同轴型微阴极电弧推力器的设计及性能测试

System design and performance test for coaxial micro-cathode arc thruster

  • 摘要: 为了给微纳卫星在轨动作提供合适的推力,研制了一种同轴型微阴极电弧推力器(CA-μCAT),采用同轴布置的棒状阳极和圆筒形阴极,利用真空环境下电弧放电产生的高温烧蚀金属阴极,电离产生等离子体,并在多物理场耦合作用下高速喷出推力器产生推力。文章分别对该推力器的放电特性、推进剂烧蚀速率、等离子体离子电流、元冲量等多个参数进行了测量与分析。结果表明,该推力器能够持续稳定点火运行,电离率在4%~7%;无外加磁场下,元冲量和比冲分别为0.485 μN·s和195.6 s;在磁感应强度为0.044 T时,元冲量和比冲分别为1.285 μN·s和518.2 s;平均推力在10 μN量级。

     

    Abstract: The micro-cathode arc thruster (μCAT) has a broad application prospect in the field of nano-satellites. A kind of co-axial μCAT is developed in this paper. The thruster consists of two concentric electrodes, the titanium one and the brass one, separated by a ceramic insulator tube. Its working principle is as follows: The pulsed high voltage is used to excite an arc, to generate the plasma. The generated plasma is accelerated by the multi-physical field to be ejected from the thruster to generate the thrust force. The parameters of the thruster include the discharge characteristics, the erosive rate of the propellant, the ion current and the impulse bit, and they are measured and analyzed. The experiment shows that this CA-μCAT works well. The ionization rate of the thruster is from 4% to 7%. The thruster’s impulse bit and the specific impulse are 0.485 μN·s and 195.6 s, respectively, without the magnetic field; the values are 1.285 μN·s and 518.2 s, respectively, in a magnetic field of 0.044 T in strength. The average thrust is in the order of 10 μN.

     

/

返回文章
返回