In this work, a novel method of directly measuring the roll torque of low power Hall-effect thrusters is proposed. The measurement device uses an elastic pendulum with the thruster mounted on the same axis as the rotation axis of the pendulum, and the torque of the thruster is reflected in the rotation of the movement part and amplified by the pendulum arm with the measuring range of approximately 0–200 μN m with a resolution of less than 0.5 μN m. The roll torque measurement results of a Hall-effect thruster show that the rotational direction is consistent with the ion deflection direction by the magnetic field, and the roll torque ranges about 16–23 μN m at the anode power range of 300–450 W with cathode keeper, and the values is influenced by the cathode keeper currents. An empirical formula for the Hall-effect thrusters is proposed according to the reliable measurement results of the low power Hall-effect thruster, and the roll torque values are estimated for several low power to medium power Hall-effect thrusters. The method also provides a new idea to accurately evaluate the roll torque of other types of electric propulsion thrusters.

在这项工作中，提出了一种直接测量低功率霍尔效应推进器滚动扭矩的新方法。测量装置采用弹性摆，推进器安装在与摆的旋转轴相同的轴线上，推进器的扭矩反映在运动部分的旋转中，并被摆臂放大，测量范围约为0–200 μN·m，分辨率小于 0.5 μN·m。霍尔效应推进器的滚动扭矩测量结果表明，旋转方向与磁场引起的离子偏转方向一致，在 300-450 W 的阳极功率范围内，滚动扭矩范围约为 16-23 μN·m阴极保持器，并且该值受阴极保持器电流的影响。根据小功率霍尔效应推进器的可靠测量结果，提出了霍尔效应推进器的经验公式，并估算了几种低功率和中等功率霍尔效应推进器的横摇力矩值。该方法也为准确评估其他类型电推进器的横摇力矩提供了新思路。