| Type de publication : |
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Preprint, Working Paper, Document sans référence, etc. |
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| Domaine : |
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Physique/Physique/Physique des plasmas
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| Titre : |
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Devlopement of supersonic plasma flows by use of a magnetic nozzle and an ICRF heating |
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| Auteur(s) : |
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M. Inutake 1, A. Ando 1, K. Hattori 1, H. Tobari 1, Y. Hosokawa 1, R. Sato 1, M. Hatanaka 1, K. Harata 1 |
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| Laboratoire : |
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| Résumé : |
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A high-beta, supersonic plasma flow plays a crucial role in MHD phenomena in space and fusion plasmas. There are a few experimental researches on production and control of a fast flowing plasma in spite of a growing significance in the magnetized-plasma flow dynamics. A magneto-plasma-dynamic arcjet (MPDA) is one of promising devices to produce a supersonic plasma flow and has been utilized as an electric propulsion device with a higher specific impulse and a relatively larger thrust. We have improved the performance of an MPDA to produce a quasi-steady plasma flow with a transonic and supersonic Mach number in a highly-ionized state. There are two methods in order to control an ion-acoustic Mach number of the plasma flow exhausted from an MPDA: one is to use a magnetic Laval nozzle to convert a thermal energy to a flow energy and the other is a combined system of an ion heating and a divergent magnetic nozzle. The former is an analogous method to a compressible air flow and the latter is the method proposed in an advanced thruster for a manned interplanetary space mission. We have clarified the plasma flow characteristics in various shapes of a magnetic field configuration. It was demonstrated that the Mach number of the plasma flow could increase up to almost 3 in a divergent magnetic nozzle field. This paper reports recent results on the flow field improvements: one is on a magnetic-Laval-nozzle effects observed at the muzzle region of the MPDA, and the other is on ICRF (ion-cyclotron-range of frequency) heating of a supersonic plasma by use of a helical antenna. |
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| Commentaire : |
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12th International Congress on Plasma Physics, 25-29 October 2004, Nice (France) |
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