Performance Characteristics of a 5 kW Laboratory Hall Thruster

Abstract

The University of Michigan and United States Air Force Research Laboratory have jointly developed a 5 kW class Hall effect thruster. This thruster was developed to investigate, with a variety of diagnostics, a thruster similar to that specified by IHPRPT goals. The configuration of this thruster is adjustable so that diagnostic access to the interior of the thruster can be provided as necessary, and to allow for the exploration of various thruster geometries. At nominal conditions, the thruster was designed to operate at 5 kW with a predicted specific impulse of 2200 s. The actual operating parameters at 5 kW were 2326 s specific impulse, with 246 mN of thrust at an efficiency of 57%. These conditions are comparable to those of thrusters under commercial development, making the information learned from the study of this thruster applicable to the understanding of its commercial counterparts.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Jul 01, 1996
Accession Number
ADA436556

Entities

People

  • Alec D. Gallimore
  • Frank S. Gulczinski Iii
  • Gregory G. Spanjers
  • James M. Haas
  • Ronald A. Spores

Organizations

  • University of Michigan

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Advanced Electronics
  • Materials and Manufacturing Processes
  • Space

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Air Force
  • Air Force Research Laboratories
  • Current Density
  • Electric Propulsion
  • Engineering
  • Flow Rate
  • Hall Thrusters
  • Magnetic Fields
  • Magnetic Properties
  • Mass Flow
  • Measurement
  • Military Research
  • Specific Impulse
  • Test Facilities
  • Thrusters
  • Vacuum
  • Vacuum Chambers

Fields of Study

  • Physics

Readers

  • Aerospace Propulsion Engineering.
  • Agent-Based Social Robotics and Mobile-Assisted Learning in Virtual Environments.

Technology Areas

  • Space
  • Space - Hall-Effect Thruster