离子液体推力器性能影响因素仿真研究

文章主要研究离子液体推力器发射阵列几何结构参数对推力器性能的影响。建立单个发射极粒子网格法仿真模型，模拟获得了单个发射极束流分布及推力、比冲等性能参数曲线；通过改变电极间距及引出极孔径获得了单个发射极平均推力和角向效率的变化曲线，分析了电极间距及引出极孔径对推力器性能的影响。研究表明：在离子被引出极拦截前，推力器角向效率与电极间距成正比，与引出极孔径成反比；在不考虑发射离子数量和比例改变情况下，推力器推力随电极间距的增加先增大后减小，一定范围内随引出极孔径的减小而增大，但过小的引出极孔径会造成严重的推力损失与栅极侵蚀。以上研究结果可为离子液体推力器的优化设计提供参考。

The influencing factors of the performance of ionic liquid thruster

The influence of the emitter’s geometric parameters on the performance of the ionic liquid thruster is studied, based on a PIC (particle-in-cell) simulation model of a single emitter. The beam distributions, as well as the curves of the thrust and specific impulse are obtained. Then, the simulated curves of the average thrust and the angular efficiency of a single emitter are obtained by adjusting the electrode spacing and the extractor aperture, to analyze the influence of the emitter on the performance of the thruster. The following conclusions are drawn: before the ions are intercepted by the extractor, the angular efficiency of the thruster is directly proportional to the electrode spacing and inversely proportional to the extractor aperture; without considering the change of the number and the fraction of the emitted ions, the thrust of the thruster increases firstly and then decreases with the increase of the electrode spacing, and increases with the decrease of the extractor aperture within a certain range. However, a very small extractor aperture will cause a significant thrust loss and the electrode erosion. The above results may serve as a reference for the optimal design of ionic liquid thrusters.