Compact plasma thruster

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11828273-B2
Application number	US-201816496531-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 23, 2018
Priority date	Mar 23, 2017
Publication date	Nov 28, 2023
Grant date	Nov 28, 2023

Abstract

According to certain aspects, an electric-propulsion thruster is used as part of a base or platform which also includes a power converter, having a plurality of inductors and other electrical components, and a printed circuit board (PCB). The PCB includes a layer at which the other electrical components and printed circuit inductor traces, for the plurality of inductors, are secured. The electric-propulsion thruster includes a housing (e.g., as part of the base or platform) providing a cavity and having at least one structurally-rigid side wall along the cavity, where the PCB is integrated with the electric-propulsion thruster for a compact arrangement which can be used to propel the apparatus. Such a compact design might be used as an important part of thruster spacecraft architecture such as micro-satellites (e.g., CubeSats).

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An apparatus comprising:
a power converter, including a plurality of inductors and other electrical components, to provide operating power to load terminals;
a printed circuit board (PCB) including at least one layer at which the other electrical components are secured, wherein a first one and a second one of the plurality of inductors are configured and formed as printed circuit inductor traces of the PCB, the PCB including a passage therethrough from a first side of the PCB to an opposing second side of the PCB; and
an electric-propulsion thruster, positioned through and secured through the passage, wherein in response to application of the operating power at the load terminals, the electric-propulsion thruster is to generate a choked flow into a plasma cavity of the electric-propulsion thruster to provide thrust.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the electric-propulsion thruster is at least one of: an electro-thermal thruster; an electro-static thruster; and an electro-magnetic thruster.

3. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the electric-propulsion thruster is an electro-thermal plasma-ion thruster including a propellant subsystem to feed gas to the electro-thermal plasma-ion thruster, wherein the PCB and the propellant subsystem are secured to or integrated with said at least one structurally-rigid housing side wall of the electro-thermal plasma-ion thruster.

4. The apparatus of claim 1 , further including another electric-propulsion thruster and another PCB, each PCB being common to a housing.

5. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the apparatus is a cubically-shaped satellite, and further including another electric-propulsion thruster and another PCB, each PCB being common to a housing and wherein the plurality of inductors includes air core inductors.

6. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein said PCB is included among six housing side walls, and wherein the apparatus further includes another electric-propulsion thruster and another PCB.

7. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the power converter is configured and arranged with the plurality of inductors and other electrical components to cause, during operation, an output signal pulsing between 10 MHz and 30 MHz.

8. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the electric-propulsion thruster includes at least one component of a propellant subsystem that is configured to feed propellant to the electric-propulsion thruster and that is secured to at least one side wall of the electric-propulsion thruster, and wherein the electric-propulsion thruster is offset from a center axis of the PCB.

9. The apparatus of claim 1 , further including a platform with dimensions not greater than 10 cm cube.

10. The apparatus of claim 9 , wherein the PCB forms at least part of at least one side of the platform.

11. An apparatus comprising:
at least one power converter, including at least one set of inductors and other electrical components, to provide operating power to at least one set of load terminals;
a first printed circuit board (PCB) and a second PCB, each including at least one layer at which said other electrical components are secured, wherein said at least one set of inductors includes one or more inductors provided as one or more printed conductive traces of the first PCB and the second PCB, wherein the first PCB and the second PCB are stacked one on top of the other so as to form a wall, the wall having a passage therethrough that passes through both the first PCB and the second PCB from a first side of the wall to an opposing second side of the wall; and
an electric-propulsion thruster positioned through and secured through the passage, wherein in response to application of the operating power at the at least one set of load terminals, the electric-propulsion thruster is to provide thrust to propel the apparatus.

12. The apparatus of claim 11 , wherein the electric-propulsion thruster is an electro-thermal plasma-ion thruster.

13. The apparatus of claim 12 , wherein the wall is part of a platform, the platform being configured and arranged for a microsatellite including each of the first PCB and the second PCB, wherein each of the first PCB and the second PCB has a maximum dimension of less than 15 cm for height and for length.

14. The apparatus of claim 11 , wherein each of the at least one set of inductors is an air core inductor, wherein each of the first PCB and the second PCB has dimensions ranging from: 0.2 mm to 20 mm in thickness, 5 cm to 15 cm in height, and 5 cm to 30 cm in length.

15. The apparatus of claim 11 , wherein the at least one power converter is to provide an output signal pulsing beyond 10 MHz.

16. A method comprising:
providing: a power converter, including a printed circuit board (PCB) at which a plurality of inductors and other electrical components are located and through which a passage is defined from a first side of the PCB to an opposing side of the PCB,
an electric-propulsion thruster positioned through and secured through the passage,
a housing comprising a plurality of housing side walls, and
a propellant subsystem within a cavity defined by the plurality of housing side walls including at least one housing side wall among the plurality of housing side walls at which the PCB is situated; and
causing operating power to be provided to the electric-propulsion thruster, and propellant to be provided to the electric-propulsion thruster from the propellant subsystem, thereby generating thrust via the electric-propulsion thruster.

17. The method of claim 16 , wherein the housing is cubically-shaped and configured for a microsatellite and wherein said plurality of housing side walls comprise at least in part respective walls of the microsatellite.

18. The method of claim 17 , wherein causing the operating power to be provided includes pulsing an output signal at load terminals of the power converter with at least one frequency in a range from 10 MHz to 30 MHz, wherein the plurality of inductors includes an air core inductor, and included among the other electrical components is a capacitor.

19. The method of claim 16 , wherein said power converter includes a component that is secured on or as part of the PCB, in a manner that is offset from a center axis of the PCB, wherein a thickness, a width and a length of the housing is each less than or equal to 25 cm.

20. The method of claim 16 , wherein the plurality of inductors include at least one air core toroidal inductor.

21. An apparatus comprising:
a plurality of air core inductors;
at least one printed circuit board (PCB) including at least one layer at which certain electrical components and printed circuit inductor traces, for the plurality of air core inductors, are secured, wherein each of the plurality of air core inductors is an air core toroidal inductor that is formed from printed circuit inductor traces of the PCB along a planar surface of said at least one PCB, the at least one PCB including a passage therethrough from a first side of the at least one PCB to an opposing second side of the at least one PCB;
an electro-thermal plasma-ion thruster to propel the apparatus in response to a change in electrical energy to at least one set of load terminals;
at least one power converter, to provide operating power to the at least one set of load terminals, said at least one power converter including a switched mode direct-current radio-frequency power inverter integrated with the electro-thermal plasma-ion thruster, and including the plurality of air core

Assignees

• Univ Leland Stanford Junior
• Univ Australian National

Inventors

• Liang Wei
• Raymond Luke C
• Rivas Davila Juan M
• Boswell Roderick
• Charles Christine

Classifications

• B64G1/413

  Ion or plasma engines · CPC title

• B64G1/428

  Power distribution and management · CPC title

• F03H1/0087 Primary

  Electro-dynamic thrusters, e.g. pulsed plasma thrusters · CPC title

• B64G1/10

  Artificial satellites; Systems of such satellites; Interplanetary vehicles (space shuttles B64G1/14) · CPC title

• B64G1/405

  Operations & Transport · mapped topic