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:
Jan. 08, 2002
Filed:
Feb. 02, 2000
Louis Raymond Falce, San Jose, CA (US);
John R. Beattie, Westlake Village, CA (US);
Hughes Electronics Corporation, El Segundo, CA (US);
Abstract
An ion thruster has a hollow cathode assembly including a heater with an inner ceramic sleeve and an outer ceramic sleeve. The outer ceramic sleeve overlies the inner ceramic sleeve with a filament volume between the two sleeves. A wound filament has windings disposed within the filament volume, and a mass of ceramic powder fills the remaining portion of the filament volume between the windings of the filament. A cathode is disposed within the inner ceramic sleeve of the heater. The heater is assembled by preparing the filament and forming it into a wound cylinder, and then encapsulating it and the powder between the inner and the outer ceramic sleeves. The hollow cathode assembly may serve as a portion of a plasma source or as a portion of a charge neutralizer.