China International Youth Conference on Electrical Engineering (CIYCEE 2024)

The field-reversed configuration (FRC) plasma thruster driven by rotating magnetic field (RMF), abbreviated as the RMF-FRC thruster, is a promising plasma propulsion technology that theoretically has high specific impulse and high efficiency. It utilizes RMF to generate an azimuthal current in the plasma, thereby forming FRC. The FRC is then accelerated and ejected to generate a thrust through the Lorentz force produced by the plasma current and the radial component of the bias magnetic field. This paper introduces the development of a pulsed RMF-FRC thruster prototype, including the engineering design of the RMF system. Pulsed discharge tests of RMF system were conducted, resulted in a damped oscillating current with a peak current of 2 kA and oscillation frequency of 210 kHz. The energy coupling efficiency of RMF system was measured to be approximately 42%. The largest plasma density was up to 2.28 × 10¹⁹ m^-3. A high-speed camera captured images of the formation and ejection of plasmoid.

Field-reversed configuration (FRC),plasma thrusters,pulse operation,rotating magnetic field (RMF)