Plasma electric propulsion device

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11092142-B2
Application number	US-201715818474-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Nov 20, 2017
Priority date	Nov 20, 2017
Publication date	Aug 17, 2021
Grant date	Aug 17, 2021

Abstract

The present disclosure provides a plasma electric propulsion device comprising a capacitive energy storage device as a power source for an engine configured to heat and/or ionize and/or accelerate a propellant due to action of an electric field and/or magnetic field. The energy storage device comprises: a first electrically conductive electrode, a second electrically conductive electrode; and at least one metadielectric layer located between the first and second conductive electrodes. The metadielectric layer comprises at least one organic compound with at least one electrically resistive substituent and at least one polarizable unit. The polarizable unit is selected from intramolecular and intermolecular polarizable units. The organic compound is selected from the list comprising compounds with rigid electro-polarizable organic units, composite organic polarizable compounds, composite electro-polarizable organic compounds, composite non-linear electro-polarizable compounds, Sharp polymers, Furuta co-polymers, para-Furuta polymers, YanLi polymers, and any combination thereof.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A plasma electric propulsion device comprising:
an engine configured to heat and/or ionize and/or accelerate a propellant due to action of an electric field and/or magnetic field; and
a capacitive energy storage device coupled to the engine as a power source for the engine, wherein the capacitive energy storage device, comprises:
a first electrically conductive electrode,
a second electrically conductive electrode; and
at least one metadielectric layer located between the first electrically conductive electrode and the second electrically conductive electrode, wherein the at least one metadielectric layer comprises at least one organic compound, the at least one organic compound comprising:
i) at least one electrically resistive substituent and
ii) at least one polarizable unit,
wherein the at least one organic compound is selected from the list consisting of compounds with rigid electro-polarizable organic units, composite organic polarizable compounds, composite electro-polarizable organic compounds, composite non-linear electro-polarizable compounds, Sharp polymers, Furuta polymers, YanLi polymers, and any combination thereof;
wherein the at least one electrically resistive substituent i) is selected from alkyl, aryl, substituted alkyl, substituted aryl, fluorinated alkyl, chlorinated alkyl, branched alkyl, branched fluorinated alkyl, branched chlorinated alkyl groups, and any combination thereof, and wherein the aryl group is selected from substituted and unsubstituted phenyl, benzyl groups, naphthyl groups, siloxane, and polyethylene glycol as linear or branched chains;
wherein the at least one electrically resistive substituent is C X Q 2X+1 , where X≥1 and each instance of Q is selected from hydrogen (Fl), fluorine (F), or chlorine (Cl), and
wherein the at least one electrically resistive substituent is selected from the group consisting of single chain, branched chain, and polycyclic species, and
wherein the at least one polarizable unit ii) is independently selected from intramolecular and intermolecular polarizable units.

2. The plasma electric propulsion device according to claim 1 , wherein the engine is an electrostatic propulsion engine configured to accelerate propellant by direct application of an electrostatic electric field to ionized particles.

3. The plasma electric propulsion device according to claim 1 , wherein the engine is an electromagnetic propulsion engine configured to accelerate the propellant under combined action of electric and magnetic fields.

4. The plasma electric propulsion device according to claim 1 , wherein the at least one organic compound is selected from chromophores, tictiods, anisometric conjugated aromatic ring systems, rylene fragments, phenyl groups, naphthyl groups, anthryl groups, and any combination thereof.

5. The plasma electric propulsion device according to claim 1 , wherein the at least one organic compound of the at least one metadielectric layer comprises domain structures selected from any combination of nematic structures, chematic structures, and chiral nematic structures.

6. The plasma electric propulsion device according to claim 1 , wherein the at least one metadielectric layer has an effective breakdown strength of at least 0.1 V/nm.

7. The plasma electric propulsion device according to claim 1 , wherein the at least one polarizable unit of the at least one organic compound is rigid, wherein the at least one polarizable unit is selected from an aromatic polycyclic conjugated molecule and an electro-conductive oligomer.

8. The plasma electric propulsion device according to claim 7 , wherein a distribution of the intramolecular or intermolecular rigid polarizable units of the at least one organic compound in the at least one metadielectric layer at least partially compensates an electric field applied between the first electrically conductive electrode and second electrically conductive electrode.

9. The plasma electric propulsion device according to claim 7 , wherein the at least one organic compounds form supramolecular structures selected from the list comprising two-dimensional flat form, rod-like, column-like, disc-like forms, and any combination thereof; and wherein the at least one polarizable units are oriented in the at least one metadielectric layer such that poles of the at least one polarizable units are oriented more or less perpendicular to the first electrically conductive electrode and second electrically conductive electrode of the energy storage device.

10. The plasma electric propulsion device according to claim 1 , wherein a capacitance of the energy storage device varies non-linearly with voltage.

11. The plasma electric propulsion device according to claim 1 , wherein the energy storage device further comprises one or more intermediate layers independently located in following positions: between metadielectric layers, between the at least one metadielectric layer and the first electrically conductive electrode, between the at least one metadielectric layer and the second electrically conductive electrode, wherein the intermediate layer has a permittivity greater than a permittivity of the at least one metadielectric layer and a resistivity less than a resistivity of the at least one metadielectric layer.

12. The plasma electric propulsion device according to claim 11 , wherein the energy storage device further comprises at least one tunnel barrier layer independently located between the at least one metadielectric layer and at least one intermediate layer located near one of the first electrically conductive electrode and the second electrically conductive electrode, wherein the permittivity of the tunnel barrier layer is lower than the permittivity of the intermediate layer, and the breakdown voltage of the tunnel barrier layer is higher than the breakdown voltage of the intermediate layer.

13. The plasma electric propulsion device according to claim 7 , wherein the aromatic polycyclic conjugated molecule comprises one or more electron donor group and one or more electron acceptor group, wherein the one or more electron donor group and the one or more electron acceptor group are independently selected from —NO2, —NH 3 + and —NR3 + , counterion Cl − or Br −1 , —CHO, —CRO, —SO 3 H, —SO 3 R, —SO 2 NH 2 , —COOH, —COOR, —COCl, —CONH 2 , —CF 3 , —CCl 3 , —CN; and wherein the donors are independently selected from —O—, —NH 2 , —NHR, —NR 2 , —OH, —OR, —NHCOR, —OCOR, alkyls, —C 6 H 5 , vinyls, wherein each instance of R is a radical independently selected from the list comprising alkyl, allyl, benzyl groups, phenyl and other aryl groups, and wherein the at least one polarizable unit form an anisometric molecular structure.

14. The plasma electric propulsion device according to claim 1 , wherein the at least one metadielectric layer comprises a material having a high breakdown field (Ebd) in at least one high-field regions where a breakdown field strength (Ebd) is greater than about 1 V/nm and areas of the high-field regions are less than about 1 μm 2 and/or has volumes less than about 1 μm 3 , and wherein the high-field regions independently comprise composite organic compounds forming nematic crystals, chematic crystals, chiral nematic crystals, lamellar structures, micelle structures, and any combination thereof.

15. The plasma electric propulsion device according to claim 1 , wherein the at least one polarizable units forms a crystalline lattice located in a matrix comprising compounds selected from alkyl chains, alkyne chains, polymers, polymers with linear chains, polymers with branched chains, cross-linked polym

Assignees

• Capacitor Sciences Inc

Inventors

• Lazarev Pavel Ivan

Classifications

• H05H1/2441

  characterised by the physical-chemical properties of the dielectric, e.g. porous dielectric · CPC title

• H05H1/2437

  Multilayer systems · CPC title

• H01G4/14

  Organic dielectrics · CPC title

• F03H1/0018 Primary

  Arrangements or adaptations of power supply systems (for cosmonautic vehicles B64G1/42) · CPC title

• H01G4/40

  Structural combinations of fixed capacitors with other electric elements, the structure mainly consisting of a capacitor, e.g. RC combinations · CPC title