization system. Electrons emitted from the cathode are accelerated by electric fields and magnetic confinement, gaining enough kinetic energy to ionize air molecules through collisions, eliminating the need for mechanical pressure increase.
2Force
If stored propellant is used to compensate for atmospheric drag, then thrust can be provided, but the amount of stored propellant limits the useful lifetime of the satellite
Solution Approach 1:
The thruster system uses the surrounding atmospheric air as its propellant source, eliminating the need for onboard propellant storage. The air is continuously drawn into the channel through the satellite's motion through the atmosphere, ionized, and accelerated to produce thrust, allowing extended operation limited only by the atmospheric density rather than propellant supply.
Solution Approach 2:
The system serves multiple functions: it provides thrust to counteract drag, uses the atmosphere as both the propellant source and the medium for momentum exchange, and the ionized plasma serves both as the thrust-generating mechanism and the working fluid. This eliminates the separate propellant storage system.
3Quantity of substance
If air-breathing thruster is used to compensate for drag, then propellant storage is eliminated, but the thruster requires high power to ionize and accelerate atmospheric particles
Solution Approach 1:
The patent operates at atmospheric pressures and temperatures found in VLEO rather than requiring high-pressure compression. The air enters at ambient conditions and is ionized through electron bombardment, with the ionization and acceleration process optimized for these ambient parameters rather than requiring extreme parameter changes that would demand high power.
Solution Approach 2:
The system ionizes only a portion of the incoming air flow along the channel length, rather than requiring complete ionization of all atmospheric particles. The electron beam ionizes air molecules progressively as they travel through the channel, and this partial ionization is sufficient to generate the required thrust with lower power input.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
Reduces drag and power consumption, enabling prolonged operation at very low earth orbits without the need for propellant storage or high-power compressors, thus extending satellite lifetime.
Implementation Method 1
electrons from the cathode ionize the atmospheric air
Implementation Method 2
The electrons from the cathode are confined by a magnetic field
Implementation Method 3
The ions are accelerated by an applied electric field
Implementation Method 4
generating a plasma jet at an outlet of the thruster that produces thrust in the direction of motion at the outlet
Data Source
AI summary
One or more embodiments relates to an air-breathing plasma thruster including a thruster wall, an anode, a cathode, and at least one ring electrode. The thruster wall defines a cylindrical channel, the cylindrical channel having a first end and an opposing second end in fluid communication with the first end, where the cylindrical channel is adapted to receive incoming airflow. The anode is at the first end of the channel and the cathode is at the second end of the channel opposite the first end. The at least one ring electrode is positioned on the thruster wall.