Application of dimethyl ether to arcjet thruster and realizing dual mode operation

在这项研究中，我们提出了一个二甲醚（DME）电弧喷射推力器和可节流固体推进剂推力增强模块简化推进系统，实现大范围的可变推力。推力增强模块具有燃烧可控的固体推进剂，其仅在外部热量被供应到其燃烧表面时才维持燃烧。对原型电弧喷射推力器进行了推力测量，在放电功率为2600 W时，推力器的比冲为330 s，推力器效率为0.14。采用半导体激光器对可控燃烧固体推进剂在加热条件下的燃速进行了测试。对于某些固体推进剂，激光照射可以成功启动和中断燃烧。燃烧测量产生的压力指数范围为0.4和0.6。从理论上讲，如果压力指数小于1.0，固体推进剂推力器将维持稳定的推力。结果表明，采用燃烧可控推进剂的推力增强模块能够产生稳定的推力。

In this study, we proposed a dimethyl ether (DME) arcjet thruster and throttleable solid-propellant thrust-augmentation module for simplifying the propulsion system and realizing wide range variable thrust. The thrust-augmentation module has a combustion-controllable solid propellant which sustains combustion only while an external heat was supplied to its burning surface. Thrust measurement for prototyped arcjet thruster yielded a specific impulse of 330 s and a thruster efficiency of 0.14 at a discharge power of 2600 W. Burning rate of combustion controllable solid propellant under external heating was evaluated using a semiconductor laser. With some solid propellants, combustion was successfully started and interrupted by laser irradiation. Burning measurement yielded pressure exponents regime from 0.4 and 0.6. Theoretically, if pressure exponents are lower than 1.0, a solid propellant thruster sustains a stable thrust. From the results, the thrust-augmentation module with combustion controllable propellants yields stable thrusts.