Discharge Characteristics of Low-Power Cylindrical Hall Thruster

With the development of aerospace technology and the increasing number of micro-satellite applications, there is a growing demand for low-power electric propulsion in the field of space propulsion. Traditional annular Hall thrusters (AHT) are inefficient when scaled to low powers. Cylindrical Hall thrusters (CHT) have a lower surface-to-volume ratio, therefore, potentially smaller wall losses in the channel. And their performance is comparable to conventional AHT of similar size. This article conducts a study on the experimental characteristics of a low-power CHT operating in the 50 W power range. The experiment obtained the results of the thruster's operating characteristics and ion beam characteristics under high voltage, small air volume, and low current conditions. Experiments show that the operating voltage of the low-power cylindrical Hall thruster is between 1000~2400 V, the Ar volume flow rate is within 1.0~4.0 mL/min, its specific impulse is between 218~1419 s, the thrust range is between 118~780 μN, and the maximum current utilization rate is 87%, and the maximum thrust efficiency is 20.39%, which is equivalent to the efficiency of advanced Hall thrusters. At the same time, it was found that as the gas volume flow rate increases, the ion beam appears in two working modes: strong and weak.