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Small Hall Effect Thruster with 3D Printed Discharge Channel: Design and Thrust Measurements

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Small Hall Effect Thruster with 3D Printed Discharge Channel: Design and Thrust Measurements aerospace Article Small Hall Effect Thruster with 3D Printed Discharge Channel: Design and Thrust Measurements Ethan P. Hopping 1, Wensheng Huang 2 and Kunning G. Xu 3,* 1 Aerospace Engineering Department, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA 30332, USA; [email protected] 2 NASA Glenn Research Center, Cleveland, OH 44135, USA; [email protected] 3 Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Department, University of Alabama in Huntsville, Huntsville, AL 35899, USA * Correspondence: [email protected] Abstract: This paper presents the design and performance of the UAH-78AM, a low-power small Hall effect thruster. The goal of this work is to assess the feasibility of using low-cost 3D printing to create functioning Hall thrusters, and study how 3D printing can expand the design space. The thruster features a 3D printed discharge channel with embedded propellant distributor. Multiple materials were tested including ABS, ULTEM, and glazed ceramic. Thrust measurements were obtained at the NASA Glenn Research Center. Measured thrust ranged from 17.2–30.4 mN over a discharge power of 280 W to 520 W with an anode ISP range of 870–1450 s. The thruster has a similar performance range to conventional thrusters at the same power levels. However, the polymer ABS and ULTEM materials have low temperature limits which made sustained operation difficult. Keywords: hall thruster; electric propulsion; additive manufacturing Citation: Hopping, E.P.; Huang, W.; Xu, K.G. Small Hall Effect Thruster with 3D Printed Discharge Channel: 1. Introduction Design and Thrust Measurements. Hall effect thrusters (HET) are a type of electric propulsion device currently used Aerospace 2021, 8, 227. https:// for satellite propulsion and station-keeping. Small HETs have gained interest in the last doi.org/10.3390/aerospace8080227 20 years with the rise of small satellites. There are now multiple companies such as Apollo Fusion, Orbion, Exotrail, Busek, and Sitael SpA, that develop hall HETs. Notably, SpaceX Academic Editor: Igor Levchenko has successfully launched over 1000 small HETs on their Starlink constellation satellites. One of the advantages of small satellites is their significantly lower cost of design and Received: 22 July 2021 production. However, HETs are still traditionally subtractive manufactured using the same Accepted: 12 August 2021 materials as 30 years ago. One source of manufacturing cost and time for HETs are the Published: 15 August 2021 anode and discharge channel assemblies. In most Hall thrusters, the propellant distributor is integrated into the anode assembly. This requires multi-part fabrication and welding to Publisher’s Note: MDPI stays neutral integrate the baffle assemblies, orifices, and other distributor assemblies into the anode. with regard to jurisdictional claims in The discharge channels of most SPT type HETs are made of boron nitride, a hot-pressed published maps and institutional affil- ceramic that must be subtractively machined from a single block. Monolithic boron nitride iations. dimensions are limited by the hot-pressing process, and this poses challenges for the design of large thrusters [1,2]. In addition, the cost of the boron nitride components increases substantially with thruster size. In other aerospace industries, additive manufacturing (AM), or colloquially 3D print- Copyright: © 2021 by the authors. ing, is being used to dramatically reduce the cost of components [3]. Propulsion systems Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. are well suited to the AM processes due to their complex geometry and low-volume pro- This article is an open access article duction. In this research, we seek to investigate the use of 3D printing to reduce the cost of distributed under the terms and HET fabrication, with a focus on using low-cost and fast turnaround methods. If AM can conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https:// reduce the part count and simplify the design and fabrication of the thruster, not only will creativecommons.org/licenses/by/ it bring down the cost of the device, but also enable agile development and test programs 4.0/). of new thruster designs. Aerospace 2021, 8, 227. https://doi.org/10.3390/aerospace8080227 https://www.mdpi.com/journal/aerospace Aerospace 2021, 8, x FOR PEER REVIEW 2 of 15 Aerospace 2021, 8, x FOR PEER REVIEW 2 of 15 ditions of the Creative Commons At- Aerospace 2021, 8, 227 will it bring down the cost of the device, but also enable agile development and test2 pro- of 14 ditions of the Creativetribution Commons (CC BY) At- licensewill (http://crea- it bring downgrams the of costnew ofthruster the device, designs. but also enable agile development and test pro- tribution (CC BY) licensetivecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). (http://crea- grams of new thruster designs. tivecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). 2. Materials and Methods 2. Materials and Methods 2. Materials and2.1. MethodsThruster Design 2.1. Thruster Design 2.1. Thruster DesignThe UAH-78AM is an annular HET designed to fit in CubeSat dimension, 10 × 10 × × × The UAH10-78AM cm.The The is UAH-78AM anthruster annular is is aHET an loose annular designed scaling HET ofto designed thefit inchannel CubeSat to fit inof CubeSatthedimension, P5 HET dimension, [4]10 .× The 1010 ×magnetic 10 10 field cm. The thruster is a loose scaling of the channel of the P5 HET [4]. The magnetic field topology 10 cm. The thrustertopology is a is loose copied scaling from of the the P5. channel It has aof design the P5 discharge HET [4]. Thepower magnetic of 300 –field500 W. Images of is copied from the P5. It has a design discharge power of 300–500 W. Images of the thruster topology is copiedthe thruster from the are P5. provided It has a designin Figure discharge 1, and anpower isometric of 30 0view–500 W.of the Images design of tested at the are provided in Figure1, and an isometric view of the design tested at the NASA Glenn the thruster areNASA provided Glenn in Research Figure 1 ,Center and an ( GRCisometric) is provided view of thein Figuredesign 2tested. The at“AM” the designation Research Center (GRC) is provided in Figure2. The “AM” designation stands for additively NASA Glennstands Research for additivelyCenter (GRC manufactured,) is provided and in theFigure “78” 2 is. The the diameter“AM” designation of the outer channel in manufactured, and the “78” is the diameter of the outer channel in millimeters. stands for additivelymillimeters. manufactured, and the “78” is the diameter of the outer channel in millimeters. Figure 1. Testing of the UAH-78AMUAH-78AM at GRC. Figure 1. Testing of the UAH-78AM at GRC. Figure 2. 3D rendering of UAH-78AM configuration as tested at GRC and a cross -section of the Figure 2. 3DFigure rendering 2. 3D of rendering UAH-78AMdischarge of channel configurationUAH- 78AMwith embedded configuration as tested propellant at GRC as tested and distributor a at cross-section GRC andand innera ofcross the and- dischargesection outer channelof channelthe walls. with embedded propellantdischarge distributorchannel with and embedded inner and propellant outer channel distributor walls. and inner and outer channel walls. 2.1.1. 3D Printed Discharge Channel and Materials 2.1.1. 3D Printed Discharge Channel and Materials 2.1.1. 3D Printed DischargeThe discharge Channel channel and withMaterials embedded propellant distributor was the focus of the 3D The dischargeprinting.The channel dischargeThis withwas primarilyembedded channel with due propellant embeddedto the lack distributor propellantof accessibl was distributore theprinting focus wasofof ferromagneticthe the 3D focus of themate- 3D printing. Thisrialsprinting. was suchprimarily Thisas iron was due or primarily tolow the carbon lack due of steel. to accessibl the In lack SPTe of printing-type accessible Hall of thrusters, printingferromagnetic of the ferromagnetic discharge mate- channel materials is rials such as ironmadesuch or as oflow iron ceramic carbon or low materials steel. carbon In SPT steel.with-type Inhigh SPT-type Hall secondary thrusters, Hall thrusters,electron the discharge emission the discharge channel (SEE) channel .is The high is made SEE made of ceramicreducesof ceramic materials the materials average with high electron with secondary high temperature secondary electron electronin emissionthe plasma, emission (SEE which). (SEE). The increases high The highSEE ionization SEE reduces effi- reduces the averagethe average electron electron temperature temperature in the in plasma, the plasma, which which increases increases ionization ionization effi- efficiency [5–7]. This means the material selection is limited to dielectrics with high SEE. Polymers provide SEE profiles similar to ceramics, but they also present design challenges due to low melting temperatures. Aerospace 2021, 8, x FOR PEER REVIEW 3 of 15 ciency [5–7]. This means the material selection is limited to dielectrics with high SEE. Pol- Aerospaceymers2021, 8, 227provide SEE profiles similar to ceramics, but they also present design challenges 3 of 14 due to low melting temperatures. There is little information in the literature on the SEE characteristics of polymers in the incident electron temperatureThere is little range information of Hall in thethrusters. literature This on the is SEElikely characteristics because most of polymers SEE in data is intended forthe scanning incident electron temperature microscope range applications, of Hall thrusters. where This minimum is likely because primary most SEE data is intended for scanning electron microscope applications, where minimum primary electron energy is on the order of 100 eV or more. An estimate for the SEE characteristics electron energy is on the order of 100 eV or more. An estimate for the SEE characteristics of of polymers in the 0polymers–100 eV inrange the 0–100 was eV thus range made was thusby extrapolating made by extrapolating the attenuation the attenuation model model by by Cazaux [8]. The CazauxSEE results [8]. The of SEE the results model of for the modelNylon for-12 Nylon-12 and PTFE and PTFEare presented are presented in inFig- Figure3 ure 3 along with boronalong nitride with boron and nitride Borosil and ceramics Borosil ceramics from by from Goebel by Goebel and and Katz Katz [9] [9.].
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