A Laser-Induced Fluorescence test was performed during risk reduction testing on the HERMeS Hall thruster. This article focuses on the portion of the test to study trends in the ion acceleration characteristics with varying anode mass flow rate, background pressure, and electrical configuration. The acceleration zone of the HERMeS Hall thruster was observed to move upstream as the anode mass flow rate decreased and upstream as the background pressure increased. Examination of the characteristics of the ions near the pole covers suggested the possibility that thruster was no longer magnetically shielded at the extreme conditions of very low anode mass flow rate and high background pressure. The acceleration zone was also observed to move slightly upstream when the thruster body was floated as opposed to cathode-tied and did not move appreciably when the thruster body was grounded to the vacuum facility. Characteristics of the ions bombarding the pole covers did not vary across the tested electrical configurations.


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    Title :

    Effects of Background Pressure and Electrical Configuration on the Velocity Field of the HERMeS Hall Thruster


    Contributors:

    Conference:

    AIAA Propulsion and Energy Forum and Exposition (AIAA Propulsion and Energy Forum) ; 2020 ; Virtual, US


    Type of media :

    Conference paper


    Type of material :

    No indication


    Language :

    English







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