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Development and testing of the inertial electrostatic confinement diffusion thruster
| Content Provider | NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS) |
|---|---|
| Author | Becnel, Mark D. Polzin, Kurt A. |
| Copyright Year | 2013 |
| Description | The Inertial Electrostatic Confinement (IEC) diffusion thruster is an experiment in active development that takes advantage of physical phenomenon that occurs during operation of an IEC device. The IEC device has been proposed as a fusion reactor design that relies on traditional electrostatic ion acceleration and is typically arranged in a spherical geometry. The design incorporates two radially-symmetric spherical electrodes. Often the inner electrode utilizes a grid of wire shaped in a sphere with a radius 15 to 50 percent of the radius of the outer electrode. The inner electrode traditionally has 90 percent or more transparency to allow particles (ions) to pass to the center of the spheres and collide/recombine in the dense plasma core at r=0. When operating the IEC, an unsteady plasma leak is typically observed passing out one of the gaps in the lattice grid of the inner electrode. The IED diffusion thruster is based upon the idea that this plasma leak can be used for propulsive purposes. The IEC diffusion thruster utilizes the radial symmetry found in the IEC device. A cylindrical configuration is employed here as it will produce a dense core of plasma the length of the cylindrical grid while promoting the plasma leak to exhaust through an electromagnetic nozzle at one end of the apparatus. A proof-of-concept IEC diffusion thruster is operational and under testing using argon as propellant (Figure 1). |
| File Size | 105462 |
| Page Count | 2 |
| File Format | |
| Alternate Webpage(s) | http://archive.org/details/NASA_NTRS_Archive_20140003977 |
| Archival Resource Key | ark:/13960/t6b32vq5h |
| Language | English |
| Publisher Date | 2013-10-06 |
| Access Restriction | Open |
| Subject Keyword | Spacecraft Propulsion And Power Diffusion Electrodes Fusion Reactors Ion Recombination Magnetic Nozzles Argon Fusion Propulsion Inertial Fusion Reactor Plasma Control Inertial Confinement Fusion Ntrs Nasa Technical Reports Server (ntrs) Nasa Technical Reports Server Aerodynamics Aircraft Aerospace Engineering Aerospace Aeronautic Space Science |
| Content Type | Text |
| Resource Type | Article |
