CN-122014550-A - Micro-cathode arc thruster

CN122014550ACN 122014550 ACN122014550 ACN 122014550ACN-122014550-A

Abstract

The application discloses a micro-cathode arc thruster, which relates to the technical field of satellite micro-propulsion and comprises a cathode, a plurality of anodes and insulators, wherein the anodes are arranged around the cathode, the insulators are filled in gaps between the cathode and the anodes, each anode corresponds to a trigger pulse, and the trigger pulse corresponding to the adjacent anode has time delay so that each anode is alternately discharged with the cathode.

Inventors

WEI LIQIU
LIANG TIANCE
ZHOU LIWEI
Ji Tianyuan

Assignees

哈尔滨工业大学

Dates

Publication Date: 20260512
Application Date: 20260205

Claims (10)

1. The micro-cathode arc thruster is characterized by comprising a cathode, a plurality of anodes and an insulator; A plurality of anodes disposed about the cathode; The insulators are filled in gaps between the cathodes and the anodes; each anode corresponds to a trigger pulse, and the trigger pulses corresponding to adjacent anodes have time delay, so that each anode is respectively and alternately discharged with the cathode.
2. The micro-cathode arc thruster of claim 1 wherein a plurality of anodes are distributed in a ring shape, the cathode being located in the center of the ring shape.
3. The micro-cathode arc thruster of claim 1 wherein the cathode is a columnar structure.
4. The micro-cathode arc thruster of claim 1 wherein the insulator is an insulating ceramic coated with a conductive coating at the electrically conductive locations of the cathode and each anode.
5. The micro-cathode arc thruster of claim 1, further comprising a power processing unit; the power processing unit is used for sending trigger pulses to each anode.
6. The micro-cathode arc thruster of claim 5 wherein the power handling unit comprises a plurality of parallel switching circuits, each switching circuit corresponding to an anode; the power processing unit sends a trigger pulse with time delay to each anode by controlling the on-off of each switch circuit.
7. The micro-cathode arc thruster of claim 1 wherein the trigger pulse waveform for each anode is the same and the time delay between trigger pulses for adjacent anodes is the same.
8. The micro-cathode arc thruster of claim 7 wherein the pulse width of the trigger pulse is greater than the arc duration and there is a relationship between the period of the trigger pulse and the time delay of the trigger pulse corresponding to an adjacent anode as follows: ; Wherein T is the period of the trigger pulse, n is the total number of anodes, A time delay of the trigger pulse corresponding to the adjacent anode.
9. The micro-cathode arc thruster of claim 1 wherein the time delay of the corresponding trigger pulse of adjacent anodes is less than the arc duration.
10. The micro-cathode arc thruster of claim 1, further comprising a cathode working medium, a storage bin and a feed pipeline which are connected in sequence; the cathode working medium is stored in the storage bin and enters the feeding pipeline through the storage bin to form the cathode.

Description

Micro-cathode arc thruster Technical Field The application relates to the technical field of satellite micro-propulsion, in particular to a micro-cathode arc thruster. Background The micro-cathode arc thruster has become one of propulsion modes for attitude control and orbit correction of a small satellite by virtue of the advantages of high specific impulse, low power consumption, low discharge voltage, high efficiency, wide thrust adjustment range, low cost, long service life, high reliability and the like. The conventional micro-cathode arc thruster works in a pulse mode, and the generated thrust is output in a pulse mode, so that the thrust cannot be output uniformly and stably, and meanwhile, electrical elements in the circuit system of the power processing unit (Power Processing Unit, PPU) can be damaged due to short-time high-frequency discharge, so that the applicable field of the micro-cathode arc thruster is limited greatly. Disclosure of Invention The application aims to provide a micro-cathode arc thruster, which can continuously discharge so as to continuously provide thrust and work in a quasi-steady state mode. In order to achieve the above object, the present application provides the following. The application provides a micro-cathode arc thruster which comprises a cathode, a plurality of anodes and an insulator, wherein the anodes are arranged around the cathode, the insulator is filled in a gap between the cathode and each anode, each anode corresponds to a trigger pulse, and the time delay exists for the trigger pulse corresponding to the adjacent anode, so that each anode and the cathode are alternately discharged respectively. According to the specific embodiments provided by the application, the following technical effects are disclosed. The application provides a micro-cathode arc thruster, which is characterized in that through the design of a plurality of anodes, the current passing through a single anode in the same time is uniformly distributed to the plurality of anodes, so that the time average current on the single anode is reduced, and the PPU circuit system is effectively protected; by arranging a plurality of anodes around the cathode, the uniformity of an electric field and current density can be improved, the pulse triggering efficiency and the service life and stability of the micro-cathode arc thruster are improved, and by arranging time delay between triggering pulses corresponding to adjacent anodes, the micro-cathode arc thruster can realize sequential discharge of different anodes and cathodes in one period under the condition that single anode pulse discharge is kept unchanged, so that the micro-cathode arc thruster can work in a quasi-steady state mode. Drawings In order to more clearly illustrate the embodiments of the present application or the technical solutions in the prior art, the drawings that are needed in the embodiments will be briefly described below, and it is obvious that the drawings in the following description are only some embodiments of the present application, and other drawings may be obtained according to these drawings without inventive effort for a person skilled in the art. Fig. 1 is a schematic structural diagram of a micro-cathode arc thruster according to an embodiment of the present application. Fig. 2 is a schematic structural diagram of a conventional micro-cathode arc thruster according to an embodiment of the present application. Fig. 3 is a schematic diagram of a conventional micro-cathode arc thruster discharge waveform according to an embodiment of the present application. Fig. 4 is a side cross-sectional view of a micro-cathode arc thruster according to an embodiment of the present application. Fig. 5 is an assembly schematic diagram of a micro-cathode arc thruster according to an embodiment of the present application. Fig. 6 is a front view of a plurality of anodes provided in an embodiment of the application. Fig. 7 is a side view of a plurality of anodes provided in an embodiment of the application. Fig. 8 is an oblique view of a plurality of anodes provided in an embodiment of the application. Fig. 9 is a front view of a single anode provided in an embodiment of the application. Fig. 10 is a side view of a single anode provided in an embodiment of the application. Fig. 11 is an oblique view of a single anode provided in an embodiment of the application. Fig. 12 is a front view of an inter-cathode insulating ceramic according to an embodiment of the present application. Fig. 13 is a side view of an inter-cathode insulating ceramic according to an embodiment of the present application. Fig. 14 is an oblique view of an inter-cathode insulating ceramic according to an embodiment of the present application. Fig. 15 is a diagram showing control level signals corresponding to each switch circuit according to an embodiment of the present application. Fig. 16 is a schematic diagram illustrating arc current variation of a micro-cathod