Yoshikawa T, Tsukizaki R, Kuninaka H
Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics, University of Tokyo, 3-1-1, Yoshinodai, Chuo-ku, Sagamihara, Kanagawa 252-5210, Japan.
Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, Institute of Space and Astronautical Science, 3-1-1, Yoshinodai, Chuo-ku, Sagamihara, Kanagawa 252-5210, Japan.
Rev Sci Instrum. 2018 Sep;89(9):095103. doi: 10.1063/1.5027047.
This paper presents calibration devices and methods for the measurement of electric thruster performance parameters using a seesaw-type thrust stand to measure the mass loss of solid propellant in a vacuum. In previous studies, impact hammers and electrostatic combs have been manufactured for the calibration of the thrust and impulse using seesaw-type thrust stands. However, these conventional devices rely on self-calibration, which means that the input delivered by the device in unknown, and must undergo a calibration process themselves. In this paper, the manufactured calibration devices successfully reproduced known impulses, thrusts, and mass losses in a vacuum. By reproducing known inputs based on known masses, the proposed calibration devices can omit the conventionally required self-calibration process. The calibration results showed linear relations between outputs and known inputs and agreed with the theoretical values to within an error of 10%. Additionally, the uncertainties of all known inputs were less than 1.5%. On the basis of these results, the average thrust, impulse, and mass loss were measured using a calibrated thrust stand for the first time. The cumulative impulses obtained from the measured impulse and average thrust agreed with each other to within an error of 5%. The error of the measured mass loss per 1000 shots with respect to the actual mass loss measured using an electronic balance ranged from 1% to 17%.
本文介绍了用于测量电动推进器性能参数的校准装置和方法，该校准使用跷跷板式推力台来测量真空中固体推进剂的质量损失。在先前的研究中，已经制造了冲击锤和静电梳，用于使用跷跷板式推力台校准推力和冲量。然而，这些传统装置依赖于自校准，这意味着装置提供的输入是未知的，并且其本身必须经过校准过程。在本文中，制造的校准装置成功地在真空中再现了已知的冲量、推力和质量损失。通过基于已知质量再现已知输入，所提出的校准装置可以省略传统上所需的自校准过程。校准结果表明输出与已知输入之间存在线性关系，并且与理论值的误差在10%以内。此外，所有已知输入的不确定度均小于1.5%。基于这些结果，首次使用校准后的推力台测量了平均推力、冲量和质量损失。从测量的冲量和平均推力获得的累积冲量相互之间的误差在5%以内。相对于使用电子天平测量的实际质量损失，每1000次射击测量的质量损失误差范围为1%至17%。
