一个基于α粒子的微推进装置的概念设计
Wenxiang Fang1, Dacai Zhang1, Minzhi Xiong1
1Department of Engineering Physics, Tsinghua University, Beijing, China.
概括
核电源 (NPS) 能够实现长期的太空任务. 阿尔法粒子微推进提供高能量密度和特定冲动,更薄的薄膜提高性能,减少深空探索的旅行时间.
科学领域:
- 太空推进器 太空推进器
- 核能发电源 核能发电源 核能发电源 核能发电源
- 微型推进器 微型推进器
背景情况:
- 核电源 (NPS) 对于长期的自主空间任务至关重要,因为它们的能量密度很高.
- 阿尔法粒子微推进,将NPS与微推进相结合,利用阿尔法衰变反弹为推力,提供高特异性冲动.
- 之前的研究计算了特定核素的推力,但缺乏温度分布和比较性能的全面分析.
研究的目的:
- 研究阿尔法衰变薄膜 (Pu-238,Am-241,Po-210) 在各种微推进基板上的性能.
- 分析推力,能量沉积和热传递,包括在薄膜和基板上的温度分布.
- 为了比较不同核化物和薄膜配置的综合性能.
主要方法:
- 利用CERN的Geant4蒙特卡洛模拟来分析推力,能量沉积和热传递.
- 采用ANSYS的Fluent程序和简化的统一温度模型来计算温度分布.
- 在像石墨烯和聚乙烯这样的基板上研究了alpha-decaying膜 (Pu-238,Am-241,Po-210).
主要成果:
- 更薄的薄膜导致更低的温度,更高的α粒子逃逸率和更高的特定冲动.
- 发现片形状对产生的推力没有影响.
- -238的衰变帆显示出大大减少行星间旅行时间的潜力 (例如,401-au的旅行时间从111.9年减少到96.3年).
结论:
- 由于其简单性,高特异脉冲和模块化,α粒子微推进装置适用于精确,长时间的太空任务.
- 优化薄膜厚度是通过控制温度和最大化特定冲动来提高性能的关键.
- 未来的工作将专注于用于低地球轨道卫星应用的推力-大气阻力平衡.
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