SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR ALFVENIC RECONNECTING PLASMOID PLASMA ACCELERATION

    公开(公告)号:US20240268013A1

    公开(公告)日:2024-08-08

    申请号:US18636858

    申请日:2024-04-16

    IPC分类号: H05H1/54 H01F6/06

    CPC分类号: H05H1/54 H01F6/06

    摘要: According to various embodiments, a system for using magnetic reconnection to accelerate plasma is disclosed. The system includes a pair of electrodes including two concentric rings separated by an electrode gap and held at different electrostatic potential by applying a voltage to generate an inter-electrode electric field. The system further includes a plurality of magnetic coils configured to produce magnetic field lines that connect the pair of electrodes. The system additionally includes a gas injector configured to inject gas into the electrode gap, the injected gas being partially ionized by the inter-electrode electric field to generate a poloidal current that flows along open magnetic field lines across the electrode gap. A total Lorentz force causes oppositely directed magnetic field lines to be expanded around a region of the gas injector to further create an azimuthal current in the form of an axially elongated current sheet that is unstable such that the axially elongated current sheet reconnects and breaks into plasmoids.

    Segmented wall-less hall thruster

    公开(公告)号:US12049878B2

    公开(公告)日:2024-07-30

    申请号:US17896651

    申请日:2022-08-26

    IPC分类号: F03H1/00

    CPC分类号: F03H1/0068

    摘要: Disclosed is a miniaturized plasma propulsion device with minimized surface area of the thruster walls exposed to the plasma and, as a result, reduced plasma-surface interactions including a set of segmented electrodes to facilitate the following improvements compared to relevant existing technologies: 1) control of the plasma flow including focusing of the plasma plume 2) increase of the thrust 2) reduction of inefficiencies associated with the electron cross field current, and 3) mitigation of low frequency oscillations. The electrodes affect all these actions when a DC or modulated voltage is applied to one or all of them with the same or different amplitudes, with the same or different frequencies or phases which are all optimized to realize the best performance through changes in the acceleration and/or ionization regions. In addition, the applied voltage to the main electrodes may also be modulated.