Zinc propellant storage and delivery system for hall thrusters

Tirila, Vlad-George, Hallock, Ashley, Demairé, Alain and Ryan, Charlie N. (2021) Zinc propellant storage and delivery system for hall thrusters. In AIAA Propulsion and Energy 2021 Forum. American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics.. (doi:10.2514/6.2021-3407).

Abstract

Solid propellants are an attractive alternative to xenon due to the generally larger storage densities, lower cost and more predictable availability. In this paper, zinc and magnesium viability in different Hall thruster power classes has been assessed. An improved zinc propellant storage and delivery system (PSDS) was developed and tested. Zinc flow rates between 0.5SCCM (0.024 mg/s) mg/s) and 6.5 SCCM (0.31 mg/s) at a temperature of335◦−345◦C and 30W power input are sustained for 60 minutes. Power consumption is reduced by 50% from the previous PSDS iteration . Propellant throughput measured with the load cell is recorded and displayed continuously throughout the experiments and shows a peak 11% deviation from the scale measured data. The thermal control system is upgraded and proven to maintain the temperature within0.5◦C of the setpoint. An improved version of the PSDS is presented which awaits testing and operation on a Hall thruster.

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