磁零点及通道宽度对霍尔推力器性能影响的数值研究

磁场位形和通道尺度会改变霍尔推力器等离子体放电过程,影响推力器的宏观放电特性。为分析磁场和通道宽度对推力器放电性能的影响规律,本文针对霍尔推力器轴对称通道结构和放电物理过程建立2D3V物理模型,采用粒子模拟方法研究了霍尔推力器磁零点磁场位形不同通道宽度的电势、粒子数密度、电子温度、电离速率、比冲及推功比的变化规律,结果表明：在具有磁零点磁场位形下,随着通道宽度增加,通道出口处电势降增加,加速区缩短,离子径向速度减少,壁面腐蚀降低;当磁零点位置在内壁面,推力器通道宽度由14 mm增加到16 mm时,推力器比冲和推功比增大,推力器放电效率提高;当磁零点位置在通道中轴线或外壁面,且通道宽度大于14 mm时,推力器比冲增大,推功比减小,推力器效率下降。     

商用电推进的重要进展

１９９８年是电推进系统有大幅度前进的一年。４种类型计７８台电推力器发射入轨，包括６６台肼电阻加热电离式发动机，９台肼电弧加热等离子体射流推力器，２台氙离子推力器和１台氙霍尔推力器系统。摩托罗拉完成１５次铱星发射，６７颗铱星用Ｐｒｉｍｅｘ航天公司的肼电...     

霍尔推力器阳极加热机制及设计优化

阳极的过热不仅降低霍尔推力器的放电稳定性和推力效率,同时也是推力器的一种失效原因,直接引起推力器放电电流、功率异常增加导致关机故障。为在设计阶段解决阳极过热失效问题,本文通过理论分析建立了阳极热过程模型,分析得到阳极鞘层的形成是影响阳极热功率的核心过程,而阳极电流密度和磁感应强度是影响鞘层特性的关键参数。研究结果表明,阳极鞘层电势差随阳极电流密度的提高而增大,在典型近阳极区等离子体参数下,阳极电流密度小于600A/m2时,阳极负鞘层形成;而阳极热功率随着近阳极区磁感应强度的增加而升高,将阳极位置设计在零磁场区是最有利于降低阳极热功率的设计。     

磁场对霍尔推力器放电特性及性能参数影响的粒子模拟研究

磁场强度及位形对霍尔推力器放电过程有显著影响。根据霍尔推力器通道尺寸和等离子体放电过程建立二维物理模型,采用粒子模拟方法,研究了不同磁场强度及位形等离子体放电特性,讨论了推力、推功比及放电电流的变化规律。模拟表明:当中轴线磁场强度峰值小于200G时,磁场对电子轴向传导约束减弱;当磁场强度峰值在200G～420G时,电子温度、电离率及电子与壁面碰撞频率降低,出口处离子径向速度增大,壁面腐蚀增加;当磁场强度峰值为280G时,加速区最短,放电电流最小。不同零磁点磁场位形会改变通道电离区和加速区位置,影响推力器放电性能。     

氪气工质霍尔推力器束聚焦特性研究

以研究氪气替代氙气作为霍尔推力器工质时,等离子体束发散程度大等束聚焦特性问题为目的,通过以霍尔推力器磁场参数、放电电压和阳极工质流量分别作为单一变量进行实验研究,考察其对推力器等离子体束聚焦影响情况。使用HET-P70霍尔推力器进行相关实验,通过改变磁场参数来研究磁场位形对氪气工质推力器性能的影响,最终发现合适磁场位形形成的磁聚焦状态,即实验一中的工况3,可以使羽流发散角达到11.5°,此时推力器放电电压在400V,阳极工质流量3mg/s。另外,通过实验二和实验三,考察阳极工质流量和放电电压对氪等离子体束聚焦的影响机理,发现两个放电参数的变化主要改变了中性气体主电离区位置,进而影响等离子体束聚焦状态。电离位置在设定工况下外移9%,会使得羽流发散半角增大约12°。所以,磁场位形和中性气体的电离位置是影响氪等离子体束聚焦的重要因素,在对氪气霍尔推力器进行设计优化时应予重点考虑。     

磁路温度对霍尔推力器放电热稳定性的影响

为研究磁路高温性质变化对霍尔推力器放电热失稳的贡献及影响机理,对不同磁路温度下推力器的工作磁场强度开展了实验测量,对磁路温度变化与通道内等离子体放电行为变化的交互影响开展了Particle-in-Cell数值模拟研究。实验结果表明,当磁路温度由室温升高到600℃时,推力器的工作磁场强度发生了衰减,尽管衰减量不大(约5%)。模拟结果表明,磁路高温引起的场强衰减改变了推力器放电时的电导率及电势分布,进而对电子能量各向分布、粒子密度分布等造成了影响,促进了电子在壁面的通量及能量损失,主导了壁面等离子体沉积功率的增加,从而进一步加剧了磁路温度的增长。这是一个具有正反馈性质的过程;因此,若不能通过外部手段有效控制磁路温度,将诱发霍尔推力器的放电热失稳。     

星载永磁霍尔推力器磁场分析与实验研究

磁场是评价星载霍尔推力器性能水平及工作特性的重要因素,也是开展推力器优化设计的重要自由度。针对航天器姿态调整等空间轨道任务对霍尔推力器应用需求,分析了影响永磁霍尔推力器磁感应强度的关键因素。在此基础上,利用磁路等效法,采用有限元离散形式,建立了基于永磁材料的霍尔推力器磁场模型,利用国外同类产品工程数据验证了磁场模型分析方法的可行性和计算结果的正确性,最终获得了设计所需的推力器磁路构型、永磁体结构尺寸及相应的永磁霍尔推力器样机。将永磁霍尔推力器磁场分析结果与实测结果进行对比,并对整机性能进行了实验验证,结果表明:推力器性能实验结果与设计要求相符性较好,额定供气、供电状态下,推力器阳极电流符合设计要求,整机推力达到3.52mN,比冲达到685s,较好地实现了永磁霍尔推力器设计目标。     

同轴型微波等离子推力器磁场效应

在2.45 GHz同轴型微波等离子体推力器中加入磁场可以提高推力器的性能。这是由于磁场的存在,在推力器启动阶段会形成电子回旋共振区;稳定工作时,等离子体获得的焦尔热比没有磁场时高,这些都增加了等离子体吸收的微波能量。以氩气为工质,对外加磁场微波等离子推力器进行了实验研究,结果表明,推力器可以达到较高的耦合效率。对等离子体羽流的诊断则表明,外加磁场提高了推力器谐振腔内工质气体的电离度。     

空间站等离子体接触器钳位模式实验研究

为了研究等离子体接触器对空间站表面电位主动控制作用及钳位模式工作特性,对等离子体接触器进行了钳位模式实验研究,分析了空间站在运行轨道等离子体鞘层厚度,给出了等离子体接触器钳位电压和发射电流之间的变化规律,对真空度、等离子体密度、氙气流量等对钳位模式影响及等离子体接触器功率随发射电流变化规律进行了实验研究。实验结果表明:等离子体接触器在额定工作点下钳位电压低于20V;钳位电压增加使等离子体接触器发射电流突增;较低的真空度、较高的空间等离子体密度、较大的氙气流量会使等离子体接触器钳位模式较早出现,等离子体接触器电子发射特性曲线左移了近20%;等离子体接触器功率随发射电流增加而减小了近30%。     

重粒子碰撞对霍尔推力器通道等离子体影响数值研究

为了研究重粒子碰撞对霍尔推力器通道等离子体影响,采用PIC/MCC/DSMC混合法对放电通道工作过程进行数值仿真研究。建立放电通道二维数值仿真模型,模型中对重粒子碰撞进行重点考虑。估算了通道内各粒子碰撞下的平均自由程,并针对重粒子碰撞单一变量开展了2个仿真模型计算,并对结果进行了对比分析及验证。结果表明:重粒子碰撞对通道内离子数密度分布影响较大,主要表现为离子数密度分布在电离区更为均匀,离子数密度峰值下降6.9%;离子轴向速度影响较小,出口处离子轴向平均速度下降1.3%。与实验结果对比验证,重粒子碰撞因素使仿真结果与测试值之间误差由9.0%缩小到7.3%。     

Energy release in double layers

A Double layer (DL) in a current carrying plasma sustains a localised net potential difference and acts as an impedance converting electrical energy to directed particle energy determined by the DL potential. DL's accelerate equal numbers of ions and electrons for relativistic energies, otherwise electron energisation predominates. Their time independent structure may be described as a BGK (Bernstein-Greene-Kruskal) state analogous to that for laminar shocks, and certain existence criteria must be satisfied. The generalised Langmuir criterion requires total particle pressure balance over the DL and may imply propagation in the plasma reference frame. The Bohm criteria require sufficiently large current densities and are closely related to the local stability condition at the edges of the DL. The DL potential must be sustained externally, for example by the release of stored magnetic energy. A steady state is also possible where (externally maintained) mass motions drive a dynamo region connected by currents to the DL which acts as an electrical load.     

非麦氏电子分布对霍尔推力器等离子体与壁面相互作用的影响

为深入分析霍尔推力器放电通道的非麦氏电子分布对等离子体与壁面相互作用的影响,采用一维非稳态鞘层动力学模型,统计了等离子体与壁面相互作用的重要物理量。结果表明,非麦氏电子分布函数和麦氏电子分布函数下等离子体与壁面相互作用存在很大差异,电子服从非麦氏电子分布时入射电子在壁面上的能量沉积,以及二次电子对主流区电子的冷却作用都明显弱于电子服从麦氏分布的情形。     

离子推力器放电腔内等离子体流动规律的全粒子模型

为了详细描述等离子体在放电腔内的产生、演化过程,建立了放电腔内部等离子体流动的二维轴对称全粒子数值模型。在考虑壁面二次电子发射影响的前提下,模拟得到了稳态后放电腔内电磁场、电子与离子数密度,电流密度等一系列参数分布,且与相关实验数据进行了比较,吻合较好。模型得到了实验中难以观测到的放电腔内等离子体的产生、演化过程以及稳态下的分布规律,合理解释了放电腔工作的基本原理。     

Progress in Reentry Communications

Considerable progress has been made in the past few years toward understanding and solving the spacecraft communications blackout problem caused by the reentry plasma sheath. A summary of the causes and effects of the reentry plasma sheath is presented, together with a discussion of reentry plasma diagnostic techniques, proposed methods of alleviating the communications blackout, and a review of the reentry flight experiments performed to better our understanding of the reentry plasma.     

Modelling Electrostatic Sheath Effects on Swarm Electric Field Instrument Measurements

The Electric Field Instrument (EFI) was designed to measure ionospheric ion flow velocities, temperatures and distribution functions at the ram face of the European Space Agency’s Swarm spacecraft. These flow velocities, combined with the known orbital velocity of the satellite and local magnetic field, will be used to infer local electric fields from the relation E=?v×B. EFI is among a class of many particle sensors and flow meters mounted on satellites to monitor in situ plasma conditions. The interpretation of the measurements made with EFI and similar sensors relies on a spacecraft sheath model. A common approach, valid in the relatively cold and dense ionospheric plasma, is to assume a potential drop in a thin sheath through which particle deflection and energisation can be calculated analytically. In such models, sheath effects only depend on the spacecraft floating potential, and on the angle of incidence of particles with respect to the normal to the surface. Corrections to measurements are therefore local as they do not depend on the geometry of nearby objects. In an actual plasma, satellites are surrounded by electrostatic sheaths with a finite thickness. As a result, local corrections to particle distribution functions can only be seen as an approximation. A correct interpretation of measured particle fluxes or particle distribution functions must, at least in principle, account for the extent and shape of the sheath in the vicinity of the measuring instrument. This in turn requires a careful analysis of the interaction of the satellite with the surrounding plasma, while accounting for detailed aspects of the geometry, as well as for several physical effects. In this paper, the validity of the thin sheath model is tested by comparing its predictions with detailed PIC (Particle In Cell) calculations of satellite-plasma interaction. Deviations attributed to sheath finite thickness effects are calculated for EFI measurements, with representative plasma parameters encountered along the planned Swarm orbit. Finite thickness effects of the plasma sheaths are found to induce EFI velocity measurement errors not exceeding 37 m/s, with larger errors occurring in plasmas that are simultaneously tenuous (10⁹ m^?3 or lower) and warm (0.5 eV or higher).     

Particle Acceleration Mechanisms

In this paper we review the possible mechanisms for production of non-thermal electrons which are responsible for the observed non-thermal radiation in clusters of galaxies. Our primary focus is on non-thermal Bremsstrahlung and inverse Compton scattering, that produce hard X-ray emission. We first give a brief review of acceleration mechanisms and point out that in most astrophysical situations, and in particular for the intracluster medium, shocks, turbulence and plasma waves play a crucial role. We also outline how the effects of the turbulence can be accounted for. Using a generic model for turbulence and acceleration, we then consider two scenarios for production of non-thermal radiation. The first is motivated by the possibility that hard X-ray emission is due to non-thermal Bremsstrahlung by nonrelativistic particles and attempts to produce non-thermal tails by accelerating the electrons from the background plasma with an initial Maxwellian distribution. For acceleration rates smaller than the Coulomb energy loss rate, the effect of energising the plasma is to primarily heat the plasma with little sign of a distinct non-thermal tail. Such tails are discernible only for acceleration rates comparable or larger than the Coulomb loss rate. However, these tails are accompanied by significant heating and they are present for a short time of <10⁶ years, which is also the time that the tail will be thermalised. A longer period of acceleration at such rates will result in a runaway situation with most particles being accelerated to very high energies. These more exact treatments confirm the difficulty with this model, first pointed out by Petrosian (Astrophys. J. 557:560, 2001). Such non-thermal tails, even if possible, can only explain the hard X-ray but not the radio emission which needs GeV or higher energy electrons. For these and for production of hard X-rays by the inverse Compton model, we need the second scenario where there is injection and subsequent acceleration of relativistic electrons. It is shown that a steady state situation, for example arising from secondary electrons produced from cosmic ray proton scattering by background protons, will most likely lead to flatter than required electron spectra or it requires a short escape time of the electrons from the cluster. An episodic injection of relativistic electrons, presumably from galaxies or AGN, and/or episodic generation of turbulence and shocks by mergers can result in an electron spectrum consistent with observations but for only a short period of less than one billion years.     

脉冲电晕放电对减少内燃机有害排放的研究

本文对脉冲电晕放电对减少内燃机有害排放的可行性进行了研究，实验中用NDIR(非分散红外线)气体分析仪测量了SY492Q-1型汽油机在等离子装置工作或不工作时排气中CO、CO2和HC的浓度，并通过等离子发生装置结构的变化调整阴极与阳极间的放电间隙，观察并测量其对实验结果的影响。初步实验结果证明，利用等离子体技术减少汽车尾气中的HC和CO的排放是可行的，并且等离子发生装置的放电电压和放电间隙对实验结果有重要影响。     

可见光迷彩低红外发射率薄膜制备及其特性

采用多弧离子镀技术,在Al基底上制备了TiO2/TiN多层膜。通过控制基底材料的粗糙度使制备出的薄膜在可见波段具有非镜面反射效果。采用扫描电镜、红外辐射率测量仪、紫外-可见-近红外光光度计等测试手段对薄膜样品进行了表征。结果表明,采用多弧离子镀法在Al基底上制备了结合力良好、具有迷彩效果的低红外发射率薄膜。研究发现,随氧化层厚度增加,薄膜发射率趋向稳定(0.2左右)。薄膜电阻随氧化层厚度的变化无明显变化。     

电磁波在等离子体高温气体中传输特性实验研究

针对高超声速飞行器头身部形成的等离子体鞘套对通信的影响,在中国空气动力研究与发展中心的粉末激波管上开展了电磁波在等离子体高温气体中传输特性的实验研究。实验中获得了等离子体气体中的电磁波透射率、电子密度和碰撞频率。实验结果表明：X波段和Ka波段电磁波在高激波马赫数Mas=16.1、1区气体压力P1=1200Pa的激波管实验状态下产生的厚度80mm等离子体高温气体中能量衰减大于30dB,难以传输;X和Ka波段电磁波在激波马赫数Mas=15.9、1区气体压力P1=80Pa的激波管实验状态下产生的厚度80mm等离子体高温气体中能量衰减大于30dB,难以传输;X波段和Ka波段电磁波在激波马赫数Mas=10.1、1区气体压力P1=80Pa的激波管实验状态下产生的高温等离子气体中平均传输损耗较小,可以进行有效传输;Ka波段电磁波在激波马赫数Mas=8.9、1区气体压力P1=1200Pa的激波管实验状态下产生的厚度80mm等离子体气体中平均传输损耗小于1dB,可以进行有效传输。实验得到的等离子体高温气体中的电磁波透射率、电子密度和碰撞频率与理论计算值基本一致。