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Thrust Enhanced by a Magnetic Laval Nozzle in an Applied-Field Magneto-Plasma-Dynamic Thruster

Hiroaki NABUCHI, Kiyotaka SUZUKI, Yohei KOBAYASHI, Atsushi KOMURO, Kazunori TAKAHASHI and Akira ANDO

Department of Electrical Engineering, School of Engineering, Tohoku University, 6-6-05 Aoba-yama, Sendai 980-8579, Japan

(Received 30 November 2015 / Accepted 1 February 2016 / Published 15 April 2016)

Abstract

The thrust imparted by an applied-field magneto-plasma-dynamic thruster is enhanced by superimposing a convergent-divergent magnetic field called a magnetic Laval nozzle. The thrust increases up to 6.9 N by increasing the magnetic field strength at the Laval nozzle throat. It is observed that the plasma flow velocity increases and the ion temperature simultaneously decreases downstream of the throat. A major component of the measured Lorentz force arising from the plasma-induced current is identified to be in the radial direction, while a significant increase in the plasma density is observed upstream of the nozzle. These results imply that the plasma pressure increases upstream of the magnetic Laval nozzle due to an inhibition of the plasma loss, which contributes to the increase of the thrust.

Copyright (c) 2016 The Japan Society of Plasma Science and Nuclear Fusion Research

Keywords

Magneto-Plasma-Dynamic (MPD) thruster, magnetic Laval nozzle, high-density plasma, electric propulsion

DOI: 10.1585/pfr.11.2406033

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