The design, fabrication and evaluation of an ion engine simulator which is a dynamic electrical load model used for developing the ion propulsion system are described. Since an ion engine can not be operated without a vacuum test facility, the simulator is necessary instead of the engine for some development phases and it will also bring a benefit of reduced cost and time for developing the power conditioner.
The simulator consists of a load unit and a simulation unit. The former includes load regulators of which the impedances are controlled electrically by the latter. A micro computer system is employed for the simulation unit, and it represents the dynamics of the engine in real or reduced time scale which are formulized mathematically by the thermal and plasma models. The parameters of models are identified by a large computer support system. The simulator is connected with a power conditioner and its performances are investigated. The distinctive features such as flexibility, accuracy, sufficient dynamic characteristics and wide range simulation are obtained by this approach.