Plasma accelerator arrangement
AssigneeThales Electron Devices GmbH
InventorsGünter Kornfeld, Jürgen Wegener, Harald Seidel
Life of this patent
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Abstract
For a plasma accelerator arrangement in particular for use as an ion thruster in a spacecraft, a structure is proposed in connection with which an accelerated electron beam is admitted into an ionization chamber with fuel gas, and is guided through the ionization chamber in the form of a focused beam against an electric deceleration field, said electric deceleration field acting at the same time as an acceleration field for the fuel ions produced by ionization. The arrangement generates a focused beam of a largely neutral plasma with a high degree of efficiency. Configurations for electric and magnetic fields for guiding and focusing the beams are given by way of example.
Claims20
A plasma accelerator arrangement, for generating a plasma beam, comprising:
- a) an ionization chamber disposed around a longitudinal axis;
- b) an electrode arrangement disposed in said ionization chamber and comprising a plurality of electrodes having different electric potentials for generating an electric potential gradient and an electrostatic field for the acceleration of positively charged ions wherein the electrostatic field extends along said longitudinal axis which defines an acceleration path;
- c) an electron beam emitter coupled to said ionization chamber spaced apart from said plurality of electrodes in said electrode arrangement said electron beam emitter for emitting an electron beam along said longitudinal axis into said ionization chamber;
- and
- d) a magnetic beam guiding system which creates a magnetic field for guiding the electron beam along said longitudinal axis wherein said magnetic beam guiding system has at least one direction reversal of said magnetic field along said longitudinal axis and said acceleration path.
A plasma accelerator arrangement, for generating a plasma beam, comprising:
- a) an ionization chamber disposed around a longitudinal axis and having an outlet opening formed coaxially with said longitudinal axis and an acceleration path in said ionization chamber, said outlet opening allowing a plasma beam to leave said ionization chamber;
- b) an electrode arrangement disposed in said ionization chamber and comprising a plurality of electrodes having different electric potentials for generating an electric potential gradient and an electrostatic field for the acceleration of positively charged ions wherein the electrostatic field extends along said longitudinal axis which defines said acceleration path;
- c) an electron beam emitter coupled to said ionization chamber spaced apart from said plurality of electrodes in said electrode arrangement said electron beam emitter for emitting an electron beam along said longitudinal axis into said ionization chamber;
- and
- d) a magnetic beam guiding system which creates a magnetic field for guiding the electron bean along said longitudinal axis wherein said magnetic beam guiding system has at least one direction reversal of a magnetic field along said longitudinal axis and said acceleration path.
A plasma accelerator arrangement, for generating a plasma beam, the plasma accelerator in the form of an ion thruster or electric propulsion system comprising:
- a) an ionization chamber disposed around a longitudinal axis and having an outlet opening formed coaxially with said longitudinal axis and an acceleration path in said ionization chamber, said outlet opening allowing a plasma beam to leave said ionization chamber;
- b) an electrode arrangement disposed in said ionization chamber and comprising a plurality of electrodes having different electric potentials for generating an electric potential gradient and an electrostatic field for the acceleration of positively charged ions wherein the electrostatic field extends along said longitudinal axis which defines said acceleration path;
- c) an electron beam emitter coupled to said ionization chamber spaced apart from said plurality of electrodes in said electrode arrangement said electron beam emitter for emitting an electron beam along said longitudinal axis into said ionization chamber;
- and
- d) a magnetic beam guiding system which creates a magnetic field for guiding the electron beam along said longitudinal axis wherein said magnetic beam guiding system has at least one direction reversal of a magnetic field along said longitudinal axis and said acceleration path.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.