Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Optimization of magnetic field to extend the lifetime of Hall thruster with large height–radius ratio

  • Regular Article – Plasma Physics
  • Published:
The European Physical Journal D Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

In steady-state operation of Hall thrusters excited by permanent magnets, the existence of temperature difference between the inner and outer permanent magnets will cause the deviation of the magnetic field configuration from the design value, thus affecting the discharge process. The simulation results show that the ion power loss on the inner wall increases by over 7.5% when the temperature difference between the inner and outer permanent magnets reaches to 140 ℃. The main reason is that the coercivity of the inner permanent magnet decreases more at higher temperature, and the magnetic field lines will incline toward the inner wall, resulting in the increment of the radial component of the electric field pointing to the inner wall. An optimized magnetic field, obtained by moving the inner permanent magnet outward in an appropriate manner, is proposed to alleviate the inner wall erosion. The optimized magnetic field has a near-symmetrical configuration, especially the nearly equal length of intersection lines of the magnetic field lines with the inner and outer walls, which is contributed to reduce the radial component of the electric field and preventing the inclination of the main ionization zone toward the inner wall, so that the peak value of ion power deposition on inner wall can be reduced by more than 50%. Based on the illustrated features and mechanism of wall erosion, an effective and easy-to-implement optimization scheme was proposed in this work to provide a useful reference for the design of long-life Hall thrusters with large height-radius ratio.

Graphical abstract

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5
Fig. 6
Fig. 7
Fig. 8
Fig. 9
Fig. 10
Fig. 11
Fig. 12
Fig. 13

Similar content being viewed by others

Data Availability Statement

This manuscript has no associated data or the data will not be deposited. [Author's comment: The datasets generated during and/or analysed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.]

References

  1. M. Meyer et al., DRAFT In-Space Propulsion Systems Roadmap Technology Area 02 (2010)

  2. J. Jackson et al., Space Propulsion 2018–00429 (2018)

  3. S.N. Bathgate, M.M.M. Bilek, D.R. Mckenzie, Plasma Sci. Technol. 19, 083001 (2017)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  4. Y.J. Ding et al., Rev. Mod. Plasma Phys. 3(1), (2019)

  5. W. Mao et al., Plasma Sci. Technol. 22, 094016 (2020)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  6. R.W. Conversano et al., SmallSat Missions Enabled by Paired Low-Thrust Hybrid Rocket and Low-Power Long-Life Hall Thruster, IEEE Aerospace Conference (2019)

  7. H.T. Fan et al., Acta Astronaut. 185, 206 (2021)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  8. P. Lasgorceix et al., Comparison between two kinds of Hall thrusters: SPT100 and ATON, AIAA 3524 (2000)

  9. S. Mazouffre, S. Tsikata, J. Vaudolon, J. Appl. Phys. 116, 243302 (2014)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  10. M. Britton et al., Sputtering Erosion Measurement on Boron Nitride as a Hall Thruster Material, NASA/TM 2002–211837 (2002)

  11. X.Y. Duan et al., J. Appl. Phys. 128, 183301 (2020)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  12. A.I. Morozov et al., Sov. Phys. Tech. Phys. 17 (1972)

  13. A. Shashkov, A. Lovtsov, D. Tomilin, Eur. Phys. J. D 73, 173 (2019)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  14. M. Mirshams et al., Aerosp. Sci. Technol. 13, 402–405 (2009)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  15. S. Liu et al., IEEE Trans. Magn. 36(5), 3297–3299 (2000)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  16. S. Liu, Chin. Phys. B 28(1), 017501 (2019)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  17. H.B. Su, Research on high power Hall thruster based on permanent magnetic source, PhD Thesis, Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin, China (2021)

  18. D.R. Yu et al., Contrib. Plasma Phys. 51(10), 955–961 (2011)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  19. S.L. Yan et al., Phys. Plasmas 24(3), 033508 (2017)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  20. A.L. Ortega et al., J. Appl. Phys. 125, 033302 (2019)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  21. Y.J. Ding et al., Vacuum 143, 251–261 (2017)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  22. D.R. Yu et al., Phys. Plasmas 19, 033503 (2012)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  23. Y.J. Zhao et al., J. Phys. D: Appl. Phys. 47, 045201 (2014)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  24. H. Li et al., Eur. Phys. J. D 74, 29 (2020)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  25. H.T. Fan et al., Phys. Plasmas 28, 123504 (2021)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  26. H.T. Fan et al., Plasma Sci. Technol. 24, 024001 (2022)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  27. H.T. Fan et al., Adv. Space Res. 66(8), 2024–2034 (2020)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

This work was funded by the Defense Industrial Technology Development Program [No. JCKY2019603B005], National Natural Science Foundation of China [Grant Nos. 52076054, 51777045], the Hunan Science and Technology Innovation Project [Grant No. 2019RS1102] and Open Fund of Key Laboratory of Vacuum Technology and Physics for National Defense Science and Technology [Grant No. ZWK2101].

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Plasma Propulsion Lab, Institute of Advanced Power, Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin, 150001, People’s Republic of China

    Haotian Fan, Yishen Xu, Fan Xu, Hong Li, Liqiu Wei & Yongjie Ding

  2. Science and Technology On Vacuum Technology and Physics Laboratory, Lanzhou Institute of Physics, Lanzhou, 730000, People’s Republic of China

    Ning Guo & Shangmin Wang

  3. Key Laboratory of Aerospace Plasma Propulsion, Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, Harbin, 150001, People’s Republic of China

    Hong Li, Liqiu Wei & Yongjie Ding

Authors
  1. Haotian Fan
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Yishen Xu
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Ning Guo
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Fan Xu
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Shangmin Wang
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  6. Hong Li
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  7. Liqiu Wei
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  8. Yongjie Ding
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Contributions

The authors confirm contribution to the paper as follows: study conception and design: HF, NG, YD; data collection: YX, HL, LW; analysis and interpretation of results: HF, FX, SW; draft manuscript preparation: HF, NG, YD. All authors reviewed the results and approved the final version of the manuscript.

Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Ning Guo or Yongjie Ding.

Ethics declarations

Conflict of interests

All authors certify that they have no affiliations with or involvement in any organization or entity with any financial interest or non-financial interest in the subject matter or materials discussed in this manuscript.

Rights and permissions

Springer Nature or its licensor holds exclusive rights to this article under a publishing agreement with the author(s) or other rightsholder(s); author self-archiving of the accepted manuscript version of this article is solely governed by the terms of such publishing agreement and applicable law.

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Fan, H., Xu, Y., Guo, N. et al. Optimization of magnetic field to extend the lifetime of Hall thruster with large height–radius ratio. Eur. Phys. J. D 76, 175 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1140/epjd/s10053-022-00472-w

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1140/epjd/s10053-022-00472-w

Search

Navigation