• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Propulsion Engineers Conference
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• 2004.03a
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• pp.577-587
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• 2004

A coaxial pulsed plasma thruster (PPT) with a Teflon cavity was designed, and its performance characteristics were examined varying stored energy, cavity length and capacitance. The PPT was tested as the entire system including the discharge circuit, and the results were explained with both the transfer efficiency and the acceleration efficiency. The transfer efficiency is defined as the fraction of energy in capacitors supplied into plasma, and the acceleration efficiency as the fraction of energy supplied into plasma converted to thrust energy. To estimate these efficiencies, the equivalent plasma resistance was defined and calculated using energy conservation during discharge. The equivalent plasma resistance proportionally increased with cavity length, and therefore the current peak increased with decreasing cavity length. The energy density calculated by the transfer efficiency was increased with decreasing cavity length. As a result, higher acceleration efficiency and lower transfer efficiency were obtained with shorter cavity length. Accordingly, there was an optimal cavity length for the thrust efficiency. The specific impulse and the impulse bit per unit stored energy ranged from 390 s and 50 $\mu$ Ns/J for a cavity length of 34 mm to 825 s and 11 $\mu$ Ns/J for a cavity length of 4 mm when the stored energy was fixed to 21.4J. Thus, it was showed that the performance of this PPT approached that of electromagnetic-acceleration-type PPT with decreasing cavity length. The PPT achieved thrust efficiencies of 10-12% at 21.4 J and 6-7% at 5.35 J at cavity lengths between 14 mm and 29 mm.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Propulsion Engineers Conference
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• 2004.03a
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• pp.294-299
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• 2004

An assessment of a novel laser-electric hybrid propulsion system was conducted, in which a laser-induced plasma was induced through laser beam irradiation onto a solid target and accelerated by electrical means instead of direct acceleration only by using a laser beam. A fundamental study of newly developed rectangular laser-assisted pulsed-plasma thruster (PPT) was conducted. On discharge characteristics and thrust performances with increased peak current compared to our previous study to increase effects of electromagnetic forces on plasma acceleration. Maximum peak current increased for our early study by increasing electromagnetic effects in a laser assisted PPT. At 8.65 J discharge energy, the maximum current reached about 8000 A. Plasma behaviors emitted from a thruster in various cases were observed with an ICCD camera. It was shown that the plasma behaviors were almost identical between low and high voltage cases in initial several hundred nanoseconds, however, plasma emission with longer duration was observed in higher voltage cases. Canted current sheet structures were also observed in the higher voltage cases using a larger capacitor. With a newly developed torsion-balance type thrust stand, thrust performances of laser assisted PPT could be estimated. The impulse bit and specific impulse linearly increased. On the other hand, coupling coefficient and the thrust efficiency did not increase linearly. The coupling coefficient decreased with energy showing maximum value (20.8 ？Nsec/J) at 0 J, or in a pure laser ablation cases. Thrust efficiency first decreased with energy from 0 to 1.4 J and then increased linearly with energy from 1.4 J to 8.6 J. At 8.65 J operation, impulse bit of 38.1 ？Nsec, specific impulse of 3791 sec, thrust efficiency of 8 %, and coupling coefficient of 4.3 ？Nsec/J were obtained.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Propulsion Engineers Conference
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• 2004.03a
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• pp.335-340
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• 2004

On a liquid propellant PPT, the discharge processes that discharge was initiated and plasma was accelerated was observed by using a ultra high speed camera. Liquid propellant PPT is a pulsed plasma thruster using liquid as propellant. Our past study showed the successful operation of liquid propellant PPT and the thruster showed high specific impulse. However, its acceleration mechanism has not been clarified. In this study we observed the plasma acceleration processes in order to deepen our understanding of the acceleration mechanism.

• Aerospace Engineering and Technology
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• v.9 no.2
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• pp.14-21
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• 2010

Ion thruster is a kind of electrostatic thruster that use electrostatic field in order to accelerate ionized propellant. Ion thruster have characteristics of small thrust but very high specific impulse among the electric thrusters. High specific impulse can reduce propellant consumption significantly. So, ion thruster have advantage for long time and long distance mission. Recently, plans for space exploration is increasing gradually not only at traditional forward countries for space like USA, Russia and Europe, but also other countries like Japan, China and India. Exploration for superior planets and asteroids the propellant ratio can go up to about 99% when chemical propulsion is used as a cruising thruster. Therefore, latest space exploration vehicles use the ion thruster as main thruster for del-V burn and use monopropellant thrusters for attitude control. In this paper, the development process of preliminary ECR ion thruster and the ECR discharge test results will be presented.

• International Journal of Aeronautical and Space Sciences
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• v.15 no.3
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• pp.320-334
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• 2014

Over the last two decades, numerous experimental and numerical efforts have examined physical phenomena in plasma discharge devices. The physical mechanisms that govern the anomalous electron diffusion from the cathode to the anode in the Hall Effect Thruster (HET) are not fully understood. This work used 1-D numerical method to improve our understanding and gain insight into the effect of the anomalous electron diffusion in the HET. To this end, numerical solutions are compared with various experimental HET performance measurements and the effects of anomalous electron diffusion are analyzed. The relationships between the anomalous electron diffusion and important parameters of the HET are also studied quantitatively. The work identifies the cathode mass flow rate fraction, radial magnetic field distribution, and discharge voltage as significant factors that affect anomalous electron diffusion. Additionally, the study demonstrates a computational process to determine the radial magnetic field distribution required to achieve specific thruster performance goals.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Propulsion Engineers Conference
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• 2009.05a
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• pp.365-368
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• 2009

A new concept of a small thruster for altitude control of a micro/nano class satellite is developed, which utilizes the pulsed laser energy. As the laser-based thruster does not require burning of any fuel, it gives promise of small satellite design criteria, namely light weight and cost effectiveness. In this paper, we develop gel-type material for generating strong plasma plume for enhancing thrust for propulsion. Moreover, we quantify the level of thrust via the momentum coupling coefficient measured by the pendulum system. We discover that the driving force is significantly improved via the gel-typed propellant for laser ablation.

• Proceedings of the International Microelectronics And Packaging Society Conference
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• 2003.11a
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• pp.181-184
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• 2003

Low Energy High flux Plasma Source인 Stationary Plasma thruster (SPT)를 이용하여 폴리이미드의 표면개질 후 접촉각과 표면에너지의 변화를 조사하고 접착력과의 관계를 조사하였다. 이온에너지는 180 eV - 200 eV, 이온전류 밀도는 수백 ${\mu}A/cm^2$, 이온선량은 $5\times10^{15}/cm^2$부터, $10\times^{18}/cm^2$로 $Ar^+,\;N_2^+,\;O_2^+$를 이온 주입시켰다. 표면 처리된 폴리이미드에 대한 접촉각 변화는 dual contact anglemeter로 증류수와 에틸렌글리콜을 이용하여 측정하였고, 표면에너지의 변화량을 구하였다. 접촉각의 변화는 아르곤 이온의 경우는 최저 $35^{\circ}$, 질소와 산소의 경우 $1\times10^{17}/cm^2$에서 각각 $14^{\circ},\;10^{\circ}$정도의 전촉각을 보였으며, $5\times10^{17}/cm^2$이상에서는 측정하기 불가능하였다. 산소 이온빔으로 처리된 PI의 표면을 x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy를 통하여 측정하여본 결과, 친수성기가 많이 형성되었음을 확인할 수 있었다. 접촉각 측정으르부터 PI의 표변에너지는 42.1 mN/m에서 아르곤 이온빔의 처리 시 65.2 mN/m로 산소 이온빔의 처리 시 81.2 mN/m로 각각 1.5배, 1.9배 정도 증대하였다. 산소 이온빔으로 처리된 PI 표면위에 스퍼터링으로 300 nm 정도의 clad layer 형성 후 $20{\mu}m$ 정도의 구리 전기 도금막을 형성하여, peel 강도를 측정한 결과 0.79 kg/cm의 강도를 얻을 수 있었다.

• Journal of Sensor Science and Technology
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• v.33 no.4
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• pp.216-223
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• 2024

Electric propulsion systems, including electrothermal, electrostatic, and electromagnetic thrusters, are promising systems for producing thrust from satellites. These systems generally operate under vacuum plasma conditions and exhibit high specific impulses and thrust-to-weight ratios. Despite their high efficiencies, electric propulsion systems are susceptible to performance variations due to physical factors such as plasma instabilities, which require an accurate diagnosis of their status during operation. In this study, we review various measurement systems adopted to diagnose electric propulsion systems operating under vacuum conditions. Specifically, we review electrical, optical, and other methods that can directly or indirectly measure the status of a thruster, with a particular focus on Hall effect thrusters. The system configurations and fundamental mechanisms of the different measurement systems are described based on case studies of the diagnosis of propulsion systems. We anticipate that this study will contribute to the efficient development and safe operation of electric propulsion systems for use in artificial satellites.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Propulsion Engineers Conference
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• 2008.03a
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• pp.602-605
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• 2008

The anode sheath structure in the hollow anode of an anode-layer type Hall thruster was numerically computed using a fully kinetic 2D3V Particle-in-Cell and Direct Simulation Monte Carlo(PIC-DSMC) code. By treating both ions and electrons as particles, anode surface region, which is electrically non-neutral, was analyzed. In order to analyze in detail, the calculation code was parallelized using Message Passing Interface (MPI). The code successfully simulated the discharge current oscillation. In the low magnetic induction case, ion sheath appears in the anode surface because ionization is enough to maintain the plasma occurs in the anode hollow. As the magnetic induction increases, main ionization region move to outside of the anode. At the same time, anode sheath voltage decreases. In the high magnetic induction case, electron sheath appears on the anode surface periodically because the ionization occurs mainly in the discharge channel. This anode sheath condition shift can be explained using the simple sheath model.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Aeronautical & Space Sciences
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• v.45 no.11
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• pp.932-938
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• 2017

Particle-in-cell method which blends Eulerian grids and Lagrangian particle is utilized to solve simplified hall-effect thruster. Since this study individually tracks not only neutrons and ions but also electrons, message passing interface(mpi) scheme is adopted for parallel computer cluster. Helical movement of an electron cloud in constant magnetic field is validated comparing with an exact solution. A plasma in radial magnetic field and axial electric field in a reaction cylinder is established. Electrons do double helix movement and are well anchored in a cylinder. Ionization of neutrons by impact with high-speed electrons generates ion particles. They are accelerated by axial electric field, which forms a plume of a plasma-effect thruster.