The need and demand for propulsion devices on nanosatellites has grown over the last decade due to interest in expanding nanosatellite mission abilities, such as attitude control, station-keeping, and collision avoidance. One potential micro-propulsion device suitable for nanosatellites is an electrothermal plasma thruster called Pocket Rocket. Pocket Rocket is a low-power, low-cost propulsion platform specifically designed for use in nanosatellites such as CubeSats. Due to difficulties associated with integrating propulsion devices onto spacecraft such as volume constraints and heat dissipation limitations, a characterization of the heat generation and heat transfer properties of Pocket Rocket is necessary. Several heat-transfer models of Pocket Rocket were considered as a part of this analysis to determine viability and complexity of the analysis, including a lumped thermal model, a finite-element model written in MATLAB, and a finite-volume model constructed using ANSYS Fluent and environmental conditions to closely reflect the experimental environment, both steady-state and transient. Results were validated experimentally. A Pocket Rocket thruster was manufactured for this purpose, and data regressed against model predictions to compare the validity of predicted models. Thermal models compared favorably to experimental measurements, accurately predicting the temperatures obtained at the surface of the thruster within 10 Kelvin after 1.5 hours of operation as well as the temporally-dependent temperature increases during the duration of operation within a standard error of ±6 Kelvin. Mission and integration viability is found to be favorable and within the realm of practicality for use of Pocket Rocket on nanosatellites.

An automated computer simulation of the two-dimensional planar Cal Poly Supersonic Ejector test rig is developed. The purpose of the simulation is to identify the operating conditions which produce the saturated, Fabri choke and Fabri block aerodynamic flow patterns. The effect of primary to secondary stagnation pressure ratio on the efficiency of the ejector operation is measured using the entrainment ratio which is the secondary to primary mass flow ratio. The primary flow of the ejector is supersonic and the secondary (entrained) stream enters the ejector at various velocities at or below Mach 1. The primary and secondary streams are both composed of air. The primary plume boundary and properties are solved using the Method of Characteristics. The properties within the secondary stream are found using isentropic relations along with stagnation conditions and the shape of the primary plume. The solutions of the primary and secondary streams iterate on a pressure distribution of the secondary stream until a converged solution is attained. Viscous forces and thermo-chemical reactions are not considered. For the given geometry the saturated flow pattern is found to occur below stagnation pressure ratios of 74. The secondary flow of the ejector becomes blocked by the primary plume above pressure ratios of 230. The Fabri choke case exists between pressure ratios of 74 and 230, achieving optimal operation at the transition from saturated to Fabri choked flow, near the pressure ratio of 74. The case of optimal expansion yields an entrainment ratio of 0.17. The entrainment ratio results of the Cal Poly Supersonic Ejector simulation have an average error of 3.67% relative to experimental data. The accuracy of this inviscid simulation suggests ejector operation in this regime is governed by pressure gradient rather than viscous effects.

In order to support UCLA’s development of the 3 cm Miniature Xenon Ion (MiXI) thruster, Cal Poly has a 3 cm thruster under development. This version, called MiXI Cal Poly Version 1 (MiXI-CPv1), is complete and has been utilized in vacuum chamber thermal validation testing. Testing on this version was used to check the validity of heat transfer simulations modeled in SolidWorks. Investigations of the 3 cm ion thruster configuration were intended to discover the driving factors affecting the thermal behavior of the discharge chamber and surrounding design space. Numerical simulations indicate that the heating of the samarium cobalt permanent magnets can be mitigated through the implementation of two proposed modifications. The first modification is to implement a 2% thoriated tungsten filament cathode. This design exhibited maximum permanent magnet temperatures of 325°C, twenty-five degrees below the maximum upper temperature of 350°C. Since some magnetic degaussing effects have been observed at temperatures above 300°C, the aforementioned solution can be combined with a thruster design modification to achieve a reduced permanent magnet temperature of 298°C. This modification would involve increase the anode wall thickness from approximately 0.7 mm to 2 mm below the permanent magnet ring, creating a stepped anode design. Additionally, less effective solutions were proposed and modeled and are presented for completeness.

Electrothermal (ET) Plasma Technology has been used for many decades in a wide variety of scientific and industrial applications. Due to its numerous applications and configurations, ET plasma sources can be used in everything from small scale space propulsion thrusters to large scale material deposition systems for use in a manufacturing setting. The sheer number of different types of ET sources means that there is always additional scientific research and characterization studies that can be done to either explore new concepts or improve existing designs. The focus of this work is to explore a novel electrothermal energetic plasma source (ETEPS) that uses energetic gas as the working fluid in order to harness the combustion and ionization energy of the subsequently formed energetic plasma. The goal of the work is to use computer code and engineering methods in order to successfully characterize the capabilities of the ETEPS concept and to then design a prototype which will be used for further study. This thesis details the background of ET plasma physics, the ETEPS concept physics, and the computational and design work done in order to demonstrate the feasibility of using the ETEPS source in two roles: space thrusters and electrothermal plasma guns. / Master of Science

Företaget BlackWing Sweden AB tillverkar ultralätta flygplan av kolfiberkomposit. Företaget vision är att tillverka ett flygplan som helt kan drivas av elektricitet med samma prestanda som flygplan drivet av fossila bränslen. För att kunna driva BlackWing flygplanet med hjälp av elektricitet behövs ett batteripaket, elektronikstyrning samt en elmotor. Därför har detta examensarbete ägnats åt att främst undersöka vilka elmotorer och battericeller som är mest lämpade för BlackWing flygplanet. Därefter togs resultatet fram genom beräkningar på battericeller och motorpaket med hjälp av insamlad information om motor-och batteriprestanda. För att få ett mer objektivt och systematiskt resultat här även en Pugh-matris används för att på ett enkelt sätt avgöra den mest lämpliga battericellen. Resultatet av detta arbete visade sig att i dagsläget är batteriet Envia, High Energi Pouch cell (ENV35011-CRC) och Siemens motor DYNADYN® 85 är mest lämpliga för BlackWing flygplanet. / BlackWing Sweden AB manufactures ultralight aircraft made from carbon fibre composite. The company's vision is to produce an aircraft that can be completely powered by electricity with the same performance as the aircraft powered by fossil fuels. To operate the BlackWing aircraft using electricity it will need a battery pack, electronic controls and an electric driveline. Therefore, this thesis has been devoted primarily to study which electric engine and battery cells that would be most suitable for the BlackWing aircraft. The result was produced by calculations of the battery cells and electric driveline by using collected information about driveline and battery performance. To get a more objective and systematic results, a Pugh matrix was used to easily determine the most suitable battery cell. The results of this work showed that in the current situation, the battery Envia High Energy Drone Cell Pouch (ENV35011-CRC) and Siemens engine DYNADYN® 85 are the most suitable for the BlackWing aircraft.

O interesse por veículos elétricos voltou a crescer nos últimos anos, principalmente, devido às questões ambientais e de eficiência energética. Aliado ao desenvolvimento de fontes e acumuladores de energia com densidades de energia e potência maiores que viabilizam a utilização de veículos elétricos em substituição parcial dos veículos com motores a combustão interna, já surgem comercialmente no mercado alguns modelos de veículos elétricos. Neste contexto, também cresce a necessidade de recursos humanos capacitados e ferramentas auxiliares para o dimensionamento dos componentes dessa nova geração de veículos automotores. Este trabalho apresenta uma metodologia simples e direta de dimensionamento do sistema de tração para veículos elétricos autônomos, bem como os resultados de uma aplicação prática da utilização desta metodologia no desenvolvimento de veículos elétricos fora de estrada para transporte de pessoas e de material. A comparação entre os resultados práticos obtidos com os cálculos realizados mostra que a metodologia, com o equacionamento completo e abrangente apresentado, fornece resultados com excelente exatidão. / The interest in electric vehicles is growing again in recent years, mainly due to environmental concerns and energy efficiency issues. Combined with the development of energy storage devices with higher power and energy densities that enable the use of electric vehicles, some models already appear commercially in the market replacing vehicles with internal combustion engines in specific applications. In this context, it also increases the need for trained human resources and auxiliary tools for designing the components of this new vehicles generation. This dissertation presents a simple and direct methodology of propulsion system design for autonomous electric vehicles as well as the results of a practical application of using this methodology in the development of off-road electric vehicles for people and material transport. The comparison between the practical results obtained with the calculations shows that the methodology, with the complete and comprehensive equations presented, provides results with excellent accuracy.

"The ablative Teflon pulsed plasma thruster (PPT) is an onboard electromagnetic propulsion enabling technology for small spacecraft missions. The integration of PPTs onboard spacecraft requires the understanding and evaluation of possible thruster/spacecraft interactions. To aid in this effort the work presented in this thesis is directed towards the development and application of Langmuir probe techniques for use in the plume of PPTs. Double and triple Langmuir probes were developed and used to measure electron temperature and density of the PPT plume. The PPT used in this thesis was a laboratory model parallel plate ablative Teflon® PPT similar in size to the Earth Observing (EO-1) PPT operating in discharge energies between 5 and 40 Joules. The triple Langmuir probe was operated in the current-mode technique that requires biasing all three electrodes and measuring the resulting probe currents. This new implementation differs from the traditional voltage-mode technique that keeps one probe floating and requires a voltage measurement that is often susceptible to noise in the fluctuating PPT plume environment. The triple Langmuir probe theory developed in this work incorporates Laframboise’s current collection model for Debye length to probe radius ratios less than 100 in order to account for sheath expansion effects on ion collection, and incorporates the thin-sheath current collection model for Debye length to probe radius ratios greater than 100. Error analysis of the non-linear system of current collection equations that describe the operation of the current-mode triple Langmuir probe is performed as well. Measurements were taken at three radial locations, 5, 10, and 15 cm from the Teflon® surface of the PPT and at angles of 20 and 40 degrees to either side of the thruster centerline as well as at the centerline. These measurements were taken on two orthogonal planes, parallel and perpendicular to the PPT electrodes. A data-processing software was developed and implements the current-mode triple Langmuir probe theory and associated error analysis. Results show the time evolution of the electron temperature and density. Characteristic to all the data is the presence of hot electrons of approximately 5 to 10 eV at the beginning of the pulse, occurring near the peak of the discharge current. The electron temperature quickly drops off from its peak values to 1-2 eV for the remainder of the pulse. Peak electron densities occur after the peak temperatures. The maximum electron density values on the centerline of the plume of a laboratory PPT 10 cm from the Teflon® surface are 6.6x10^19 +/- 1.3x10^19 m^-3 for the 5 J PPT, 7.2x10^20 +/- 1.4x10^20 m^-3 for the 20 J PPT, and 1.2x10^21 +/- 2.7x10^20 m^-3 for the 40 J PPT. Results from the double Langmuir probe taken at r=10 cm, theta perpendicular=70 degrees and 90 degrees of a laboratory PPT showed good agreement with the triple probe method."

O interesse por veículos elétricos voltou a crescer nos últimos anos, principalmente, devido às questões ambientais e de eficiência energética. Aliado ao desenvolvimento de fontes e acumuladores de energia com densidades de energia e potência maiores que viabilizam a utilização de veículos elétricos em substituição parcial dos veículos com motores a combustão interna, já surgem comercialmente no mercado alguns modelos de veículos elétricos. Neste contexto, também cresce a necessidade de recursos humanos capacitados e ferramentas auxiliares para o dimensionamento dos componentes dessa nova geração de veículos automotores. Este trabalho apresenta uma metodologia simples e direta de dimensionamento do sistema de tração para veículos elétricos autônomos, bem como os resultados de uma aplicação prática da utilização desta metodologia no desenvolvimento de veículos elétricos fora de estrada para transporte de pessoas e de material. A comparação entre os resultados práticos obtidos com os cálculos realizados mostra que a metodologia, com o equacionamento completo e abrangente apresentado, fornece resultados com excelente exatidão. / The interest in electric vehicles is growing again in recent years, mainly due to environmental concerns and energy efficiency issues. Combined with the development of energy storage devices with higher power and energy densities that enable the use of electric vehicles, some models already appear commercially in the market replacing vehicles with internal combustion engines in specific applications. In this context, it also increases the need for trained human resources and auxiliary tools for designing the components of this new vehicles generation. This dissertation presents a simple and direct methodology of propulsion system design for autonomous electric vehicles as well as the results of a practical application of using this methodology in the development of off-road electric vehicles for people and material transport. The comparison between the practical results obtained with the calculations shows that the methodology, with the complete and comprehensive equations presented, provides results with excellent accuracy.

The development and experimental investigation of two low-power electric propulsion concepts using compact heaterless C12A7 electride (C12A7:e-) hollow cathodes is presented. The first concept represents an electrothermal thruster, in which a cathode discharge is used to heat a gas that is subsequently accelerated in a nozzle-shaped anode. The second propulsion system is an attempt to develop a sub-500 W magnetoplasmadynamic thruster (MPDT) that uses a rectangular discharge channel that allows to increase the applied magnetic field and thus lower the necessary discharge current. Extensive parameter studies with both concepts were conducted, and the thrust and discharge properties of different geometric and operational configurations were determined. This work is a follow-up publication of a previous paper (Gondol and Tajmar in CEAS Space J 14:65–77, 2021).

Master of Science / Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering / William B. Kuhn / With the increasing number of satellites and space debris in all orbits the need for individual satellites to be able to autonomously detect and determine methods to navigate around them is increasing. Even with continued input and control from a ground station, the ability for a satellite to act to save itself from obstacles not visible from ground stations, or if communications were temporarily lost could be key to saving millions of dollars in hardware as well as improving overall performance and operational lifetimes.