Development of mathematic model of electron energy transport in electric propulsion devices with closed electron drift
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.15587/2706-5448.2026.358836Keywords:
closed electron drift, potential barrier, velocity distribution function, electrons mass and energy fluxAbstract
The object of research is a physical process of the electron energy transport in electric propulsion devices with closed electron drift. Such devices include ionization chambers of plasma-ion thrusters, Hall effect thrusters, helicon thrusters, and high-frequency plasma, ions and electrons sources where electron-electron collisions free path is small compared to the channel width. This means that the electron velocity distribution function cannot be considered as Maxwell.
The height of the potential barrier in the boundary bipolar layer and the average electrons energies removed from the plasma should be solved as a kinetic one. The presence of a potential barrier also means that only electrons with energies greater than the barrier height participate in mass and energy transfer. The classical representation, which represents the entire spectrum, is therefore inapplicable.
This means that the results of the research must be used on the object, and this will enable the object to improve, i. e. the electron energy transport must be described by expression obtained in this research.
The above problem is solved in this work using the tools of a compromise kinetic-fluid model considering the presence of isotropy factors of electrons velocity projections distribution. It has been shown that the removal of mass and energy from the plasma is carried out only by electrons in a narrow spectral band, about half the electron temperature. The equations of the zero and first angular moments of the distribution function are written with an approximate notation for the radial-azimuth component of the second angular moment as a second-rank tensor. It is shown that the ratio of the energy and mass flux densities in the volume is almost the same as that at the boundary with the bipolar layer, which allows to close the equations system of the mathematical model of processes in electric propulsion devices with a closed electron drift. The obtained results can be applied in the case of subsonic electron flow, which is typical for plasma of all types of electric propulsion devices.
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