一种用于电推进羽流特性表征的阻滞电势分析系统及测量方法 Retarding-Potential Analyzer System and Method for Electric-Propulsion Plume Characterization
- To address poor retarding-potential sweep smoothness and misalignment with thruster polarity switching, an Arduino-based programmable high-voltage scan control system was co-developed. Stepper drive algorithms and synchronized switching timing were implemented and tuned so the system completes smooth 0–±3500 V full-range sweeps within a 30 s unipolar thruster cycle, improving measurement sync and raw-signal fidelity in dynamic tests.
- For severe high-frequency noise on plume acquisition, Butterworth low-pass filtering was applied and an adaptive interval-step slope algorithm was co-designed, with 200 computation steps balancing smoothness and detail. Accurate plume particle energy distributions supported quantification of non-kinetic efficiency and total voltage loss, providing key analytics for electric-propulsion design optimization.
This patent addresses low accuracy, poor sweep synchronization, distorted processing, and limited functionality in conventional retarding potential analyzers (RPAs), proposing an RPA system and method for electric-propulsion plume characterization. A four-grid integrated stack with programmable HV sweeping and adaptive processing resolves particle energy distributions and directly infers core thruster performance across diverse EP test scenarios, improving accuracy and efficiency.