Study On Design Of Inductive Coil Of Inductive Pulse Plasma Thruster

Inductive Pulsed Plasma Thruster(IPPT),which was known as Pulsed Inductive Thruster(PIT),is a sort of high power electromagnetic thruster which employs a strong pulsed electromagnetic field to ionize and accelerate the propellant.IPPT can provide substantial high specific impulse,operate in varied thrust level and avoid the electrode erosion problem.The inductive coil,which plays an important role in the circuit discharge,gas ionization and propellant acceleration processes,dominates the performance up-limit of an IPPT.Research works about the design,analysis and experiment of the inductive coil are carried out in this dissertation.A modified one dimensional electromechanical model is established and verified based on IPPT.Using this model,the dynamic operation process of IPPT is stimulated and the working principles are analyzed further.Relationship between the thruster's parameters and its performance is also discussed relying on the 1-D model.The electromagnetic properties of a classical flat inductive coil are studied theoretically,experimentally,as well as with Finite Element Method.A fast calculation method of the electromagnetic parameters of the inductive coil is then derived and optimum design of inductive coil configuration is achieved based on the combination of this calculation method and the 1-D electromechanical model.Based on aforementioned research works,a prove-of-concept IPPT and related experiment systems are designed and manufactured.Low-energy ignition experiment is accomplished in a vacuum chamber using continuously fed Ar propellant.