CN115681054A

CN115681054A - Self-maintaining Hall thruster

Info

Publication number: CN115681054A
Application number: CN202310000694.8A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 卢世旭; 徐禄祥
Original assignee: Hangzhou Institute of Advanced Studies of UCAS
Current assignee: Hangzhou Institute of Advanced Studies of UCAS
Priority date: 2023-01-03
Filing date: 2023-01-03
Publication date: 2023-02-03
Anticipated expiration: 2043-01-03
Also published as: CN115681054B

Abstract

The invention provides a self-maintaining Hall thruster, which belongs to the technical field of space propulsion and comprises: the device comprises a shell, a gas cavity and a gas discharge channel, wherein the gas cavity is used for containing working medium gas and is arranged in the shell; a gas distributor having an annular body disposed within the gas chamber of the housing, the annular body having a gas outlet thereon; an inner sleeve connected to a central position inside the housing; the electron emitter is connected to the top of the inner sleeve, and the electron emitter extends upwards out of the air cavity of the shell; the self-maintaining Hall thruster can realize thrust maintenance under micropower by means of spontaneous electrons of the electron emitter in stable operation without additional electron sources for maintaining discharge, thereby improving the total thrust efficiency of a system and the thrust-to-power ratio of the system.

Description

Self-maintaining Hall thruster

Technical Field

The invention relates to the technical field of space propulsion, in particular to a self-maintaining Hall thruster.

Background

In spacecraft propulsion, the hall thruster is one of Electric thrusters (Electric thrusters) that can use a variety of propellants, most commonly xenon. Other propellants include krypton, argon, bismuth, iodine, magnesium, zinc, and the like. When the device is used, the Hall thruster restrains electrons in a magnetic field, ionizes a propellant by the electrons, accelerates ions by an electric field to generate thrust, and neutralizes the ions in a beam current.

In the Hall thruster in the prior art, a hollow cathode or a hot cathode is generally adopted to generate electrons, the hollow cathode is injected with gas and heated to generate electrons, the hot cathode is directly heated to generate electrons, part of the electrons migrate into a discharge channel under the attraction of high potential of an anode and are constrained by an orthogonal electromagnetic field to perform circumferential Hall drift, in the process, the electrons are ionized and collided with a propellant moving along the axial direction of the discharge channel to generate ions, and the ions are accelerated to a speed of ten thousand meters per second and are rapidly ejected out of the discharge channel under the action of potential drop generated by the electrons and high voltage of the anode to form beam ions and generate thrust.

However, with the prior art solutions, the operation of the hollow cathode or hot cathode requires a continuous supply of power or gas, and in micropower hall propulsion systems, the power of the hot cathode is relatively high, resulting in a reduction in the overall thrust efficiency of the system, which reduces the system thrust ratio.

Disclosure of Invention

Therefore, the technical problem to be solved by the present invention is to overcome the defect that the hall thruster in the prior art needs to use a hot cathode to continuously consume power, thereby providing a self-sustaining hall thruster.

In order to solve the above technical problem, the present invention provides a self-sustaining hall thruster, including:

the device comprises a shell, a gas cavity and a gas discharge channel, wherein the gas cavity is used for containing working medium gas and is arranged in the shell;

a gas distributor having an annular body disposed within the gas chamber of the housing, the annular body having a gas outlet thereon;

an inner sleeve connected to a central position inside the housing;

and the electron emitter is connected to the top of the inner sleeve, and the electron emitter extends upwards out of the air cavity of the shell.

Optionally, the electron emitter is attached to an insulator, which is attached to the top of the inner sleeve.

Optionally, the electron emitter is attached to the insulator by a fastener.

Optionally, the electron emitter is in a ring shape sleeved on the fastener.

Optionally, the fastener is an electrical conductor, and a negative lead extending outwards is connected to the fastener.

Optionally, the inner sleeve has a first through hole therein for passing the negative electrode lead.

Optionally, an inner magnetic assembly is arranged in the inner sleeve, and the inner magnetic assembly is provided with a second through hole which penetrates up and down.

Optionally, a magnetically conductive inner core is covered on the top of the inner sleeve, the insulator is connected to the magnetically conductive inner core through a threaded structure, and the magnetically conductive inner core is provided with a third through hole for passing through the negative electrode lead.

Optionally, the inner sleeve is connected to the housing by a threaded arrangement.

Optionally, an installation column is arranged on the annular body of the gas distributor, an installation hole is formed in the shell, the installation column penetrates through the installation hole and is installed on the shell, an insulation sleeve is arranged between the installation column and the installation hole, and a positive wire is connected to the installation column.

The technical scheme of the invention has the following advantages:

1. the self-maintaining Hall thruster provided by the invention can realize thrust maintenance under micropower by means of spontaneous electrons of the electron emitter in stable operation without additional electron source for maintaining discharge, thereby improving the total thrust efficiency of the system and the thrust-to-power ratio of the system.

2. The self-maintaining Hall thruster provided by the invention has the advantages that the electron emitter extends upwards out of the air cavity of the shell, and when only the electron emitter is used as a cathode, the leading-out effect of the plasma beam current is better.

3. The self-sustaining Hall thruster provided by the invention can be started by electrically connecting the shell and the power supply cathode as a cathode and matching with the anode in the shell, ionizing and starting working medium gas between the shell and the anode to generate high-density plasma, and then by electrically connecting the electron emitter and the power supply cathode as the cathode, plasma beam is led out of a discharge channel of the shell, the led plasma bombards and heats the electron emitter, so that the electron emitter generates electrons, and part of the electrons continuously participate in ionization of the working medium gas to sustain stable discharge.

Drawings

In order to more clearly illustrate the embodiments of the present invention or the technical solutions in the prior art, the drawings used in the description of the embodiments or the prior art will be briefly described below, and it is obvious that the drawings in the following description are some embodiments of the present invention, and other drawings can be obtained by those skilled in the art without creative efforts.

FIG. 1 is a front cross-sectional view of one embodiment of a self-sustaining Hall thruster provided in an embodiment of the present invention;

figure 2 is a perspective view of a self-sustaining hall thruster provided in an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 3 is a perspective view of the insulator of FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a perspective view of the inner sleeve within the housing of FIG. 2;

FIG. 5 is a perspective view of the gas distributor within the housing of FIG. 2;

FIG. 6 is a perspective view of a magnetically conductive base plate of the housing of FIG. 2;

FIG. 7 is a perspective view of the magnetically permeable outer shell of the housing of FIG. 2;

fig. 8 is a flowchart of an implementation manner of a self-sustaining hall thruster operation method provided in an embodiment of the present invention.

Description of reference numerals:

1. a housing; 2. a gas distributor; 3. an inner sleeve; 4. an electron emitter; 5. a discharge channel; 6. an air outlet; 7. on the insulator; 8. a fastener; 9. a first through hole; 10. an internal magnetic assembly; 11. a second through hole; 12. a magnetic conducting inner core; 13. a third through hole; 14. an annular body; 15. mounting a column; 16. an insulating sleeve; 17. a magnetically conductive housing; 18. magnetic conduction bottom plate.

Detailed Description

The technical solutions of the present invention will be described clearly and completely with reference to the accompanying drawings, and it should be understood that the described embodiments are some, but not all embodiments of the present invention. All other embodiments, which can be derived by a person skilled in the art from the embodiments given herein without making any creative effort, shall fall within the protection scope of the present invention.

In the description of the present invention, it should be noted that the terms "center", "upper", "lower", "left", "right", "vertical", "horizontal", "inner", "outer", etc., indicate orientations or positional relationships based on the orientations or positional relationships shown in the drawings, and are only for convenience of description and simplicity of description, but do not indicate or imply that the device or element being referred to must have a particular orientation, be constructed and operated in a particular orientation, and thus, should not be construed as limiting the present invention. Furthermore, the terms "first," "second," and "third" are used for descriptive purposes only and are not to be construed as indicating or implying relative importance.

In the description of the present invention, it should be noted that, unless otherwise explicitly specified or limited, the terms "mounted," "connected," and "connected" are to be construed broadly, e.g., as meaning either a fixed connection, a removable connection, or an integral connection; can be mechanically or electrically connected; they may be connected directly or indirectly through intervening media, or they may be interconnected between two elements. The specific meanings of the above terms in the present invention can be understood by those skilled in the art according to specific situations.

In addition, the technical features involved in the different embodiments of the present invention described below may be combined with each other as long as they do not conflict with each other.

Example 1

The self-maintaining Hall thruster provided by the embodiment is suitable for micro-power operation and has a high system power-push ratio.

As shown in fig. 1, a specific implementation of the self-sustained hall thruster provided in this embodiment includes: a housing 1, a gas distributor 2, an inner sleeve 3 and an electron emitter 4. The inside of the shell 1 is provided with an air cavity for containing working medium gas, and the air cavity is provided with a discharge channel 5; the gas distributor 2 is provided with an annular body 14, the annular body 14 is arranged in a gas cavity of the shell 1, a gas outlet 6 is arranged on the annular body 14, and working medium gas is discharged through the gas outlet 6; the inner sleeve 3 is connected to the central position inside the shell 1; the electron emitter 4 is connected to the top of the inner sleeve 3, and the electron emitter 4 extends upwards out of the air cavity of the housing 1.

The self-maintaining Hall thruster provided by the embodiment can rely on the spontaneous electrons of the electron emitter 4 in the stable operation, so that the thrust under the micropower can be maintained, and the discharge can be maintained without an additional electron source, thereby improving the total thrust efficiency of the system and the power-push ratio of the system. In addition, because the electron emitter 4 extends upwards out of the air cavity of the shell 1, when only the electron emitter 4 is used as a cathode, the extraction effect of the plasma beam can be better.

As shown in fig. 1, in the self-sustaining hall thruster provided in this embodiment, the electron emitter 4 is connected to the insulator 7, and is connected to the top of the inner sleeve 3 through the insulator, so that when the electron emitter 4 alone is used as a cathode, the conduction of electricity to the housing 1 can be isolated, and thus the electrical connection to the housing 1 can be effectively broken. In addition, as an alternative embodiment, other means for isolating the electrical connection between the electron emitter 4 and the housing 1 may be used, such as: an insulating arrangement or the like may be provided between the inner sleeve 3 and the housing 1.

As shown in fig. 2 and 3, in the self-sustaining hall thruster provided in this embodiment, the electron emitter 4 is connected to the insulator 7 by a fastener 8. The electron emitter 4 can be designed into a ring shape sleeved on the fastener 8, and the electron reflector can be conveniently disassembled and assembled through the arrangement; specifically, the insulator may be made of a ceramic material. In addition, as an alternative embodiment, the electron emitter 4 may also adopt other conventional structures, such as: the electron emitter 4 may be embedded on an insulator 7 or the like.

As shown in fig. 1, in the self-sustained hall thruster provided in this embodiment, the fastener 8 is an electric conductor, a bottom end of the fastener 8 extends downward to form the insulator, a negative electrode lead is connected to a bottom end of the fastener 8, and the negative electrode lead extends outward to form the housing 1 and then is used for electrically connecting to a negative electrode of a power supply. With this arrangement, the electron emitter 4 can be electrically connected to the negative electrode of the power source via the fastener 8, thereby enabling the electron reflector to be used as a cathode. In addition, as an alternative embodiment, the electron reflector may be electrically connected to the power supply cathode by other means, such as: the electron emitter 4 may be directly electrically connected to the negative electrode of the power supply through a wire, or the like.

As shown in fig. 1 and 4, in the self-sustaining hall thruster provided by this embodiment, the inner sleeve 3 has a first through hole 9 for passing through the negative lead, that is, the negative lead connected to the bottom end of the fastening member 8 passes through the first through hole 9 of the inner sleeve 3 and outwardly passes through the housing 1, so that the negative lead passes through the lower portion of the housing 1. In addition, as an alternative embodiment, the negative lead wire may be connected to the top end of the fastening member 8, and extended from the upper end of the housing 1 to be connected to the negative electrode of the power supply.

As shown in fig. 1, in the self-sustaining hall thruster provided in this embodiment, an inner magnetic assembly 10 is disposed in the inner sleeve 3, and the inner magnetic assembly 10 has a second through hole 11 penetrating vertically. The inner magnetic assembly 10 is used for providing magnetic lines of force, and the second through hole 11 is used for avoiding the negative pole lead when the negative pole lead penetrates out downwards.

As shown in fig. 1 and 3, in the self-sustaining hall thruster provided in this embodiment, a top of the inner sleeve 3 is covered with a magnetically conductive inner core 12, the insulator is connected to the magnetically conductive inner core 12 through a threaded structure, and the magnetically conductive inner core 12 has a third through hole 13 for passing through the negative wire.

As shown in fig. 1 and 4, in the self-maintaining hall thruster provided in this embodiment, the inner sleeve 3 is connected to the housing 1 through a threaded structure.

As shown in fig. 1 and 5, in the self-sustaining hall thruster provided in this embodiment, an annular body 14 of the gas distributor 2 is provided with a mounting post 15, the housing 1 is provided with a mounting hole, and the mounting post 15 is mounted on the housing 1 through the mounting hole; specifically, the number of the mounting columns 15 is four, and one of the mounting columns 15 is a hollow structure through which working medium gas is introduced into the annular body 14. An insulating sleeve 16 is arranged between the mounting column 15 and the mounting hole, an anode lead is connected to the mounting column 15, and the gas distributor 2 forms an anode after the anode lead is electrically connected with a power supply anode. The insulating sleeve 16 serves to insulate the electrical connection between the gas distributor 2 and the housing 1.

As shown in fig. 6 and 7, in the self-maintaining hall thruster provided in the present embodiment, the housing 1 includes: the magnetic conduction bottom plate 18 is a flat plate, a plurality of connecting lugs are axially arranged on the magnetic conduction bottom plate 18, mounting holes are formed in the connecting lugs, part of the mounting holes are used for being connected with the magnetic conduction shell 17, and part of the mounting holes are used for being connected with the base; the magnetically conductive base plate 18 has a threaded hole in the center for connection to the inner sleeve 3, and a plurality of through holes are provided around the circumference of the threaded hole, through which the mounting posts 15 of the gas distributor 2 pass. The magnetic conduction shell 17 is an annular column, and the bottom of the magnetic conduction shell 17 is provided with a mounting structure matched with the connecting lug of the magnetic conduction base, so that the magnetic conduction shell 17 and the magnetic conduction bottom plate 18 are detachably connected.

Example 2

As shown in fig. 1 and fig. 8, the present embodiment provides a method for operating a self-sustained hall thruster, which may adopt the self-sustained hall thruster described in embodiment 1, and includes the following steps:

the flow of the initial working medium gas introduced into the shell 1 of the self-maintaining Hall thruster is set to be more than twice of the rated working flow.

And electrically connecting the positive electrode of the power supply with the anode in the shell 1 of the self-maintaining Hall thruster, and electrically connecting the negative electrode of the power supply with the shell 1, so that the working medium gas is ionized between the shell 1 and the anode to generate plasma.

The electrical connection between the power supply cathode and the case 1 is cut off, the power supply cathode is communicated only with the electron emitter 4 outside the case 1, and the plasma inside the case 1 is led out of the discharge channel 5 of the case 1 by using only the electron emitter 4 as a cathode.

Part of the plasma beam bombards and heats the electron emitter 4, so that the electron emitter 4 generates electrons, and part of the electrons participate in ionization of the working medium gas to maintain stable discharge.

And adjusting the flow of the working medium gas to be the rated working flow, and entering the rated working condition for operation.

In the operation method of the self-sustaining hall thruster provided by the embodiment, when the self-sustaining hall thruster is started, the shell 1 and the power supply cathode are electrically connected to serve as a cathode and are matched with an anode in the shell 1, working medium gas is ionized and started between the shell 1 and the anode, high-density plasma is generated, then the electron emitter 4 and the power supply cathode are electrically connected to serve as a cathode, plasma beams are led out of the discharge channel 5 of the shell 1 and bombarded by the led-out plasma to heat the electron emitter 4, the electron emitter 4 generates electrons, and partial electrons continuously participate in ionization of the working medium gas, so that stable discharge is maintained.

As shown in fig. 1, in the operation method of the self-maintaining hall thruster provided by this embodiment, the housing 1 has a gas distributor 2, and the working medium gas is ejected through the gas distributor 2. Specifically, the working medium gas is jetted out towards the radial direction of the shell 1 through the gas distributor 2, or is jetted out towards the direction far away from the discharge channel 5 of the shell 1. Therefore, the spraying direction of the working medium gas can not be controlled, the working medium gas is prevented from being directly sprayed out of the shell 1, the concentration of the working medium gas in the shell 1 is ensured, and the ionization effect is ensured.

As shown in fig. 1, in the operation method of the self-sustaining hall thruster provided in this embodiment, the anode and the gas distributor 2 are integrated, that is, working medium gas is introduced through the gas distributor 2, and the gas distributor 2 is also electrically connected to a positive electrode of a power supply. In addition, as an alternative embodiment, an anode may be separately provided in the case 1.

As shown in fig. 1, in the self-sustained hall thruster operation method provided by the present embodiment, the electron emitter 4 is disposed at the outer center of the housing 1, and specifically, the electron emitter 4 is disposed perpendicular to the housing 1. Through the arrangement, the plasma beam led out from the shell 1 can be in contact with the electron emitter 4 comprehensively, so that the electron reflector is bombarded and heated.

As shown in fig. 8, in the operation method of the self-sustaining hall thruster provided in this embodiment, before the working medium gas is introduced into the casing 1, the system is powered on, so that the positive electrode of the power supply is electrically connected with the positive electrode in the casing 1, and the negative electrode of the power supply is electrically connected with the electron emitter 4. Then, after the initial working medium gas with more than two times of the rated working flow is introduced into the shell 1, the power supply cathode is simultaneously and electrically connected with the shell 1 through a switch. That is to say, after the system is powered on, the electron emitter 4 is always electrically connected with the negative electrode of the power supply, and thus, the convenience in operation can be improved.

As shown in fig. 1, in the self-sustained hall thruster operation method provided by the present embodiment, an inner sleeve 3 is installed at the center of a housing 1, an electron emitter 4 is installed at an end of the inner sleeve 3 through an insulator, and a first through hole 9 for passing a negative electrode lead electrically connected to the electron emitter 4 is formed in the inner sleeve 3. An inner magnetic assembly 10 and a magnetic conducting inner core 12 are installed in the inner sleeve 3, a second through hole 11 for passing through the cathode lead is formed in the inner magnetic assembly 10, and a third through hole 13 for passing through the cathode lead is formed in the magnetic conducting inner core 12. In operation, the internal magnetic assembly 10 is used to generate an electromagnetic field to accelerate the ionized plasma. In addition, as an alternative embodiment, the internal magnetic assembly 10 can also be disposed at other positions, such as: may be provided outside the housing 1, etc.

It should be understood that the above examples are only for clarity of illustration and are not intended to limit the embodiments. Other variations and modifications will be apparent to persons skilled in the art in light of the above description. This need not be, nor should it be exhaustive of all embodiments. And obvious variations or modifications of the invention may be made without departing from the scope of the invention.

Claims

1. A self-sustaining hall thruster, comprising:

the device comprises a shell (1), wherein an air cavity for containing working medium gas is arranged in the shell, and the air cavity is provided with a discharge channel (5);

the gas distributor (2) is provided with an annular body (14), the annular body (14) is arranged in a gas cavity of the shell (1), and the annular body (14) is provided with a gas outlet (6);

an inner sleeve (3) connected to a central position inside the housing (1);

and the electron emitter (4) is connected to the top of the inner sleeve (3), and the electron emitter (4) extends upwards out of the air cavity of the shell (1).

2. Self-sustaining hall thruster according to claim 1, characterized in that the electron emitter (4) is connected to an insulator (7), through which it is connected to the top of the inner sleeve (3).

3. The self-sustaining hall thruster of claim 2, wherein the electron emitter (4) is attached to the insulator (7) by a fastener (8).

4. The self-sustaining hall thruster of claim 3, wherein the electron emitter (4) is ring-shaped and fits over the fastener (8).

5. The self-maintaining Hall thruster according to claim 3, wherein the fastening member (8) is an electrical conductor, and a negative wire extending outwards is connected to the fastening member (8).

6. The self-sustaining hall thruster of claim 5, wherein the inner sleeve (3) has a first through hole (9) therein for passing through the negative lead.

7. The self-maintaining Hall thruster according to claim 6, wherein an inner magnetic assembly (10) is disposed in the inner sleeve (3), and the inner magnetic assembly (10) has a second through hole (11) penetrating up and down.

8. The self-sustaining hall thruster according to claim 7, wherein the top of the inner sleeve (3) is capped with a magnetically conductive inner core (12), the insulator is connected to the magnetically conductive inner core (12) by a screw structure, and the magnetically conductive inner core (12) has a third through hole (13) for passing through the negative conductor.

9. The self-sustaining hall thruster of any one of claims 1-8, wherein the inner sleeve (3) is connected to the housing (1) by a threaded structure.

10. The self-maintaining Hall thruster according to any one of claims 1 to 8, wherein a mounting post (15) is provided on the annular body (14) of the gas distributor (2), the housing (1) has a mounting hole, the mounting post (15) is mounted on the housing (1) through the mounting hole, an insulating sleeve (16) is provided between the mounting post (15) and the mounting hole, and a positive wire is connected to the mounting post (15).