Design And Study On Arcjet

The propulsion system is used to provide impetus for motion and control of spacecraft. At present, electric propulsion system has been widely applied in space fight missions and ascendant performance of electric propulsion makes it a substitution of traditional chemical propulsion system gradually. Arcjet is one of the highlight of electric propulsion investigation and application because of its high thrust density, high ratio of thrust and power, preferable specific impulse, better system successiveness and reliability. Advanced Arcjet system will be one of the favorite choices with the development of space technology and the demand of aerospace task. So it has important significance to investigate the Arcjet system.A low power Arcjet with high performance has been designed and constructed in this dissertation. This Arcjet can run steadily with high temperature status and in low-pressure environment. Detailed requirements are discussed for every component of the Arcjet. According to the specific requirement for every component, suitable material is selected for it. The internal structure has been optimized to reduce the heat loss and increase the specific impulse.Much works has been distributed to the development of a vacuum system to simulate the outer space and a measurement system to test the Arcjet performance. Ignition experiments in various operational modes have been done with Argon as propellant. Macroscopical working parameters including thrust, mass flow rate, voltage, current, inlet pressure and vacuity are obtained by the test measurement system and actual performance parameters including specific impulse, thrust efficiency, ratio of thrust and power and ratio of power and mass flow are calculated. The influence of parameters such as mass flow, input power, and constrictor size on Arcjet performance is also analyzed. This work provides an experimental foundation for the numerical simulation study and optimized design of Arcjet.A high-speed, high-resolution, multi-line spectroscopic diagnostic system has been improved to diagnostic the excitation temperature of Arcjet plume. The extent of...