Effect of Background Pressure on the Plasma Oscillation Characteristics of the HiVHAc Hall Thruster
Abstract
During a single-string integration test of the NASA HiVHAc Hall thruster, a number of plasma diagnostics were implemented to study the effect of varying facility background pressure on thruster operation. These diagnostics characterized the thruster performance, the plume, and the plasma oscillations in the thruster. Thruster performance and plume characteristics as functions of background pressure were previously published. This paper will focus on changes in the plasma oscillation characteristics with changing background pressure. The diagnostics used to study plasma oscillations include a high-speed camera and a set of high-speed Langmuir probes. The results show a rise in the oscillation frequency of the "breathing" mode with rising background pressure, which is hypothesized to be due to a shortening acceleration/ionization zone. An attempt is made to apply a simplified ingestion model to the data. The combined results are used to estimate the maximum acceptable background pressure for performance and wear testing.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Jun 01, 2014
- Accession Number
- ADA611716
Entities
People
- Daniel L. Brown
- Hani Kamhawi
- Robert B. Lobbia
- Wensheng Huang
Organizations
- Air Force Research Laboratory