Improving specific impulse of Hall thruster by pulse power technology

Abstract

It is necessary to increase the voltage and reduce the anode volume flow rate to improve the specific Hall thruster impulse under power constraints. This leads to a low density of neutral gas flow in the channel and results in insufficient ionization. This study proposes pulse power technology to improve the specific Hall thruster impulse. The influence of pulsed discharge on the discharge and plasma plume characteristics of a Hall thruster was investigated. The experimental results show that the high voltage provided by the pulsed mode was beneficial to the acceleration of ions at constant power and anode flow. As a result, the specific impulse, efficiency, and thrust of Hall thruster improved. The specific impulse of the Hall thruster at constant power is 1770 s in the pulsed mode and 1570 s in the direct current (DC) mode. This represents an increase of about 12.7 %, which significantly raises the upper limit of the Hall thruster's specific impulse. The results of this study are significant for the design of high-specific-impulse Hall thrusters.