Volume and surface propellant heating in an electrothermal radio-frequency plasma micro-thruster

A. Greig; C. Charles; N. Paulin; R. W. Boswell

doi:10.1063/1.4892656

Volume and surface propellant heating in an electrothermal radio-frequency plasma micro-thruster

A. Greig, C. Charles, N. Paulin, R. W. Boswell

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

38 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

The temporal evolution of neutral gas temperature over the first 5 min of operation for an electrothermal radio-frequency micro-thruster with nitrogen (N₂) propellant was measured using rovibrational band matching of the second positive N₂ system. Three distinct periods of gas heating were identified with time constants of τ₁ = 8 × 10 ^-5 s, τ₂ = 8 s, and τ₃ = 100 s. The fast heating (τ₁) is attributed to volumetric heating processes within the discharge driven by ion-neutral collisions. The slow heating (τ₃) is from ion neutralization and vibrational de-excitation on the walls creating wall heating. The intermediate heating mechanism (τ₂) is yet to be fully identified although some theories are suggested.

Original language	English
Article number	054102
Journal	Applied Physics Letters
Volume	105
Issue number	5
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4892656
Publication status	Published - 4 Aug 2014

Access to Document

10.1063/1.4892656

Cite this

@article{c02e1246cdbe410887d92fe34808695e,

title = "Volume and surface propellant heating in an electrothermal radio-frequency plasma micro-thruster",

abstract = "The temporal evolution of neutral gas temperature over the first 5 min of operation for an electrothermal radio-frequency micro-thruster with nitrogen (N2) propellant was measured using rovibrational band matching of the second positive N2 system. Three distinct periods of gas heating were identified with time constants of τ1 = 8 × 10 -5 s, τ2 = 8 s, and τ3 = 100 s. The fast heating (τ1) is attributed to volumetric heating processes within the discharge driven by ion-neutral collisions. The slow heating (τ3) is from ion neutralization and vibrational de-excitation on the walls creating wall heating. The intermediate heating mechanism (τ2) is yet to be fully identified although some theories are suggested.",

author = "A. Greig and C. Charles and N. Paulin and Boswell, {R. W.}",

year = "2014",

month = aug,

day = "4",

doi = "10.1063/1.4892656",

language = "English",

volume = "105",

journal = "Applied Physics Letters",

issn = "0003-6951",

publisher = "American Institute of Physics",

number = "5",

}

TY - JOUR

T1 - Volume and surface propellant heating in an electrothermal radio-frequency plasma micro-thruster

AU - Greig, A.

AU - Charles, C.

AU - Paulin, N.

AU - Boswell, R. W.

PY - 2014/8/4

Y1 - 2014/8/4

N2 - The temporal evolution of neutral gas temperature over the first 5 min of operation for an electrothermal radio-frequency micro-thruster with nitrogen (N2) propellant was measured using rovibrational band matching of the second positive N2 system. Three distinct periods of gas heating were identified with time constants of τ1 = 8 × 10 -5 s, τ2 = 8 s, and τ3 = 100 s. The fast heating (τ1) is attributed to volumetric heating processes within the discharge driven by ion-neutral collisions. The slow heating (τ3) is from ion neutralization and vibrational de-excitation on the walls creating wall heating. The intermediate heating mechanism (τ2) is yet to be fully identified although some theories are suggested.

AB - The temporal evolution of neutral gas temperature over the first 5 min of operation for an electrothermal radio-frequency micro-thruster with nitrogen (N2) propellant was measured using rovibrational band matching of the second positive N2 system. Three distinct periods of gas heating were identified with time constants of τ1 = 8 × 10 -5 s, τ2 = 8 s, and τ3 = 100 s. The fast heating (τ1) is attributed to volumetric heating processes within the discharge driven by ion-neutral collisions. The slow heating (τ3) is from ion neutralization and vibrational de-excitation on the walls creating wall heating. The intermediate heating mechanism (τ2) is yet to be fully identified although some theories are suggested.

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84905686675&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1063/1.4892656

DO - 10.1063/1.4892656

M3 - Article

SN - 0003-6951

VL - 105

JO - Applied Physics Letters

JF - Applied Physics Letters

IS - 5

M1 - 054102

ER -

Volume and surface propellant heating in an electrothermal radio-frequency plasma micro-thruster

Abstract

Access to Document

Other files and links

Fingerprint

Cite this