Ding Yongjie

Computer simulations of Hall thrusters without wall losses designed using two permanent magnetic rings

A type of Hall thruster without wall losses is designed by adding two permanent magnet rings in the magnetic circuit. The maximum strength of the magnetic field is set outside the channel. Discharge without wall losses is achieved by pushing down the magnetic field and adjusting the channel accordingly. The feasibility of the Hall thrusters without wall losses is verified via a numerical simulation. The simulation results show that the ionization region is located in the discharge channel and the acceleration region is outside the channel, which decreases the energy and flux of ions and electrons spattering on the wall. The power deposition on the channel walls can be reduced by approximately 30 times.

Effect of anisotropy of electron velocity distribution function on dynamic characteristics of sheath in Hall thrusters

In Hall thrusters, the electron velocity distribution function is not only depleted at high energies, but also strongly anisotropic. With these electrons interacting with the channel wall, the sheath will be changed in its dynamic characteristics. In the present letter, a two dimensional particle-in-cell code is used to simulate these effects in a collisionless plasma slab. The simulated results indicate that the sheath changes from steady regime to temporal oscillation regime when the electron velocity distribution function alters from isotropy to anisotropy. Moreover, the temporal oscillation sheath formed by the anisotropic electrons has a much greater oscillating amplitude and a much smaller average potential drop than that formed by the isotropic electrons has. The anisotropic electrons are also found to lower the critical value of electron temperature needed for the appearance of the spatial oscillation sheath.

Characterizing low-frequency oscillation of Hall thrusters by dielectric wall temperature variation

The low-frequency oscillation characteristics of a Hall thruster were investigated by varying the dielectric wall temperature. Experimental results indicate that increasing the dielectric wall temperature can result in an increase in the amplitude of low-frequency oscillation and a slight decrease in its frequency. Physical analysis revealed that this change is related to the secondary electron emissions at different dielectric wall temperatures. The evidence suggests that this technique can serve as an effective way for future studies to examine how secondary electron emissions affect a discharging thruster.

Magnetic field deformation due to electron drift in a Hall thruster

The strength and shape of the magnetic field are the core factors in the design of the Hall thruster. However, Hall current can affect the distribution of static magnetic field. In this paper, the Particle-In-Cell (PIC) method is used to obtain the distribution of Hall current in the discharge channel. The Hall current is separated into a direct and an alternating part to calculate the induced magnetic field using Finite Element Method Magnetics (FEMM). The results show that the direct Hall current decreases the magnetic field strength in the acceleration region and also changes the shape of the magnetic field. The maximum reduction in radial magnetic field strength in the exit plane is 10.8 G for an anode flow rate of 15 mg/s and the maximum angle change of the magnetic field line is close to 3° in the acceleration region. The alternating Hall current induces an oscillating magnetic field in the whole discharge channel. The actual magnetic deformation is shown to contain these two parts.