Multiple Plasma Stream Electromechanical Model for Pulsed Plasma Thruster

TL;DR

This paper introduces a multi-layered plasma-neutral mass sheet model for pulsed plasma thrusters, capturing multiple plasma streams and partial ionization effects, leading to more accurate predictions of performance and phenomena.

Contribution

The paper develops and validates a multi-sheet plasma model that improves upon conventional single-sheet models by accounting for multiple plasma streams and partial ionization in PPTs.

Findings

Model accurately predicts plasma and neutral sheet positions.

Model matches experimental discharge current and performance.

Multi-sheet approach captures phenomena ignored by traditional models.

Abstract

Conventional snowplow/1-D models assume the existence of single completely ionized plasma sheet in the discharge chamber of pulsed plasma thrusters (PPTs). However, extensive experimental analysis and observations suggest the presence of multiple plasma streams and partial ionization of the propellant gas. A multi-layered plasma-neutral mass sheet one-dimensional numerical model is developed for PPTs in the present paper. The model accounts for the secondary plasma sheets generated due to the crowbar breakdowns as well as the neutral gas generated after the main discharge. The model accurately calculates the position of the plasma and neutral mass sheets, mean exit velocity, thrust delivered and the mass of individual plasma sheet developed in PPTs. The model is validated and discussed for two different ablative pulsed plasma thrusters. In the last section, the plasma sheet model and electrical circuit model are also validated for a liquid propellant PPT developed at the University of Tokyo. Results show that the multi-sheet assumption provides an accurate prediction for the discharge current and performance parameters. The multiple sheet assumption model accounts for most of the experimentally observed phenomena's which the conventional slug models tend to ignore.