Meeanica Computacional Vol 20. pp.

631-638
Compilado por Fernando G. Flores
C6rdoba, 30 de octubre - 2 de noviembre de 2001

Analytical Model for Performance Evaluation of

Ablative Plasma Pulsed Thruster
Claude M. Brito·, Sergio A. Elaskar+&,and Hector H. Brito&
*ENSAE, Toulouse, France
'Departamento de Aeronautica, Universidad Nacional de C6rdoba, Argentina
&InstitutoUniversitario Aeronautico, Argentina

RESUMEN
En este trabajo se presenta un nuevo modele que permite evaluar la masa ablacionada y el impulso
especlfico en propulsores de plasma puisante ablativos de Tefl6n (APPT). Para obtener dicho
modelo se considera el balance de energla involucrado en la generaci6n y transporte del pulso de
corriente, en la formaci6n del arco, en la perdida de calor por efecto Joule y en los procesos de
aceleraci6n del plasma. La nueva expresi6n determina la masa ablacionada de Teflon en funci6n
de los parametros electricos y geometricos. La introducci6n de un espesor ideal de arco en las
ecuaciones descriptivas de los procesos mencionados permite definir un modelo simplificado util
para la predicci6n de las performances. De la comparaci6n de los resultados te6ricos obtenidos
con los valores experimentales del impulso especlfico para cinco APPT, el error relativo es
aproximadamente igual a 10"10.
ABSTRACT
A new model to calculate the ablated mass and the impulse bit of ablative plasma pulsed thrusters
(APPT) is presented throughout this paper. The model is based on the balance of energies
involved in APPTs way of working. A new expression is obtained for the ablated Teflon mass as
a function of the main electric and geometric parameters. The introduction of an ideal arc
thickness allows to derme a simplified model useful for the prediction of the performances and for
preliminary design activities. The obtained theoretical results about the impulse bit show good
agreement with those arising from experimental studies. A comparison is carried out on five
APPTs; the relative error is approximately equal to 10%. Finally, this new model is used to
evaluate the ablated mass of the P4S-1 thruster being currently under development in Argentina.

INTRODUCTION
The ablative plasma pulsed Teflon thrusters (APPT) are very convenient propulsion devices for
applications to orbit maintenance, attitude control and in-flights formations, due to their ability to
produce small impulse bits with high specific impulses [I}. The use of Teflon (as propellant) permits
the additional benefit of safety and compact design [2]. The APPT show in Fig. I, starts its operation
cycle when the Processing Power Unit (PPU) takes power from the satellite bus and loads the
capacitor bank at a voltage Va. The Teflon bar is fed between a couple of electrodes that are connected
to the capacitors. An ignition spark plug is fired producing enough electric conductivity inside the
acceleration chamber as to allow the capacitors to liberate the accumulated energy thus leading to the
Teflon ablation. The electric current flows from the capacitors through the acceleration electrodes and
the arc, forming a current loop which induces a magnetic field. A few microscopic sheets ofthe Teflon
surface are ionized and accelerated by the Lorenz forces due to the interaction between the arc and the
induced magnetic field. An important fraction of the ablated mass is neutral being accelerated by
gasdynamics effects. Therefore, the ablated mass is accelerated by a combination of gasdynamic and
electromagnetic forces. Once the capacitor bank is discharged, the cycle resumes giving shape to the
pulsed behavior. The final design of an APPT device requires the use numerical simulation due to the
complex interrelations between electric, geometric, gasdynamics, magnetogasdynamics phenomena
and the non-steady mechanism of arc formation [3,4]. Some models of electric discharge are based on
the solution of time dependent equation systems taking place when energy balance, thermal
conductivity, Teflon ablation and mass conservation are considered. These models are complete
enough to give a functional description of the APPT; unfortunately, they are usually based on a
particular geometric configuration and the extension of their use to another geometry is not immediate.
There are empirical models based on ablation functions for different geometric configurations. These
models use the interpolation of experimental data and the accuracy of them is restricted to APPTs
working in conditions similar to those of the experiments [5-8]. A new theoretical relationship linking
the ablated mass with the main electric and geometric parameters is presented in this paper. To obtain
the main equation the energy balance involved in generation and transport of the current pulse, in arc
generation, in heat dissipation and in plasma acceleration is considered. The introduction of an ideal
arc thickness in the descriptive equations allows to build up a simplified model useful for the
preliminary design of an APPT.

ANALYTICAL MODEL FOR THE PREDICTION OF THE ABLATED MASS

In this section the new theoretical model is displayed and applied for the calculation of the ablated
mass and the impulse bit. With the aim of building a simple analytical model the following
assumptions are introduced: Assumption 1: The new model is based on a zero-dimensional analysis
(global quantities). Assumption 2: The energy balance starts at the capacitor bank, because this device
governs the discharge time. Another aspect to be considered is that the capacitors bank is the first
place in which energy losses are important [9]. Assumption 3: From an electric circuit point of view
the acceleration chamber, the electrodes and the plasma are active components of a RLC circuit with
constant parameters. This idealization allows to consider the plasma as a conductor with resistance and
inductance [10], and to define the electromagnetic impulse associated to ion acceleration [11].
Assumption 4: The heat losses during the ablation process are calculated considering heat transfer by
black body radiation only. It is important to notice that the energydistribution in the plasma is due to
combined radiation and convection effects [5], however convection can be neglected when the
pressure in the APPT is higher than I hbar [11,12]. Assumption 5: It is accepted, according to Ref.
[II] that the necessary specific energy for Teflon ablation is 1.5xl06 [J/kg]. This value includes the
specific energy for the breakdown of Teflon polymer chains. On the other hand, the ionic and neutral
mass are supposed respectively equal to mj = (0.1± 0.05)m and m. = (0.9 f.I. 0.05)m. However,
Spanjers et al. [13] found m/m values up to 0.25. Assumption 6: The plasma is confined within a
volume at homogeneous temperature and the interactions among the particles lead to thermodynamic
equilibrium [5]. Assumption 7: The neutral mass expands as a perfect gas in a subsonic cavity. The
volume of this cavity is that of the acceleration chamber.

Energy Balance Inside of an APPT

The energies involved in an APPT are shown in Fig. 2. The energy balance can be expressed as:
Eo = Ejoule +Esh + Eheol +Egas +Eem + Eel

Eo is the energy stored in the capacitors, E;oule represents the energy losses by Joule effect, Esh is the
energy at the potential sheaths, Eheot represents the energy loss by heat dissipation, Egos is the energy
needed to ablated the Teflon, Eem is the electromagnetic energy and Eel is the energy associated to
gasdynamics effects. The three RHS first terms are energy losses, and they do not contribute to the
impulse. However, the last three RHS terms are ablated mass dependent. Therefore, the energies
involved in the right side ofEq. (1) can be written in terms of the efficiencies and/or ablated mass. The
objective is to obtain an equation that links the ablated mass, the efficiencies associated to the energy
accumulated in the capacitors, the ohmic losses due to imperfect conductors, the voltage losses in the
potential sheaths, the heat dissipation in the arc and the velocity losses in the plasma due collisions
between particles. Eq. (1) can be written as a function of the ablated mass in the following form:
E2
Eo = (1-I]"o05)Eo + (1-I].'h)l]transEo +(1-aA)(l]transl]shEo -Eem)+megas +Cem -~.+ _'!!... (2)
m Cel

1]'rans =
R
~i?
-_.., ,
pPT C = ~__l_
em Sail] fi
(LR' J2
PPT

10/ 10I
and at, a. are the ratios between ionized mass and neutral mass and the total ablated mass
respectively. Following some algebra manipulation Eq. (2) can be rewritten as:

(egas +C;,I}m2 -aATJlransTJshEom+aACemE~ =0 (3)

By solving the last expression for the ablated mass one can obtain

aATJ1ratlSTJshEo±~(aATJlransTJshEo)2 -tkrACemE~(egas +C.;/)

m=-----·----··------------·
2(egas + C;,I)

Eq. (4) should have an unique solution on physical grounds. The ablated mass can be expressed as:

aATJlransTJshEo
m=-----
2(egas +C;,I)

Introduction of the ideal an: thickness

The following assumption completes the group listed at the beginning of this paper; it allows to
estimate some necessary electric and geometric parameters. Assumption 8: The geometIy of the arc is
supposed simple and confined within the acceleration chamber. The use of this last assumption allows
to estimate the plasma resistance RpPT• This resistance will depend oil the acceleration chamber and
electrodes geometries. For example, for the APPT show in Fig. lone has RpPT ;;; Rplosma = TJh/wli
where Ii is the arc ideal thickness and TJ is the plasma resistivity. The total resistance of the circuit
shown in Fig. 3 is expressed as a function of the arc ideal thickness. Consequently, the arc
temperature, the frozen flow efficiencies and the sound velocity are also dependent of the parameter 0.
It is important to notice that, without regard to the type of the Teflon bar feeding and the electrodes
geometIy, is in general possible to express the radiation area as a function of the Teflon exposed area,
the dimensions of the acceleration chamber and the arc thickness. For example, for the APPT shown in
Fig. I is Arad = 2Ap + 21i(w+ h). Thus, it is possible to calculate aA. To determine the ablated mass,
the only parameters independent of the arc thickness are the inductance gradient L~PT' the energy of
the capacitor bank Ea and the constants TJ, Yo a; and egos' The process of evaluation of the ablated
mass is shown in Fig. 4. However, for each APPT the evaluation of Ap, Arad, Rptosma and L~PT .will be
needed.

Comparison with experimental results

In order to verifY the ability of this new model for the prediction of preliminary performances, it is
applied to five APPTs: the OSU/LeRC Benchmark PPT [18], the Les-6 [3,4], the XPPT-l [13], the
APPT given in Ref. [19] and the PPT-4 [14]. Table 1 shows the electric and geometric parameters for
this five APPTs. The three first APPTs have a two-dimension configuration with parallel electrodes.
The APPT described in Ref. [19] has a two-dimension geometIy but with two lateral Teflon bars as
feeding system, and the electrodes have a 20 degrees divergence angle. The PPT -4 configuration is a
coaxial one as shown in Fig. 5, where two springs feed laterally two Teflon bars among insulators of
boron. Assuming that the plasma develops geometrically according to that indicated in Fig. 5; the
plasma resistance can be estimated as R plas = TJI, / mJ m Ii where [, is the arc length and dm is the
average diameter between dTej/on and dan• Approximately 30% of the inner cavity area corresponds to
insulators, so the exposed Teflon area is Ap = 0.701idcav [. For the first three APPTs with two-
dimension geometry, the Teflon feeding is done from behind and the inductance of the system
(electrodes + potential sheaths + plasma) writes [20J
(LPPT),.et = O.4[(rn[h/(e+w)]+0.22(e+w)//-h//+1.5). For the APPT of Ref. (19] with lateral
feeding, the inductance is (LpPT),.et =Pahllw. According to Refs. [3,11,14], the inductance of
APPTs with coaxial geometry is expressed as (LpPT)coax = (u)/2;orXO.25+ln(ra /rJ). The plasma
resistivity can be considered that of a Lorenz gas using the factor YE which takes into account the
electron-electron collisions in a partially ionized gas; for Z = 2, YE = 0.683 [22). For plasma
temperatures of approximately 2 [eV] and densities between 1021 [mo3] and 1024 [mo3], the averaged
resistivity ofa doubly ionized plasma can be taken as 2xloo4 [Om], coincidently with the calculations
carried out on the APPT from Refs. [5] and [23]. Refs. [I I, 14 and 24] use for the specific heat ratio a
value between 1.3 and 1.4. However, if the 'temperature is in the range 1 to 2 [eV] and density from
1021 [mo3] to 1024 [mo3], it is possible to assume that the molecules of C2F4 have been completely
dissociated [25]. The neutral particles will then only have three degrees of freedom, which implies y=
1.67. The values of ablated mass and impulse bit obtained with the new model are compared in Table
2 with those published in the aforementioned references. In all calculations a specific heat ratio equal
to 1.67 has been used, and the assumption was made that the ionic mass amounts to 10% of the total
ablated mass. However, it can be observed that adopting a,=O.25 for the XPPT-I, according to
measures carried out by Spanjers et al. [13], the prediction of the ablated mass improves remarkably,
the obtained value being 26.8 ~g (em = -6%). Likewise iffor the PPT -4 one takes r = 1.3, as indicated
in Ref. [11], the ablated mass and the impulse bit become 43.9 J.l.gand 301 J.l.Nswith the following
error figures, respectively: em = -2.5% and e/ = 19.5%.

CONCLUSIONS
The model presented in this paper permits to evaluate the main performances of an APPT (specific
impulse, propulsive efficiency and ablated mass per pulse). The model has been found to be an useful
tool for the preliminary design of APPTs. The wide spectrum of variables considered by the model
allows to approach in a quite complete way this kind of design activity. For instance, the model is able
to estimate energy losses due to heat dissipation, the average value of the temperature developed in
the plasma and the maximum currents developed during the discharge. The comparison of the values
calculated by using the model with experimental data corresponding to five APPTs gives the following
average values of the relative error: -40% for the ablated mass and 10% for the impulse bit. In spite of
the order of magnitude of the existent differences between the calculated values and the experimental
ones, the application of the model can be advantageous, keeping in mind that by using empiric
ablation functions higher relative errors are obtained. The model possesses the following additional
advantages: to allow a sensitivity study of performances; to permit the incorporation of more
developed sub-models.

Acknowledgement
This work has been supported by means of grants PICT-99-10-07107 of Argentina's National Agency for the
Support of Science and Technology and 05-M026 of National University of Cordoba. Support provided by a
grant from C6rdoba Science Agency is also acknowledged.

REFERENCES
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in a Pulsed Plasma Thruster," AIM Paper 96-2723, 1996.
14) Bushman, S. S., Burton, R. L., Antonsen, E. L., "Arc Measurements and Performances Characteristics of a
Coaxial Pulsed Plasma Thruster," AIM Paper 98-3660, 1998.
16) Delcroix, J. L., "Introduction a la th60rie des gaz ionises," Monographies Dunod, Dunod, Paris, 1959.
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Table 1. Electric and f!.eometric parameters offjve APPT

OSUlLeRC LES-6 XPPT-I PPPA(Ref. l) PPT-4 __
Geometry BF(rect.) BF(rect.) BF(rect.) SF (rect.) SF (coaxi~1l......-
C, uF 10 2 10 9 8
Vo,kV 1.415 1.36 2.24 10 1.5
R••"rnn 16 30 50 10.1 8.5
L",,,nH 116 34 50 70 75
Ion>mm 38.1 60 100 41 I,rnm 25 __
leat, rnm 44.5 60 100 41 de,"" rnm 6.4
e,mm 6.4
25.4
3 5 - dcolIl1l!._ 4.8
h,rnm 30 25 66 d",rnm 43
w,mm 25.4 10 25 9.5" aexo,a;!I.·/ 30%
"In this case w is the distance between the two Teflon sweep. The Teflon is fed laterally. The width of electrodes
is 38 [rnm].

Table 2. Main verforms and relative error in the ablated mass m and the bj!J!!!£
OSUILeRC LES-6 XPPT-I PPPA PPT-4
m, Ug 11.6 10 28.5 1780 45
I, I1Ns - 31.2 279.5 17000 252
mvnd, I1g 32.9 4.3 38.3 2846 87.2
I~~ uNs 149.1 22.4 178.3 16200 358.3
em. % 183.9 -56.4 34.4 59.9 93.8
el. % - -28.2 -36.2 -4.7 42.2
 Spring
\ I

E,," r:j CATHODE I .. 1":"

",.1 : ARC .~~_+_, IRPP7-+-L-m~ Vm

L_ I---AN-On-E--' .----
I Vsh/2

Nozzle
/
 Eacc

... ~

._ Eem. _--lElectromagn~~"",--

Energy losses by heat

dissipation

Neutral particles
acceleration
P
I