Development Status of High Voltage Power Supply for a 20mN Class Ion Thruster

Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency(JAXA) and Mitsubishi Electric Corporation(MELCO) are developing a new concept Ion Engine System(IES) including a Power Processing and Control Unit (PPCU) for the Super Low Altitude Test Satellite(SLATS). The IES uses an improved model of the 20 mN class Ion Thruster. The high voltage power supply is the most important part in the PPCU. This paper presents the design and test results of the high voltage power supply for the 20mN class Ion Thruster. The high voltage power supply is verified by electrical performance tests and all function tests. In last year, the high voltage power supply has been redesigned to work under an input voltage of between 22 V and 30 V to meet the SLATS system and various small satellites. Key issues of this power equipment are the generation of high voltage in the range of +800V to +1,100V for ion thrusters and the precise regulation of output power to allow fine adjustment of thrust levels. We propose to use the phase shift converter technique for the high voltage power supply. The output power of the high voltage power supply is stabilized over the wide range of load. The efficiency of the high voltage power supply is higher than 90 % when the load impedance conditions are 0.2 A to 0.6A at the input voltage of 22V.