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Numerical Simulations of a 20-kW Class Hall Thruster Using the Magnetic-Field-Aligned-Mesh Code Hall2DeThis paper reports on numerical simulations of the NASA-300M, a 20-kW class Hall thruster developed at the NASA Glenn Research Center (GRC). The numerical simulations have been performed with a 2-D axisymmetric, magnetic field-aligned-mesh (MFAM) plasma solver developed at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL). The main objective of the collaborative effort is to combine physics-based simulation, plasma diagnostics and recent findings on erosion physics to design and demonstrate a high-power, high-performance Hall thruster that exceeds the life of state-of-the-art Hall thrusters by more than one order of magnitude. The thruster simulations have been carried out at a discharge voltage of 500 V and discharge current of 40 A. The results indicate that although the impact energy of ions may attain values that are comparable to the discharge voltage along the downstream portions of the channel, a withdrawn ionization region and significant ion focusing combine to sustain erosion rates below 1 mm/kh. A more extensive evaluation of the baseline NASA-300M configuration and re-design of this thruster with magnetically shielded walls constitute the main focus of our work in the coming months.
Document ID
20150006621
Acquisition Source
Jet Propulsion Laboratory
Document Type
Conference Paper
External Source(s)
Authors
Mikellides, Ioannis G.
(Jet Propulsion Lab., California Inst. of Tech. Pasadena, CA, United States)
Katz, Ira
(Jet Propulsion Lab., California Inst. of Tech. Pasadena, CA, United States)
Kamhawi, Hani
(NASA Glenn Research Center Cleveland, OH, United States)
Vannoord, Jonathan L.
(NASA Glenn Research Center Cleveland, OH, United States)
Date Acquired
April 24, 2015
Publication Date
September 11, 2011
Subject Category
Spacecraft Propulsion And Power
Report/Patent Number
IEPC-2011-244
Meeting Information
Meeting: International Electric Propulsion Conference
Location: Weisbaden
Country: Germany
Start Date: September 11, 2011
End Date: September 15, 2011
Sponsors: American Inst. of Aeronautics and Astronautics
Distribution Limits
Public
Copyright
Other
Keywords
plasma simulations
erosion
Hall thrusters

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