阳极结构对电弧加热发动机性能和稳定性的影响

为了解决电弧加热发动机在低功率和低流量下工作稳定性差导致性能下降的问题,以氮气为推进剂,比较了两种阳极结构对发动机性能的影响,采用原有阳极结构,在低功率时推力比冲性能较差,在低流量时效率较低;而在收缩段采用绝缘体代替原有钨阳极的新结构后,可使发动机的推力、比冲和热效率等性能和稳定性均有明显提高,说明通过阳极结构的改进可以人为控制弧点位置,对于低功率电弧发动机性能具有较大的影响。

Effect of anode structure on the performance of arcjet

The instability of arcjet under low power and flow rate leads to the decrease of performance.Using nitrogen as propellant,experiments under different conditions are compared between the new and old anode structure.For the old arcjet,thrust and impulse are low at low power,thermal efficiency is reduced at low mass flux.While for the new arcjet,it is clear that arc voltage,thrust,specific impulse,efficiency and stability are all improved remarkably.So the improvement of anode structure can control the place of the arc anode attachment,which has the effect on the low power arcjet.