SPPL Home -- SPPL
Research Projects
Several sources have reported a second mode of operation in Gas-Fed Pulsed Plasma Thrusters (GF-PPTs). This mode is accessible at high specific energies and accelerates the propellant through a thick stationary discharge region, rather than through a dense moving current sheet (snowplow). This so-called plasma deflagration mode provides significantly higher thrust efficiency and specific impulse accompanied by reduced electrode erosion. Analytical research focuses on developing a model that describes this second mode. The theoretical work is supported by experiments on our 3 kJ Coaxial High Energy (CHENG) thruster. Results show similarities to detonations and deflagrations in combustion science and inspired a model that is based on an analogy to the Rankine-Hugoniot theory from combustion theory. The combustion theory is extended to hydromagnetics and has shown good agreement with second mode data. In addition, it also offers new insight to the snowplow mode, suggesting that it behaves more like a plasma detonation than an impermeable sheet.
Related Papers
Coaxial Plasma Thrusters
Several sources have reported a second mode of operation in Gas-Fed Pulsed Plasma Thrusters (GF-PPTs). This mode is accessible at high specific energies and accelerates the propellant through a thick stationary discharge region, rather than through a dense moving current sheet (snowplow). This so-called plasma deflagration mode provides significantly higher thrust efficiency and specific impulse accompanied by reduced electrode erosion. Analytical research focuses on developing a model that describes this second mode. The theoretical work is supported by experiments on our 3 kJ Coaxial High Energy (CHENG) thruster. Results show similarities to detonations and deflagrations in combustion science and inspired a model that is based on an analogy to the Rankine-Hugoniot theory from combustion theory. The combustion theory is extended to hydromagnetics and has shown good agreement with second mode data. In addition, it also offers new insight to the snowplow mode, suggesting that it behaves more like a plasma detonation than an impermeable sheet.
Related Papers