Bulletin of the American Physical Society
76th Annual Gaseous Electronics Conference
Volume 68, Number 9
Monday–Friday, October 9–13, 2023; Michigan League, Ann Arbor, Michigan
Session IT4: Poster Session I; Exhibition & Coffee (4:00pm-6:00pm)
4:00 PM,
Tuesday, October 10, 2023
Room: Michigan League, Ballroom
Abstract: IT4.00072 : Impact of Magnetic Field Profile on Loss Mechanisms in a Rotating Magnetic Field Thruster*
Presenter:
Christopher L Sercel
(University of Michigan)
Authors:
Christopher L Sercel
(University of Michigan)
Tate M Gill
(University of Michigan)
Benjamin A Jorns
(University of Michigan)
the axis of a conical plasma discharge to induce azimuthal currents, which then interact via the Lorenz
force with radial magnetic fields, chiefly belonging to an applied diverging magnetic bias field, to
produce thrust. In the case of balanced induced and applied magnetic fields, a separatrix can form,
producing a field-reversed configuration (FRC) plasmoid, which is speculated to reduce wall losses owing
to its confining nature. In recent work, we have shown poor performance for the RMF thruster (<1%),
substantiated by plasma probing which suggest that a major loss mechanism is electron thermal losses
to the walls. Indeed, subsequent inductive probe measurements show the FRC separatrix to intersect
the walls of the device. In this study we parametrically vary the strength and shape of the applied
magnetic bias field, in turn changing the shape of the FRC separatrix during device operation. At each
operating condition, we measure the efficiency breakdown of the device including assessment of loss
mechanisms such as electron wall losses. While we find that moving the separatrix radius inside the
walls does reduce wall losses, these improvements to performance can be balanced out for certain field
shapes by increased excitation radiative losses owing to increased plasma density close to centerline
and by increased divergence losses.
*We would like to acknowledge NSTRF Grant #80NSSC18K1190 and NSTGRO Grant #80NSSC20K1168 which supported this work. The power supply was developed as part of an SBIR award with Eagle Harbor Technologies, and additional funding was granted by AFOSR Grant FA9550-19-1-0022 from the Space Propulsion and Power portfolio.
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