THEORY OF PROPULSION

Electric Propulsion
 Limitations of Chemical Rockets
• Chemical rocket: exhaust ejection velocity
intrinsically limited by the propellant-oxidizer
reaction
• Larger velocity increment of the spacecraft could
be obtained only with a larger ejected mass flow.
• Mission practical limitation: exceedingly large
amount of propellant that needs to be stored
aboard

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 Electric propulsion
“The acceleration of gases for propulsion by
electric heating and/or by electric and magnetic
body forces.”
The general classes of systems for electric
propulsion are:
•Electrostatic propulsion devices
•Electrothermal propulsion devices
•Electromagnetic propulsion devices.

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 Advanced (Electric) Propulsion
Features:
• High exhaust speed (i.e. high specific impulse),
much greater than in conventional (chemical)
rockets
• Much less propellant consumption (much higher
efficiency in the fuel utilization)
• Continuous propulsion: apply a smaller thrust for
a longer time
• Mission flexibility (Interplanetary travel, defense)

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 Electric Propulsion Concepts
• Variety of designs to accelerate ions or plasmas
• Most concepts utilize grids or electrodes: power
and endurance limitations
• Ion Engine
• Hall Thruster
• RF Plasma Thrusters (ECR, VASIMR, Helicon
Double Layer)
• Magnetoplasma Dynamic (MPD) Thrusters
• Plasmoid Accelerated Thrusters
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 Electrothermal rockets
Electrothermal rocket engines are very similar in principle to
chemical and nuclear thermal rockets, differing only in using
electrical heating to raise the temperature of the propellant
prior to accelerating it in a nozzle.
•Electric resistance heating, as in the “resistojet”
•Heating of the propellant by a high energy arc discharge
passing through it, as in the “arc jet”
•Heating by passing radio frequency (RF) electromagnetic
waves through the propellant to heat it.
Fairly high F at reasonably high Isp, but thermal limitations are
the same as in chemical and nuclear thermal rocket engines.

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 Resistojet

• Propellant: Nitrogen, Xenon,butane & most gases

• Thrust: up to 100 mN
• Feed pressure: up to 10 bar
• Operation temperature to 500°C
• Redundant heaters
• A resistojet works by super-heating a propellant fluid, such as
water or nitrous oxide, over an electrically-heated element and
allowing the resulting hot gas to escape through a converging-
diverging nozzle. Thrust and specific impulse (a measure of the
engine's efficiency) are limited by the material properties of the
resistor.

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 Resistojet

Heat exchanger Nozzle

Valve

Electric power supply Theory of Propulsion 8

 Arcjet
A simple, reliable form of
electrothermal propulsion used to provide brief, low-
power bursts of thrust, such a satellite needs for
station-keeping. A nonflammable propellant is heated,
typically changing state from liquid to gas, by an
electric arc in a chamber. It then goes out the nozzle
throat and is accelerated and expelled at reasonably
high speed to create thrust. Arcjets can use electrical
power from solar cells or batteries, and any of a variety
propellants. Hydrazine is the most popular propellant,
however, because it can also be used in a chemical
engine on the same spacecraft to provide high thrust
capability or to act as a backup to the arcjet.

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Arcjet

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 Electrothermal : Arc Jet
Propellant tank Pump

Positive
Electric electrode
power ~ Arc
supply
Accelerated
plasma
Negative
electrode Circulating
nozzle wall
Propellant cooled coolant
chamber wall
Pump
Radiator
Theory of Propulsion 11
Arcjet nozzle block temperatures

Anode attachment zone

Propellant flow

2300K

1800K 1900K 2000K 100K 2200K

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 Arcjet
Type Propell Energy Isp,vac (s) Thrust Density
ant (N) (g/cc)
Resisto N2, Resistive 150- 0.005-0.5 0.28, 0.60,
jet NH3, heating 700 1.0, 0.019
N2O4, η=0.9
H2

Arcjet NH3, Arc heating 450- 0.05-5 0.60, 0.019

H2, η=0.3 1500 1.0
N2H4

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 Electrostatic rockets
The temperature limitations of electrothermal rockets may
be avoided if the acceleration of the propellant is achieved
by electric body forces. The ion rocket accomplishes this by
using -

•An ion source to produce a stream of positively charged

particles
•A negatively charged grid electrode to electrostatically
accelerate the ions
•An electron source to neutralize the accelerated ions

Thus there is no physical nozzle or pressure chamber and

the only temperature limitations are on the ion source
device.
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 Types Of Electostatic Propulsion
Thrusters::

To cause ionization there are mainly 5 different procedures, they

are :
• electron bombardment
• radio frequency
• field emission
• microwave
• ion contact

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 Ion rocket propulsion
Def:- A form of electric space propulsion in which ions are
accelerated by an electrostatic field to produce a high-speed
(typically about 30 km/s) exhaust. An ion engine has a high
specific impulse (making it very fuel-efficient) but a very low thrust.
Therefore, it is useless in the atmosphere or as a launch vehicle, but
extremely useful in space where a small amount of thrust over a long
period can result in a big difference in velocity.
This makes an ion engine particularly useful for
two applications: (1) as a final thruster to nudge a satellite into a
higher orbit and or for orbital maneuvering or station-keeping, and

(2) as a means of propelling deep-space probes by

thrusting over a period of months to provide a high final velocity. The
source of electrical energy for an ion engine can be either solar (see
solar-electric propulsion) or nuclear

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Electrostatic: Ion Rocket in space
Propellant line

Ion source

Accelerating
electrode
Neutralizer:
Electron
emitter
Battery

Ions

Electrons
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 Ion Engine

• Scheme of a gridded ion engine with neutralization

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 Ion rocket capabilities
V=V0 Electric field V=0
E=dV/dx x=xa
x=0

Ua

Ion stream

Ion source Accelerating

grid

Ion mass flow m = N a MU a A

2
F M 8  V0 
Thrust = mU a = j U a = ε 0  ÷
A q 9  xa 
Theory of Propulsion 19
 Electron Bombardment
In an electron bombardment
thruster, a gas propellant enters a
discharge chamber at a controlled
rate. A hot, hollow cathode
(negative electrode) at the center of
the chamber emits electrons, which
are attracted to a cylindrical anode
(positive electrode) around the walls
of the chamber. Some of the
electrons collide with and ionize
atoms of the propellant, creating
positively-charged ions.

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 Hall Thruster
Electrons are generated by a
hollow cathode (negative electrode) at the
downstream end of the thruster. The anode (positive
electrode) or "channel" is charged to a high potential
by the thruster's power supply. The electrons are
attracted to the channel walls and accelerate in the
upstream direction.
As the electrons move toward the
channel, they encounter a magnetic field
produced by the thruster's powerful
electromagnets. This high-strength magnetic
field traps the electrons, causing them to
form into a circling ring at the downstream
end of the thruster channel. The Hall thruster
gets its name from this flow of electrons,
called the HallTheory
current.
of Propulsion 21
Hall Thruster (II)

Theory of Propulsion 22
The Hall thruster scheme
Hall Thruster

The Hall effect

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 ELECTROMAGNETIC:PPT
• PPTs use solid Teflon propellant to deliver specific impulses in the
900 - 1,200 s range and very low, precise impulse "bits" (10-1,000
μNs) at low average power (< 1 to 100 W)
• PPTs inherently inefficient (η ~5%)
– Simplicity and low impulse bits provide highly useful
– Precision-flying of a spacecraft constellation
• PPT consists of a coiled spring that feeds Teflon propellant bar, an
igniter plug to initiate a small-trigger electrical discharge, a
capacitor, and electrodes through which current flows
• Plasma is created by ablating Teflon from discharge of capacitor
across electrodes
• Plasma is then accelerated to generate thrust by Lorenz force that is
established by current and its induced magnetic field

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 Pulsed plasma thruster

Courtesy NASA GRC Theory of Propulsion 25

MagnetoPlasma Acceleration

Theory of Propulsion 26
MagnetoPlasma Dynamic Thruster

Theory of Propulsion 27
 ELECTROMAGNETIC: MPD
• Electromagnetic devices pass a large current through a small amount of gas
to ionize propellant
• Once ionized, plasma is accelerated by electromagnetic body force called
Lorentz force which is created by interaction of a current (j) with magnetic
field (B):

F=j x B

• Current provided between energized positive and negative electrodes, while

magnetic field is either induced by (created from) current itself, applied
externally via an electromagnet or both
• Strength of Lorentz force for an MPD thruster with a self-induced magnetic
field is roughly proportional to ratio J2 / mdot, where J is total thruster current
• While gas-phase propellants like hydrogen and lithium (after vaporization)
can be used, solid propellants can also be used in pulsed electromagnetic
accelerators called pulsed plasma thrusters (PPTs).

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 Electromagnetic: MHD engine
Propellant tank Pump Positive electrode

Electric Magnetic field coils

power ~ Cathode
supply
Electric current
Accelerating
Negative plasma
Arc
electrode
Anode
J

Electromagnetic force (J X B) JXB

B
Theory of Propulsion 29
ELECTROMAGNETIC: MPD

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 Electric Propulsion Applications

1. ISS

2. Interplanetary Missions

3. Commercial/Defense

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REFERENCES ::

• http://www.daviddarling.info/encyclopedia.hmtl
• http://www.mypptsearch.com/index.php
• http://www.2dix.com
• http://www.jetaerospace.org/

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THANK YOU……..

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