Parametric Investigation of Miniaturized Cylindrical and Annular Hall Thrusters

A cylindrical geometry Hall thruster may overcome certain physical and technological limitations in scaling down of Hall thrusters to miniature sizes. The absence of the inner wall and use of the cusp magnetic field can potentially reduce heating of the thruster parts and erosion of the channel. A 2.6 cm miniaturized Hall thruster of a flexible design was built and successfully operated in the power range of 50-300 W. Comparison of preliminary results obtained for cylindrical and annular thruster configurations is presented.