Thermal Modeling and Validation Testing of a Miniature Xenon Ion Thruster

<p>To support the research of miniature ion propulsion, Cal Poly's Miniature Xenon</p> <p>Ion (MiXI) thruster has been modeled and tested. Using ANSYS Fluent, a two-</p> <p>dimensional model of the transient thermal environment of MiXI-CP-V3 was</p> <p>created. Validation testing was conducted in order to assess the accuracy of the</p> <p>thermal model. During testing, temperature was measured at eight locations</p> <p>across MiXI. From the test data it was determined that the thermal model did a</p> <p>poor job of predicting temperature due to incident radiation at the four locations</p> <p>nearest the keeper electrode. The four remaining locations were affected mostly</p> <p>by conduction and followed a trend that closely resembled the test data. The</p> <p>difference between the test data and the model's predicted temperature varied</p> <p>depending on time and location; the difference between the predicted data and</p> <p>the test data fell within 10C, for most of the operation but reached 27.1C at</p> <p>one location. The thermal model was used to assess ways to shunt heat transfer</p> <p>to the permanent magnets in order to postpone demagnetization, which occurs at</p> <p>300C. Sheathing the entire keeper electrode with Macor was shown to reduce the</p> <p>temperature by as much as 13.3C at certain times and locations. Due to its lower</p> <p>thermal conductivity, it was hypothesized that a thruster made of titanium would</p> <p>impede heat transfer to the magnets, however, the model showed an increase in</p> <p>temperature rise when properties of certain titanium alloys are applied. Applying</p> <p>a thermally insulative coatings to the anode was considered, but not modeled</p> <p>because the available coatings have a melting point below 350C.</p>

Name thesis:degree_name

MS in Aerospace Engineering

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Aerospace Engineering

Year dc:date.available

2013

Author dc:creator

• Parker, Samuel R

Contributors dc:contributor

• Kira Abercromby

Identifier

10.15368/theses.2013.197

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:digitalcommons.calpoly.edu:theses-2212