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US 12,723,574 B2Granted
Self-neutralizing air-breathing plasma thruster
AssigneeThe George Washington University
InventorsMichael Keidar, Anmol Taploo, Li Lin
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Abstract
A plasma thruster has a tunable electron source configured to provide electrons with controllable energy. An entry electrode and an exit electrode permit an air flow to pass from the entry electrode to the exit electrode. The entry electrode and exit electrode receive electrons from the tunable electron source. A controller selectively controls the entry and exit electrodes to accelerate positive and negative ions in the air.
Claims12
A plasma thruster comprising:
- a ring-shaped tunable electron source configured to provide electrons radially inward with controllable energy;
- an entry electrode and an exit electrode configured for an axial air flow to pass from the entry electrode to the exit electrode, said entry electrode and exit electrode further configured to receive electrons from said tunable electron source;
- and
- a controller configured to selectively control an entry electrode polarity and an exit electrode polarity to accelerate positive ions and negative ions in the axial air flow and neutralize charge.
1 more element
A plasma thruster comprising:
- a ring-shaped arc electron source comprising:
- a first ring-shaped anode;
- a second ring-shaped anode;
- a ring-shaped cathode positioned between the first ring-shaped anode and the second ring-shaped anode to form a high electric field to generate and arc plasma in an axial air flow;
- and
- a ring-shaped electron extraction grid configured to radially extract electrons from the arc plasma to ionize air molecules in the arc plasma and control electron energy to control thrust of said thruster.
3 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.