CN114135457B

CN114135457B - Ion propeller

Info

Publication number: CN114135457B
Application number: CN202111438043.4A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 黎明; 程焰林; 刘鑫
Original assignee: Institute of Electronic Engineering of CAEP
Current assignee: Institute of Electronic Engineering of CAEP
Priority date: 2021-11-30
Filing date: 2021-11-30
Publication date: 2023-03-14
Anticipated expiration: 2041-11-30
Also published as: CN114135457A

Abstract

The invention discloses an ion thruster, which comprises: the ionization chamber, the screen grid, the extraction grid and the boosting spiral body, wherein the screen grid is electrically connected with the ionization chamber, the extraction grid is arranged opposite to the screen grid, and the extraction grid is at a negative potential; one end of the boosting screw body is electrically connected with the lead-out grid, the other end of the boosting screw body is negative potential relative to the lead-out grid, and the boosting screw body is formed by connecting a plurality of boosting units in series. Compared with the conventional ion thruster, the ion thruster disclosed by the invention has the advantages of simple structure and excellent insulating and voltage-resisting performance, and provides possibility for improving the ion acceleration voltage.

Description

Ion propeller

Technical Field

The invention belongs to the technical field of space thrusters, and particularly relates to an ion thruster.

Background

An ion thruster, also called as an ion engine, is a space electric thruster. The ion thruster ionizes the working medium into plasma in the working process, wherein ions with positive charges are accelerated by the ion optical system and then emitted at a certain speed, so that a reaction force is obtained to push the spacecraft to run.

The existing ion thruster mainly utilizes an ion optical system to realize the extraction and acceleration of ions, and the structure of the ion optical system can be divided into the following parts according to the difference of the extraction and acceleration modes of the ions: the ion extraction and acceleration processes of the ions are coupled with each other although the structure is simple, and the beam density and the specific impulse cannot be improved at the same time; the two-stage accelerated ion optical system is characterized in that the extraction grid is additionally arranged between the screen grid and the acceleration grid, and the extraction process and the acceleration process of ions are respectively completed in the extraction section (between the screen grid and the extraction grid) and the acceleration section (between the extraction grid and the acceleration grid), so that the decoupling of the extraction process and the acceleration process of the ions is realized, and the specific impulse of the ion thruster can be greatly improved while the ion density of beam current is not reduced; the multistage accelerated ion optical system is additionally provided with an accelerating stage between the extraction grid and the accelerating grid of the bipolar accelerated ion optical system, so that the ion accelerating voltage can be further improved, and the specific impulse of the ion thruster can be further improved.

Therefore, there is a need for an ion thruster with simple structure and excellent insulation and voltage resistance performance while consuming the same working medium.

Disclosure of Invention

In view of the above, the present invention provides an ion thruster, which has the characteristics of simple structure and excellent insulation and voltage resistance, and can provide possibility for further increasing the ion acceleration voltage.

In order to achieve the purpose, the invention adopts the following technical scheme: an ion thruster, the ion thruster comprising: the ion thruster comprises an ionization chamber, a screen grid, an extraction grid and a boosting spiral body; the screen grid is electrically connected with the ionization chamber, the lead-out grid is arranged opposite to the screen grid, and the lead-out grid is at a negative potential; one end of the boosting spiral body is electrically connected with the lead-out grid, and the other end of the boosting spiral body is negative potential relative to the lead-out grid.

Preferably, the boosting spiral body is formed by connecting a plurality of boosting units in series.

Preferably, the boosting unit comprises an insulating body, an energy supply part, an upper electrode, a lower electrode and an internal connecting circuit; the upper electrode and the lower electrode are respectively arranged at the upper end and the lower end of the surface of the insulating body; the internal connection circuit is arranged in the insulating body and is electrically connected with the energy supply component, the upper electrode and the lower electrode.

Preferably, the screen grid material is any one of molybdenum, titanium and graphite.

Preferably, the extraction grid material is any one of molybdenum, titanium and graphite.

Preferably, the energy supply part is a solar panel or a nuclear battery.

Preferably, the solar cell panel is a flexible solar cell panel and is wrapped on the edge of the outer surface of the insulating body.

Preferably, the upper electrode and the lower electrode are made of titanium, and the outer surface is smooth and continuous.

Preferably, the plurality of boosting units are connected by adopting a shape memory material or an elastic material.

Preferably, the boosting spiral body is in a flat involute spiral shape before ion emission.

The beneficial effects of the invention are: the ion thruster provided by the invention adopts the boosting spiral body as the ion accelerating structure, the structure is simple, the structure can be compressed and folded, and the volume of the space ion thruster can be reduced; the ion thruster disclosed by the invention has higher insulation and voltage resistance, each boosting unit forming the boosting spiral body adopts a spiral structure to ensure the insulation and voltage resistance of the body of the boosting spiral body, the creepage distance between two ends of the boosting spiral body can ensure the insulation and voltage resistance of the creepage surface of the boosting spiral body, and the boosting spiral body is used as a space thruster, and the vacuum environment of the outer space can ensure the vacuum voltage resistance and insulation performance between adjacent spiral boosting units, so that the insulation performance of the spiral structure of the boosting spiral body is ensured, and a larger potential difference can be formed at two ends of the boosting spiral body, thereby accelerating ions to higher energy. Therefore, compared with the conventional ion thruster, the ion thruster disclosed by the invention has the advantages of simple structure and excellent insulation and voltage resistance, and provides possibility for improving the ion acceleration voltage.

Drawings

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of an ion thruster according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a schematic structural diagram of a boosting unit according to an embodiment of the present invention;

in the figure: 1. the booster spiral body 2, the ionization chamber 3, the screen grid 4, the extraction grid 10, the booster unit 11, the insulation body 12, the solar panel 13, the upper electrode 14, the lower electrode 15 and the internal connection circuit.

Detailed Description

It will be appreciated by those of ordinary skill in the art that the embodiments described herein are intended to assist the reader in understanding the principles of the invention and are to be construed as being without limitation to such specifically recited embodiments and examples. Those skilled in the art can make various other specific changes and combinations based on the teachings of the present invention without departing from the spirit of the invention, and these changes and combinations are within the scope of the invention.

The invention is described in detail below with reference to the figures and the specific embodiments.

As an example, the ion thruster shown in fig. 1 comprises: the ionization chamber 2, the screen grid 3, the extraction grid 4 and the boosting spiral body 1; the screen grid 3 is electrically connected with the ionization chamber 2, the lead-out grid 4 is arranged opposite to the screen grid 3, and the lead-out grid 4 is at a negative potential; one end of the boosting spiral body 1 is electrically connected with the extraction grid 4, and the other end of the boosting spiral body is at a negative potential relative to the extraction grid 4, so that an axial accelerating electric field is formed in the inner space of the boosting spiral body 1.

As an embodiment, the boosting spiral body 1 is formed by connecting a plurality of boosting units 10 in series as shown in fig. 2, and the plurality of boosting units 10 are connected by using a shape memory material or an elastic material, so that the boosting spiral body 10 can be compressed and folded into a flat involute spiral shape before ion emission, and the emission volume of the spacecraft can be further reduced.

As an embodiment, each of the boosting units 10 further includes an insulating body 11, an energy supply component, an upper electrode 13, a lower electrode 14, and an internal connection circuit 15, where the energy supply component may be a solar panel 12 or a nuclear battery, and in this embodiment, the solar panel 12 is selected, and as shown in fig. 2, the solar panel 12 is a flexible solar panel and is wrapped on the edge of the outer surface of the insulating body 11; the upper electrode and the lower electrode are respectively arranged at the upper end and the lower end of the surface of the insulating body, the materials are titanium, and the outer surface is smooth and continuous; the internal connection circuit is disposed inside the insulating body and electrically connected to the solar cell panel 12, the upper electrode 13 and the lower electrode 14, so that a potential difference is generated between the upper electrode 13 and the lower electrode 14.

The screen grid 3 and the extraction grid 4 are made of any one of molybdenum, titanium and graphite.

The working process of the ion thruster is as follows: the working medium is ionized in the ionization chamber 2 to generate plasma, positive ions in the plasma are led out under the action of an electric field formed between the screen grid 3 and the leading-out grid 4, the positive ions penetrate through the leading-out grid 4 to enter the inner space of the boosting spiral body 1, and the positive ions are accelerated and ejected at high speed under the action of an axial acceleration electric field in the boosting spiral body 1, so that thrust is generated.

Claims

1. An ion thruster, the ion thruster comprising: the ion thruster is characterized by also comprising a boosting spiral body, wherein the screen grid is electrically connected with the ionization chamber, the extraction grid is arranged opposite to the screen grid, the extraction grid is at a negative potential, one end of the boosting spiral body is electrically connected with the extraction grid, and the other end of the boosting spiral body is at a negative potential opposite to the extraction grid; the boosting spiral body is formed by connecting a plurality of boosting units in series; the boosting unit comprises an insulating body, an energy supply component, an upper electrode, a lower electrode and an internal connecting circuit; the upper electrode and the lower electrode are respectively arranged at the upper end and the lower end of the surface of the insulating body; the internal connecting circuit is arranged in the insulating body and is electrically connected with the energy supply component, the upper electrode and the lower electrode; the boosting spiral body is compressed and folded into a flat involute spiral shape before ion emission.

2. The ion thruster of claim 1, wherein the screen material is any one of molybdenum, titanium and graphite.

3. The ion thruster of claim 1, wherein the extraction grid material is any one of molybdenum, titanium and graphite.

4. The ion thruster of claim 1, wherein the energy supply means is a solar panel or a nuclear battery.

5. The ion thruster of claim 4, wherein the solar panel is a flexible solar panel wrapped around the edge of the outer surface of the insulating body.

6. The ion thruster of claim 1 wherein the upper electrode and the lower electrode are both titanium and have a smooth and continuous outer surface.

7. The ion thruster of claim 1, wherein the plurality of pressure boosting units are connected by a shape memory material or an elastic material.