| 摘要: |
| 介绍一种适用于微纳卫星的新型微电推进方式——微阴极电弧推力器，其利用真空条件下放电电弧烧蚀阴极材料产生较高电离度的高速等离子体喷出产生推力，并利用外加磁场聚焦等离子体以减小羽流扩散角、提高比冲。总结了国外相关机构大量的研究工作，并实现了在轨验证。北京控制工程研究所及其研究团队已攻克了阴极工质均匀烧蚀、低电压放电击穿、磁场设计等关键技术，完成原理样机点火验证工作，并采用实验手段研究磁场对推力器影响；采用PIC/MCC方法开展数值仿真，获得推力器内部及羽流区相关参数分布，对其工作过程及工作机理开展研究，为工程应用奠定了基础。 |
| 关键词: 微阴极电弧推力器 研究进展 试验测试 数值仿真 |
| DOI：10.15982/j.issn.2095-7777.2017.03.002 |
| 分类号:V439+.4 |
| 基金项目:载人航天预研支持项目（050303） |
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| The Research Progress in the Micro-Cathode Arc Thruster |
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GENG Jinyue1, XIONG Zichang2, LONG Jun1, SHEN Yan1, LIU Xuhui1, CHEN Jun1
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1.Beijing Institute of Control Engineering, Beijing 100094, China;2.School of Astronautics, Beijing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Beijing 100191, China
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| Abstract: |
| A new micro electric propulsion，micro-cathode arc thruster (μCAT)，is introduced. The μCAT is based on the vacuum arc process where an arc flows through a medium between two electrodes. The high ionized plasma is produced by the cathode spot ablation and then spell out to produce the thrust. The magnetic field is applied to focus the plasma plume and increase the specific impulse. A lot of researches on the μCAT have been conducted in the foreign institutes，and the μCAT has been verified on orbit in USA. In China，Beijing Institute of Control Engineering (BICE) has made breakthroughs in the key technologies including uniform ablation on the cathode，low voltage discharge，magnetic field design，etc. The influences of magnetic fields on the thruster are studied by experimental measurement. And the numerical simulations are conducted to obtain the plasma information in the thruster and plume region and study the work process and mechanism. The research will lay the foundation for engineering applications. |
| Key words: micro cathode arc thruster research progress experimental measure numerical simulation |
