The particle-based coupling between background gas flows in vacuum test facilities and neutral ingestion into Hall effect thrusters is investigated. An analytical model of the facility background flow environment is developed to accommodate facilities with different geometries and pump placements, as well as compute the ingested flow rate of background neutrals into a given Hall effect thruster. The ingested flow rates computed by the model are shown to predict previous empirical datasets taken using the 5 kW P5, the 6 kW H6, and the 1.5 kW SPT-100 Hall effect thrusters in different test facilities to within the experimental uncertainty. When compared to predictions generated assuming ingestion by the random flux of neutral particles, the ingested flow rates computed by the background flow model are shown to be 40 to 70% closer to the empirical measurements without requiring any semiempirical inputs. It is also shown that the neutral ingestion at a fixed facility pressure can vary by as much as 91%, suggesting that background pressure magnitude is an insufficient parameter for fully describing neutral ingestion effects. These results indicate that the developed analytical background flow model is an effective predictive tool for computing neutral ingestion into Hall effect thrusters.


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    Title :

    Background Flow Model of Hall Thruster Neutral Ingestion


    Contributors:

    Published in:

    Publication date :

    2017-01-30


    Size :

    15 pages




    Type of media :

    Article (Journal)


    Type of material :

    Electronic Resource


    Language :

    English




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