The magnetic field at the origin of the electron confinement in a Hall thruster is established by means of an assembly composed of coils or magnets and a circuit that guides the flux. The standard magnetic architecture, however, suffers from a lack of flexibility as its main purpose is to generate a well-defined topology that warrants a high and stable performance level. This contribution reports on a thruster with an unconventional magnetic circuit that allows covering a broad range of magnetic field topologies. Compared with a classical magnetic circuit, the proposed circuit is especially designed to control in an independent manner all the characteristic parameters of a magnetic topology. The new magnetic structure is mounted in a thruster prototype based on the PPS®1350-ML Hall thruster architecture. The prototype is named PPS-Flex. First, the design and construction of this original magnetic assembly are presented together with functioning of the control interface. Second, the flexibility is illustrated through several examples of achievable magnetic field configurations. Third, experimental results obtained during test campaigns of the PPS-Flex thruster fed with xenon as propellant gas are described and discussed.


    Access

    Check access

    Check availability in my library

    Order at Subito €


    Export, share and cite



    Title :

    Development and Testing of Hall Thruster with Flexible Magnetic Field Configuration


    Contributors:
    Mazouffre, S. (author) / Bourgeois, G. (author) / Vaudolon, J. (author) / Garrigues, L. (author) / Hénaux, C. (author) / Harribey, D. (author) / Vilamot, R. (author) / Rossi, A. (author) / Zurbach, S. (author) / Le Méhauté, D. (author)

    Published in:

    Publication date :

    2015-07-01




    Type of media :

    Article (Journal)


    Type of material :

    Electronic Resource


    Language :

    English




    HALL EFFECT THRUSTER ELECTRICAL CONFIGURATION

    HOFER RICHARD R / JORNS BENJAMIN A / KATZ IRA et al. | European Patent Office | 2017

    Free access

    Dependence of lifetime on magnetic field configuration in a Hall thruster

    Yamamoto, Naoji / Nakashima, Hideki / Yalin, Azer | AIAA | 2012


    Hall effect thruster electrical configuration

    HOFER RICHARD R / JORNS BENJAMIN A / KATZ IRA et al. | European Patent Office | 2019

    Free access

    The flexible magnetic field thruster

    BROPHY, J. / WILBUR, P. | AIAA | 1982


    MAGNETIC FIELD SOURCE FOR HALL-EFFECT THRUSTER

    KING LYON / SOMMERVILLE JASON | European Patent Office | 2020

    Free access