Monolithic Electrospray Thruster Structure for Low-Voltage Alignment
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional electrospray thrusters face challenges with fragile emitter geometries, difficulty in fabrication, susceptibility to degradation, and misalignment issues, leading to performance degradation and electromagnetic interference, especially in vacuum environments like space.
Innovation Solution
A monolithic electrospray thruster design with integrated dielectric channels and extraction electrodes, featuring microcapillaries and a conformal extraction grid, optimized for reduced voltage operation and enhanced structural robustness, minimizing misalignment and electromagnetic interference.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Use of energy by moving object
If conventional protruding emitters with sharp geometries are used to reduce operating voltage, then operating voltage is reduced, but the emitters become exceedingly difficult to fabricate consistently and are extremely fragile and highly susceptible to degradation
Solution Approach 1:
The emitter and extraction grid are merged into a single monolithic component fabricated as one integrated structure. This eliminates the separate assembly of protruding emitters and extraction grids, preventing misalignment issues and reducing the fragility associated with separate delicate components. The integrated design maintains sharp emitter geometries for reduced operating voltage while providing structural support throughout the component.
Solution Approach 2:
The thruster utilizes a composite structure combining dielectric material with conductive extraction grid patterns integrated within it. This composite approach allows the emitter to maintain sharp geometries for low voltage operation while the integrated extraction grid provides structural reinforcement and electrical functionality, reducing overall fragility without compromising emitter sharpness.
2Force
If arrays of hundreds or thousands of micro-emitters are used to achieve appreciable thrust, then thrust is increased, but the device complexity and fabrication difficulty increase significantly
Solution Approach 1:
The thruster employs a segmented array of micro-emitters organized in a systematic grid pattern across the monolithic component. This segmentation allows thrust to be distributed across multiple emitters while maintaining a manageable and repeatable fabrication process. The segmented approach enables scaling to hundreds or thousands of emitters without proportionally increasing fabrication complexity, as the pattern can be replicated using standardized manufacturing techniques.
Solution Approach 2:
The monolithic structure serves multiple functions simultaneously: it provides structural support, contains the emitter array, integrates the extraction grid, and maintains precise geometric relationships between all components. This multi-functionality reduces device complexity by eliminating the need for separate structural elements and alignment mechanisms that would be required if emitters were assembled from discrete components.
3Ease of manufacture
If separate emitter chip and extraction grid elements are assembled to form a thruster, then manufacturing flexibility is improved, but alignment precision and structural robustness deteriorate due to misalignment and bonding requirements
Solution Approach 1:
The emitter chip and extraction grid are merged into a single monolithic component fabricated as one integrated structure. This eliminates the separate assembly step entirely, preventing alignment errors and misalignments caused by vibrations during launch or operation. The integrated design maintains precise geometric relationships between emitters and extraction grid without requiring bonding or alignment procedures.
Solution Approach 2:
The precise alignment between emitters and extraction grid is established during the initial monolithic fabrication process rather than during subsequent assembly. This preliminary establishment of precise geometric relationships ensures alignment precision is built into the structure itself, eliminating the need for delicate alignment procedures and reducing susceptibility to misalignment from environmental factors.
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
The design provides a structurally robust thruster capable of generating thrust efficiently with reduced voltage, minimizing degradation and interference, while maintaining precise alignment and performance in vacuum conditions.
Implementation Method 1
Electrospray is a liquid atomization process that uses electrostatic forces to eject and spray an electrically conductive liquid to produce an accelerated aerosol of electrically charged fine droplets
Implementation Method 2
In such applications, electrospray thrusters accelerate ions through an applied electric field, and the resulting stream of high-velocity ions is ejected to generate thrust
Implementation Method 3
a dielectric comprising one or more channels formed through a thickness of the dielectric... A first end of each of the one or more channels is in fluidic communication with the fluid contained within the reservoir
Data Source
AI summary
One or more electrospray emitters form an electrospray thruster, suitable for generating thrust for maneuvering and/or moving a structure to which the thruster is attached in three-dimensional space. The thruster includes a reservoir containing a fluid, preferably an ionic liquid (IL) fluid. Each electrospray emitter includes a dielectric, with channel(s) formed through a thickness thereof, and an extraction electrode, preferably an extraction grid, on an opposite side of the dielectric from the reservoir. Upon application of a sufficient electric potential differential between the extraction electrode and the fluid, the fluid flows through the channels from the reservoir, forms a Taylor cone at an outlet of each channel, and is ejected in the direction of the extraction grid to generate a thrust by the thruster for movement and/or maneuvering of the structure to which the thruster is attached.