Thrust Enhancement in Corona Plasma Propulsion Systems with Hexagonal Emitter Configurations

Thrust Enhancement in Corona Plasma Propulsion Systems with Hexagonal Emitter Configurations | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Research Article Thrust Enhancement in Corona Plasma Propulsion Systems with Hexagonal Emitter Configurations Seyed Abolfazl Mousavi, Farshad Pazooki, Rohollah Khoshkhoo This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-7763328/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract This study advances corona plasma propulsion by introducing a novel hexagonal emitter configuration combined with an AC-DC power supply, achieving significant thrust enhancements under atmospheric conditions. Experiments compared three setups—linear emitter with DC power (Linear DC), hexagonal emitter with DC power (Hexagonal DC), and hexagonal emitter with AC-DC power (Hexagonal AC-DC)—across electrode gaps of 30, 40, and 50 mm and collector diameters of 5, 8, and 11 mm. The Hexagonal AC-DC configuration delivered a 32% higher thrust than Linear DC, reaching 38.3 mN at a 50 mm gap and 11 mm diameter, driven by improved plasma density and electric field uniformity. Efficiency peaked at 5.9 mN/W for Hexagonal AC-DC, surpassing Linear DC by 28%. Compared to prior work, such as Smith and Jones (2024), which reported enhanced field distribution with polygonal emitters, this study’s hexagonal design and AC-DC integration offer superior ionization efficiency and scalability. Statistical validation and graphical analyses highlight the impact of geometric and electrical parameters, providing optimization strategies for electro-aerodynamic propulsion in microsatellites and unmanned aerial vehicles. Plasma Propulsion Ion Thruster Geometric Structure Optimization Full Text Additional Declarations No competing interests reported. Cite Share Download PDF Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. We do this by developing innovative software and high quality services for the global research community. Our growing team is made up of researchers and industry professionals working together to solve the most critical problems facing scientific publishing. Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-7763328","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Research Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":536227003,"identity":"b31e34a3-30c1-4863-8888-37227a9d299d","order_by":0,"name":"Seyed Abolfazl Mousavi","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Islamic Azad University, Science and Research Branch","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Seyed","middleName":"Abolfazl","lastName":"Mousavi","suffix":""},{"id":536227004,"identity":"1a4156ad-ec42-46f9-bca7-e07839587fec","order_by":1,"name":"Farshad 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Optimization","lastPublishedDoi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-7763328/v1","lastPublishedDoiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-7763328/v1","license":{"name":"CC BY 4.0","url":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"},"manuscriptAbstract":"\u003cp\u003eThis study advances corona plasma propulsion by introducing a novel hexagonal emitter configuration combined with an AC-DC power supply, achieving significant thrust enhancements under atmospheric conditions. Experiments compared three setups\u0026mdash;linear emitter with DC power (Linear DC), hexagonal emitter with DC power (Hexagonal DC), and hexagonal emitter with AC-DC power (Hexagonal AC-DC)\u0026mdash;across electrode gaps of 30, 40, and 50 mm and collector diameters of 5, 8, and 11 mm. The Hexagonal AC-DC configuration delivered a 32% higher thrust than Linear DC, reaching 38.3 mN at a 50 mm gap and 11 mm diameter, driven by improved plasma density and electric field uniformity. Efficiency peaked at 5.9 mN/W for Hexagonal AC-DC, surpassing Linear DC by 28%. Compared to prior work, such as Smith and Jones (2024), which reported enhanced field distribution with polygonal emitters, this study\u0026rsquo;s hexagonal design and AC-DC integration offer superior ionization efficiency and scalability. Statistical validation and graphical analyses highlight the impact of geometric and electrical parameters, providing optimization strategies for electro-aerodynamic propulsion in microsatellites and unmanned aerial vehicles.\u003c/p\u003e","manuscriptTitle":"Thrust Enhancement in Corona Plasma Propulsion Systems with Hexagonal Emitter Configurations","msid":"","msnumber":"","nonDraftVersions":[{"code":1,"date":"2025-10-31 14:03:25","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-7763328/v1","editorialEvents":[{"type":"communityComments","content":0}],"status":"published","journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"researchsquare","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"externalIdentity":"","sideBox":"","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"/submission","title":"Research Square","twitterHandle":"researchsquare","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":false,"editorialSystem":"","reportingPortfolio":"","inReviewEnabled":false,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":true}}],"origin":"","ownerIdentity":"15b614b5-7cc3-417c-b171-91717882d843","owner":[],"postedDate":"October 31st, 2025","published":true,"recentEditorialEvents":[],"rejectedJournal":[],"revision":"","amendment":"","status":"posted","subjectAreas":[],"tags":[],"updatedAt":"2025-11-11T13:09:03+00:00","versionOfRecord":[],"versionCreatedAt":"2025-10-31 14:03:25","video":"","vorDoi":"","vorDoiUrl":"","workflowStages":[]},"version":"v1","identity":"rs-7763328","journalConfig":"researchsquare"},"__N_SSP":true},"page":"/article/[identity]/[[...version]]","query":{"redirect":"/article/rs-7763328","identity":"rs-7763328","version":["v1"]},"buildId":"8U1c8b4HqxoKbykW_rLl7","isFallback":false,"isExperimentalCompile":false,"dynamicIds":[84888],"gssp":true,"scriptLoader":[]}