ISSN:
1089-7623
Quelle:
AIP Digital Archive
Thema:
Physik
,
Elektrotechnik, Elektronik, Nachrichtentechnik
Notizen:
For the purpose of measuring the plasma momentum flux in a plasma system, a highly sensitive and precision balance has been developed. It can measure a force, an impulse, or thrust as low as 0.1 mN free of mechanical noise, electrical and magnetic pickups. The double pendulum system consists of two parallel conducting plates. One or both of the plates can be suspended by needles. The needle suspended plate (or plates) can swing freely with negligible friction because of the sharp points of the needles. When one of the plates is impacted by an impulse it will swing relatively to the fixed plate or other movable plate. The capacitance between the plates changes as a result of such a motion. The change of capacitance as a function of time is recorded as an oscillating voltage signal. The amplitude of such a voltage signal is proportional to the impacting force or impulse. The proportional factor can be calibrated. The forces can thus be read out from the recorded value of the voltage. The equation of motion for the pendulum system has been solved analytically. The circuit equation for the electronic measurement system has been formulated and solved numerically. Using this balance the thrust at the exhaust of a Tandem Mirror plasma thruster has been measured. The analytical solution of the overall characteristics agrees greatly with the measurement. © 1995 American Institute of Physics.
Materialart:
Digitale Medien
URL:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.1146490
Permalink