Design and experimental study of the hydrogen source of space passive hydrogen maser

Abstract

The minimum value of the hydrogen source capacity, based on the demand for a hydrogen consumption rate and a working life, calculated from the conversion of ion pump current and the test of hydrogen consumption experimental equipment, is about 25.4 atm·L Considering the redundancy, it should be actually equal to about 40 atm·L, and the marginal coefficient amounts to 1.6. Compared with the storage of hydrogen by high-pressure gas technology, the storage by solid alloy in the same volume decreases the pressure by almost one order of magnitude. The reliability of hydrogen source is improved by the technology of metal detection, bulge test and mass spectrometer leak detection. According to the tests of hydrogen source bleed platform and assessment of long lifetime, a mathematical model of hydrogen source is built up, predicting the lifetime of hydrogen source to more than 12 years. The results indicate that the hydrogen source satisfies the requirements for security, reliability and lifetime of the space passive hydrogen maser.