In a proof-of-principle effort to demonstrate the feasibility of magnetically shielded (MS) Hall thrusters, an existing laboratory thruster has been modified with the guidance of physics-based numerical simulation. When operated at a discharge power of 6-kilowatts the modified thruster has been designed to reduce the total energy and flux of ions to the channel insulators by greater than 1 and greater than 3 orders of magnitude, respectively. The erosion rates in this MS thruster configuration are predicted to be at least 2-4 orders of magnitude lower than those in the baseline (BL) configuration. At such rates no detectable erosion is expected to occur.
Design of a Laboratory Hall Thruster with Magnetically Shielded Channel Walls, Phase I: Numerical Simulations
AIAA/ASME/SAE/ASEE Joint Propulsion Conference ; 2011 ; San Diego, CA, United States
2011-07-31
Conference paper
No indication
English