当前位置: X-MOL 学术J. Adv. Res. › 论文详情
Our official English website, www.x-mol.net, welcomes your feedback! (Note: you will need to create a separate account there.)
A propellant-free superconducting solenoid thruster driven by geomagnetic field
Journal of Advanced Research ( IF 10.7 ) Pub Date : 2020-08-10 , DOI: 10.1016/j.jare.2020.07.014
Heng-Wei Kuo , Kuo-Long Pan , Wei-Li Lee

Introduction

Space travel nowadays relies on physical ejection of propellants, which is challenged by reachable distance of a vehicle in desirable time. In contrast, electromagnetic propulsion was proposed to be a potential solution without need of carrying bulky mass of propellants, by using force interaction of local magnetic dipoles with the external natural magnetic field. Further development of this technique, however, has been daunted by extremely small magnetic induction that can be obtained.

Objectives

To generate a significant thrust by a system with a reasonable scale, we propose an alternative concept of design, based on the variation of local magnetic dipole moments that has not been considered.

Methods

A magnetic dipole is created by wrapping a solenoid around an iron core. It is varied spatially by changing the cross-sectional area of the solenoid, hence giving a gradient of magnetic dipole moment. The interaction force is measured by an in-house force sensor based on a cantilever, which has a high sensitivity of one micro-Newton. In addition, numerical simulation is used to calculate the magnetic field and created force via the Maxwell stress tensor.

Results

As shown by experimental measurements and numerical simulations, a substantially larger magnitude of force is obtained on the solenoid with varying cross-sectional area, indicating a much stronger interaction with the geomagnetic field. Furthermore, to enhance electric current with negligible dissipation, a superconducting solenoid can be adopted at low temperature in space. With readily attainable conditions of operation, we demonstrate generation of a thrust comparable to that of present electric propulsion thrusters which are deemed as the most promising techniques for long-term space travel.

Conclusions

By incorporating supplementary means, we provide a breakthrough solution for constructing an efficient thruster with minimal energy consumption and nearly null propellant load for near-Earth transportation and deep-space exploration.



中文翻译:

地磁场驱动的无推进剂超导螺线管推进器

介绍

如今的太空旅行依赖于推进剂的物理喷射,这受到车辆在理想时间内达到的距离的挑战。相比之下,通过利用局部磁偶极子与外部自然磁场的力相互作用,电磁推进被认为是一种无需携带大量推进剂的潜在解决方案。然而,这种技术的进一步发展却因可以获得极小的磁感应而受到阻碍。

目标

为了通过具有合理规模的系统产生显着的推力,我们提出了一种替代设计概念,基于尚未考虑的局部磁偶极矩的变化。

方法

通过将螺线管缠绕在铁芯周围来产生磁偶极子。它通过改变螺线管的横截面积在空间上发生变化,从而产生磁偶极矩梯度。相互作用力由基于悬臂梁的内部力传感器测量,该传感器具有一微牛顿的高灵敏度。此外,数值模拟用于通过麦克斯韦应力张量计算磁场和产生的力。

结果

如实验测量和数值模拟所示,在具有不同横截面积的螺线管上获得了显着更大的力,表明与地磁场的相互作用要强得多。此外,为了在耗散可忽略不计的情况下增强电流,可以在空间低温下采用超导螺线管。在容易达到的操作条件下,我们展示了与目前被认为是长期太空旅行最有希望的技术的电力推进推进器相当的推力的产生。

结论

通过结合补充手段,我们为构建高效推进器提供了突破性的解决方案,该推进器具有最低的能耗和几乎为零的推进剂负载,用于近地运输和深空探测。

更新日期:2020-08-10
down
wechat
bug