Ivakhnenko

pp. 57-71

pp. 181-191

The research of the influence of the excavation process of butt-end vacuum arc evaporator on the angle distribution of the evaporated material flux was carried out. Coating profile of flat extended substrate placed perpendicular the cathode surface was measured at various working duration and different extends of excavation of vacuum arc evaporator cathode. According to the obtained profiles the angle distribution of the material flux was reconstructed. The normalized dimensionless angle distribution of the material flux was formed according to various extends of cathode excavation and the comparison with distribution of flat point source according to Lambert-Knudsen law was made.

The paper considers an autonomous solar heat storage scheme with photoelectric cells for the hydraulic pump. It describes a method for calculating the power density of solar radiation during the day. To calculate the energy balance of the hydraulic system of autonomous solar collector the authors offer a methodology relevant for designing the similar systems. The curves obtained allow calculating the main parameters of the system components, including the required minimum area of absorber and photoelectric cells, pump power, water flow. The typical values of photoelectric cells area required for operation under typical environmental conditions were obtained.

The authors consider a possibility of using a Hall Effect thruster working with an ambient atmospheric gas for orbital station-keeping. Relation between thrust and atmospheric drag force was obtained. It was shown that there is a critical value of accelerating voltage which provides equality of thrust and air drag force. Relation between this critical accelerating voltage and spacecraft velocity, as well as relation between thrust efficiency and the ratio of air intake area to the spacecraft's area, were obtained. Basic ways of improving efficiency of the air breathing Hall Effect thruster were proposed.

Effect of the torque in the thruster with anode layer was considered. It was shown that the mechanism of appearance of such torque is associated with the azimuthal deflection of ions in the accelerating channel of an engine as it moves in the radial magnetic field. Dependences between the angular acceleration of a device and the strength of magnetic field for different thruster’s operating modes, different working substances and mass-dimensional characteristics of the spacecraft were obtained. It was also demonstrated that this torque could have a significant impact on the stabilizing system in cases of long-time operation. The remedy for harmful influence of the azimuthal deflection of ions on the spacecraft’s rotation was proposed.

The authors consider influence of distribution of magnetic field induction on distribution of gas discharge parameters in crossed electric and magnetic fields in the passage of a thruster with an anode layer. The authors proposed a flow model of the electron component, where the flow is perpendicular to the magnetic field, with the use of the specific flux value. The authors also obtained a ratio between distribution of plasma potential over the passage with distribution of the specific flux, and a ratio that allows to determine the position of the low-voltage anode boundary layer. An example of calculating plasma potential distribution over the channel of a thruster with an anode layer, and of determining the position of a low-voltage anode boundary layer was given in this article.

The paper considers problems of changes in tractive coefficient of efficiency of a motor with anode layer by using different working substances. The authors obtained dependences describing the effect of the azimuthal deviation to the specified coefficient of efficiency, confirmed by the results of the experiment. The authors propose assessment criteria of using different working substances to increase tractive efficiency propulsion.

This article considers experimental demonstration of the effect of azimuthal ion deflection in the magnetic field. Deflection of a beam in the magnetic field of opposite polarity was shown. Theoretical dependences for values of an angle of azimuthal deviation obtained in the previous works were confirmed.

The authors consider influence of azimuthal spin of ions on ion beam divergence in the engine with an anode layer. It is shown that the ion beam takes the form of a one-sheet hyperboloid. The authors obtained dependences describing the hyperboloid, bounding curves and asymptotes, depending on the geometry of the engine and the azimuthal deviation angle. Calculation results in the form of graphic dependencies are given.

The working characteristics of the ion source with azimuth electron drift “IS-200” was investigated. It was shown that the ion source has two discharge modes: thruster mode and magnetron mode. The thruster mode is characterized with high voltage and high current efficiency with low discharge current. The increased ion current with low voltage and ion current efficiency are in magnetron mode. The thruster mode is more preferable for ion-beam processing. The optimal parameters of the ion source functioning was determined by the current-voltage characteristics.