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Water Contaminant Mitigation in Ionic Liquid PropellantAppropriate system and operational requirements are needed in order to ensure mission success without unnecessary cost. Purity requirements applied to thruster propellants may flow down to materials and operations as well as the propellant preparation itself. Colloid electrospray thrusters function by applying a large potential to a room temperature liquid propellant (such as an ionic liquid), inducing formation of a Taylor cone. Ions and droplets are ejected from the Taylor cone and accelerated through a strong electric field. Electrospray thrusters are highly efficient, precise, scaleable, and demonstrate low thrust noise. Ionic liquid propellants have excellent properties for use as electrospray propellants, but can be hampered by impurities, owing to their solvent capabilities. Of foremost concern is the water content, which can result from exposure to atmosphere. Even hydrophobic ionic liquids have been shown to absorb water from the air. In order to mitigate the risks of bubble formation in feed systems caused by water content of the ionic liquid propellant, physical properties of the ionic liquid EMI-Im are analyzed. The effects of surface tension, material wetting, physisorption, and geometric details of the flow manifold and electrospray emitters are explored. Results are compared to laboratory test data.
Document ID
20150008470
Acquisition Source
Jet Propulsion Laboratory
Document Type
Conference Paper
External Source(s)
Authors
Conroy, David
(Jet Propulsion Lab., California Inst. of Tech. Pasadena, CA, United States)
Ziemer, John
(Jet Propulsion Lab., California Inst. of Tech. Pasadena, CA, United States)
Date Acquired
May 19, 2015
Publication Date
September 20, 2009
Subject Category
Environment Pollution
Spacecraft Design, Testing And Performance
Report/Patent Number
IEPC-2009-172
Meeting Information
Meeting: International Electric Propulsion Conference
Location: Ann Arbor, MI
Country: United States
Start Date: September 20, 2009
End Date: September 24, 2009
Sponsors: National Space Grant Foundation
Distribution Limits
Public
Copyright
Other

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