Abstract For the characterisation of an electric propulsion system, the determination of the thrust has a crucial role. The thrust of an Indium FEEP Multiemitter (IFM) Nano Thruster laboratory model is measured directly with a thrust balance and indirectly via beam diagnostics. Both measurements are carried out simultaneously to enable mutual verification with high accuracy. The novel mN-torsion thrust balance by FOTEC resolves six different thrust magnitudes, ranging from 10 N to 1N. It is based on the so-called force-feedback method using a voice coil actuator to determine the thrust, which leads to an accuracy of better than 2%. The indirect thrust measurements were performed with a high-precision beam diagnostics system by FOTEC. A semi-circular diagnostics arm equipped with 23 digital Faraday cups is used to measure the ion current density distribution of the entire beam. The thrust results of both systems show an agreement with a deviation less than 5% for thruster operation points ranging from 50 to 450 N. This proves that the performance of a FEEP thruster can be characterised very precisely by indirect trust measurements.
Highlights Presentation of FOTEC’s newly developed high-precision mN-thrust balance for electric propulsion thrusters. FEEP thruster beam characterisation using FOTEC’s high-precision digital beam diagnostics system. High degree of agreement between direct and indirect thrust measurements.
Simultaneously measured direct and indirect thrust of a FEEP thruster using novel thrust balance and beam diagnostics
Acta Astronautica ; 197 ; 107-114
2022-05-07
8 pages
Aufsatz (Zeitschrift)
Elektronische Ressource
Englisch
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