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Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: http://arks.princeton.edu/ark:/88435/dsp01mk61rk27r
Title: Design, Assembly, and Testing of a Propellant Feed System for the Lithium Lorentz Force Accelerator
Authors: Mehl, Jeremy
Advisors: Choueiri, Edgar
Department: Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering
Class Year: 2015
Abstract: The Lithium Lorentz Force Accelerator (LiLFA) is a magnetoplasmadynamic thruster (MPDT) at Princeton University’s Electric Propulsion and Plasma Dynamics Labora-tory. The current piston-based lithium propellant feed system, though accurate, has proved to be buggy and unreliable. Therefore, a feed system using an electromagnetic pump has been designed to replace the piston-based pump. Operation of the pump has been tested using gallium as a surrogate metal, but the pump failed to achieve the required flow rate precision. A laser interferometer-based level measurement system was designed in parallel, but due to signal noise it was not useful as an instrument. Further work remains to determine whether an electromagnetic pump would be an effective replacement for the piston-based pump.
Extent: 40 pages
URI: http://arks.princeton.edu/ark:/88435/dsp01mk61rk27r
Type of Material: Princeton University Senior Theses
Language: en_US
Appears in Collections:Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, 1924-2019

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