The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
May. 28, 2024
Filed:
Sep. 22, 2020
Centre National DE LA Recherche Scientifique, Paris, FR;
Centre National D'etudes Spatiales, Paris, FR;
Universite Paris-saclay, Gif-sur-Yvette, FR;
Jacques Gierak, Le Plessis-Pate, FR;
Claude Boniface, Nailloux, FR;
Mathieu Lepesant, Valdalliere, FR;
CENTRE NATIONAL DE LA RECHERCHE SCIENTIFIQUE, Paris, FR;
CENTRE NATIONAL D'ETUDES SPATIALES, Paris, FR;
UNIVERSITE PARIS-SACLAY, Gif-sur-Yvette, FR;
Abstract
An ion propulsion device including emission modules in an emission plane, each module having an insulating support, an emission electrode on the support, and a conductive liquid with a microfluidic channel depositing conductive liquid on the electrode; an extraction electrode common to the emission modules and facing the modules; and a control unit, in which each module is configured to emit an ion beam when an electric field is applied to the liquid; each control unit controls an ion emission current emitted by applying a potential difference between each emission electrode and the extraction electrode; the emission electrodes are spaced apart by a linear distance that is greater than a distance between two adjacent emission electrodes separated by an empty space; and a length of the insulating support between the electrodes is greater than a propagation distance of an electric leakage current by charge jumping along the support between the electrodes.