Masillo S, Stubbing J, Swar K, Staab D, Garbayo A, Lucca Fabris A
Surrey Space Centre, University of Surrey, Guildford GU2 7XH, United Kingdom.
Added Value Solutions UK Ltd., Rutherford Appleton Laboratory, Harwell, United Kingdom.
Rev Sci Instrum. 2022 Nov 1;93(11):114501. doi: 10.1063/5.0117584.
A torsional thrust balance has been designed and validated by Surrey Space Centre and Added Value Solutions UK Ltd. in collaboration with the UK Space Agency. The thrust stand has been tested with two electric propulsion (EP) systems operating with xenon: the Halo thruster and the XJET thruster. The first consists of a low-power (<1 kW) Hall effect-based thruster, whose thrust level is between 3 and 20 mN, depending on the power of the system. The second is an electron cyclotron resonance thruster whose operative point is in the 0.3-1.5 mN thrust range. The thruster is mounted on a titanium rotating beam, whose movement is measured by an optical fiber displacement sensor. The thrusters' direct current electrical connections are routed through room temperature liquid metal pots and microwave power is transmitted via a wireless transfer system, minimizing friction effects. To reduce thermal issues during long thruster operations, the torsional thrust balance is designed with a water-cooling hub around the flex pivot. Noise from the laboratory environment is lessened by using four vibration-dampening spring systems as thrust balance feet. The tests on the two EP systems have shown accurate and repeatable results, demonstrating that the balance can be used to characterize different EP systems in the μN-mN thrust range.
萨里空间中心和英国增值解决方案有限公司与英国航天局合作，设计并验证了一种扭转推力天平。该推力台已使用两种以氙气为工作介质的电推进（EP）系统进行了测试：Halo推进器和XJET推进器。第一种由基于霍尔效应的低功率（<1kW）推进器组成，其推力水平在3至20mN之间，具体取决于系统功率。第二种是电子回旋共振推进器，其工作点在0.3 - 1.5mN推力范围内。推进器安装在钛制旋转梁上，其运动由光纤位移传感器测量。推进器的直流电气连接通过室温液态金属罐布线，微波功率通过无线传输系统传输，从而将摩擦效应降至最低。为减少推进器长时间运行期间的热问题，扭转推力天平在挠性枢轴周围设计了一个水冷轮毂。通过使用四个减振弹簧系统作为推力天平支脚，可减少实验室环境的噪音。对这两种电推进系统的测试显示出准确且可重复的结果，表明该天平可用于表征μN - mN推力范围内的不同电推进系统。
