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LOW CONCENTRATION SOLAR ARRAY EXPERIMENT ON-BOARD PROBA-2

Ruelle V.
(1)
, Rossi L.
(1)
, Thibert T.
(1)
, Fleury K.
(1)
, Rabecki F.
(1)
, Denis, F.
(1)
, Carapelle A.
(1)
, Lecat J.H.
(1)
,
Habraken S.
(1)
, Collette J.P.
(1)
, Defise J.M.
(1)
, Ferrando E.
(2)
, DAccolti G.
(3)
, Hodgetts P.
(3)


(1)
Centre Spatial de Lige, Lige Science Park, Avenue du Pr-Aily, 4031 Angleur (Belgium). Email: jhlecat@ulg.ac.be
(2)
Galileo Avionica, Via Montefeltro 8, 20156 Milan (Italy). Email: emanuele.ferrando@galileoavionica.it
(3)
European Space Agency (ESTEC), Keplerlaan 1, Postbus 299, 2200 AG Noordwijk (The Netherlands). Email:
gianfelice.d'accolti@esa.int


ABSTRACT
In recent years, the Centre Spatial de Lige has been
examining the application of low concentration
technology for space solar arrays. These developments
cover design and analysis, prototyping and validation
tests on solar array coupons and mirror samples. The
present paper briefly addresses the concept design and
some associated results.

The concept has been studied and tested on ground.
However this does not provide a full qualification.
Contamination and ageing effects are of major
significance, as well as thermal aspects. Therefore a
flight validation has been undertaken with the
development of a coupon to be flown on PROBA-2, an
ESA technological mission scheduled for flight in 2009.

This paper presents a brief description of the PROBA-2
mission, detailing the sun exposure time and attitude.
The experimental solar panel design is then addressed,
including the mechanical, thermal and electrical design
challenges, which need to be overcome for the
experiment to be a success. Finally, specific
manufacturing and tests issues, related to the experiment
and the self-deployable mirrors, are described.

1. CONCENTRATION TECHNOLOGY
Concentration technology on space solar arrays has only
one major goal: decrease solar array cost per watt by
reducing the amount of expensive solar cells, replacing
them by simple cost effective optical devices redirecting
the light on the solar cells. Different technologies have
been developed around the world but none of them has
integrated the space solar array market so far. The ways
of generating solar concentration are multiple and
consequently, the level of solar concentration may be
different as well. For example, reflective or refractive
technologies exist in space concentration technologies.
Reflective concentrators are usually used for a
concentration around 2, while concentration levels
around 8-10 are more common with refractive
technologies [1].

Currently, the trend is to use those technologies on solar
array architectures being very similar to the planar solar
arrays. Therefore the use of concentration technology
requires dedicated mechanisms to integrate the optical
components on regular solar arrays.

Since several years, CSL has been developing such
devices for low concentration (around 2). The
developments have been based on geostationary
telecommunication satellite requirements. It is basically
the driving market for solar concentration due to the
large amount of solar cells required per satellite. CSL
concept uses small self-deployable reflectors, which
have a size similar to the solar cells. When opened up,
those mirrors make troughs with central solar cell string.


Figure 1: Titanium reflectors with central solar cell
string

One triangular mirror consists of 2 different Titanium
alloy foils that are assembled to provide the tent-like
shape.



Figure 2: One part of the mirror


Figure 3: Assembled reflector


Figure 4: Stowed configuration

Self tolerant geometry has been selected for reflector
design, so that they are more compliant regarding
manufacturing tolerances, off-pointing and potential
shape changes occurring during life cycle. Figure 5
shows the low sensitivity of the design to the satellite
off-pointing.


0.2
0.6
1
1.4
1.8
2.2
0 5 10 15 20 25 30
Off-pointing (deg)
C
o
n
c
e
n
t
r
a
t
i
o
n

f
a
c
t
o
r







.

Figure 5: Off-pointing behavior

To maximize optical reflectivity and withstand space
environment, mirrors have been coated with protected
silver at CSL. This coating has been successfully
submitted to environmental tests [2], consisting of:
- Humidity
- UV
- Atomic oxygen
- Proton and gamma radiation exposure

Comparison with reflectivity at 6 incidence and typical
solar cell efficiency is shown on Figure 6.

Protected Silver Coating on Titanium
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
100
300 500 700 900 1100 1300 1500
Wavelength (nm)
R
e
fle
c
ta
n
c
e
&
Q
u
a
n
tu
m
E
ffic
ie
n
c
y
(%
)

Figure 6: Mirror reflectivity performance

With the above performance an electrical gain factor of
1.65 has been achieved for a geometric concentration
factor of 1.85.



Figure 7: Comparison of I-V and P-V curves of the
string with (top) and without (bottom) concentration [3]

For environmental validation, the reflectors have been
designed, built and tested by CSL on different solar
array coupons.


Figure 8: Test coupon

The test coupons have been submitted with success to
the following environments:
- Thermal vacuum cycling
- Vibrations
- UV exposure
- Humidity
- Long-term stowage
- Deployment cycles

In addition to these on-ground validations, a precise
assessment of in-flight contamination and aging effects
on reflectors for end-of-life power performance was
necessary. It is one of the reasons why CSL has
undertaken the design and manufacturing of a flight
experiment, selecting the opportunity of PROBA-2
mission, with the support of ESA.

2. EXPERIMENTAL SOLAR PANEL
2.1. Introduction
Following flight experiment proposal, CSL has been
granted a small space allocation on-board the PROBA-2
micro-satellite. The PROBA-2 platform [4] is a
technological mission designed for a nominal duration
of 2 years in sun-synchronous LEO orbit (6h-18h) at an
altitude of 700 km, with orbital period of approximately
100 minutes.


Figure 9: Proba-2 sun-facing side

It is a micro satellite (130 kg) developed under an ESA
General Support Technology Program (GSTP) contract
by a Belgian consortium led by Verhaert Space NV
(Belgium). The mission has two main objectives:
perform in-flight demonstration of new space
technologies and support a set of scientific instruments
[5]. Two of them (SWAP and LYRA) are dedicated to
sun observation [6] and are also developed by CSL.
Thanks to these instruments, the spacecraft left panel
and the solar arrays will be pointing at the sun most of
the time with very few eclipse phases. The
Experimental Solar Panel (ESP) is mounted on that side
in order to get an intensive sun exposure: the orbit is
eclipse-free for 9 months per year, and maximum
eclipse duration during the eclipse season will be less
than 20 minutes.

The philosophy of the ESP experiment is to perform a
first assessment of solar concentration technology
behaviour in flight. Flight opportunity on PROBA-2
was present, but this mission uses LEO orbit, and the
driving market for solar concentration is
telecommunication market at GEO orbit. It is the reason
why ESP thermal design has been optimized in order to
get solar cell temperature representative of GEO orbit
thermal environment.


2.2. Experiment Architecture
The experiment consists of one small experimental solar
panel connected to telemetry electronics. The solar
panel is equipped with 2 solar cell strings. One of them
is submitted to concentration, surrounded by 2 self-
deployable mirrors. The second string is in planar
configuration without concentration and will be used
during the mission as a reference for accurate
assessment of the concentration factor achieved on the
first string.

No power is provided by the experiment to any satellite
sub-systems, but the two solar cell strings are connected
to multiple load and voltage measurement electronics.
They can be connected to 4 different resistive loads or
any combination of the 4 loads. Voltage at string ends is
measured by telemetry electronics for any load case.
Consequently, 16 different points of the I-V curves may
be collected at any time over the mission.


Figure 10: ESP on Proba-2

Three thermal sensors are mounted on the solar panel
and will monitor the solar cell temperatures during the
mission. This issue is quite important for further post-
processing.


Figure 11: Solar Panel layout

2.3. Solar Panel
The Solar Panel substrate has been manufactured by
Xperion Aerospace (Immenstaad, Germany). It is a
conventional CFRP/AL sandwich with the
characteristics given in Tab. 1:

Table 1: Substrate characteristics
Thickness 10 mm
Surface 200 x 300 mm
CFRP 4 plies of M55J/M18
Honeycomb
CR III 5056
0.0007P
Adhesive film Redux 340
Kapton Tape 200 HN
Inserts AA 7075


Figure 12: ESP substrate

The Photovoltaic Assembly (PVA) realization and lay
down, as well as the reflectors integration, has been
performed by Galileo Avionica (Milano, Italy). The
PVA characteristics are given in Tab. 2:


Table 2: Photovoltaic Assembly characteristics
Solar cell Size 40.3 x 30.6 mm
Solar cell Type Azurspace 3G 27%
Cover glass
CMG 100 with AR
coating
Bypass diode ID2*
First cell Bypass diode
ID2* on diode strip
assembly

Small solar cells have been used due to constraints of
allocated space.


Figure 13: Overview of the Solar Panel

The thermal design of the ESP has been identified as
critical and driven by the objective to provide a clear
understanding of contamination aging effects during
mission. In order to reach similar temperatures to a
GEO mission, different solutions have been
implemented.

First, Optical Solar Reflectors (OSRs) have been
integrated on the panel free space. Lateral baffles with
black anodization have also been implemented in order
to cool down the panel during sun illumination. Then,
the spacecraft underlying panel itself is used as a heat
sink to cool down the experiment panel. Therefore, it
has been necessary to reach an efficient thermal contact
between experiment and spacecraft panels.

The spacecraft panel is an Al/Al honeycomb sandwich.
Because of the differential expansions, direct contact
between spacecraft and experiment panel had to be
avoided to limit the risk of abrasion.

A solution using a thermal layer has been designed and
built by CSL. The function of this contact layer is
double: it ensures a good thermal contact while acting
as a mechanical buffer. The Thermal layer pattern has
been adjusted to match as well as possible the GEO
temperature requirements.


Figure 14: Thermal layer

2.4. ESP Test Sequence
ESP manufacturing philosophy includes one
Qualification Model, and one Flight Model.

After lay down of cells and OSR on the ESP
Qualification Model, the following test sequence has
been applied:
- Full visual inspection
- Electrical health check
- Electrical performance
- Substrate bake out after lay down (without
reflectors)

After reflectors integration on the Qualification Model,
the following steps have been performed, according to
test plan:
- Thermal vacuum cycling (-70C/+115C, 10
cycles)
- Flasher test before Accelerated Thermal Cycling
(ATC)
- Fatigue thermal cycling (-70C/+115C, 600
cycles)
- Flasher test after ATC
- Visual inspection & luminescence
- Thermal vacuum cycling (-70C/+115C, 10
cycles)

For the Flight Model, Acceptance Test Plan has been
achieved with the following operations:
- Full visual inspection
- Electrical health check
- Electrical performance
- Bake-out (without reflectors)
- Reflector integration
- Thermal vacuum cycling (with reflectors)
- Vibrations



Figure 15: ESP on Proba-2 during acceptance tests at
satellite level

The ESP has been mounted on PROBA-2 platform at
Verhaert's premises on August 2008, 7th. The
acceptance at spacecraft level consisted in performing a
functional verification of the whole system chain (all the
elements had been previously independently tested with
success), and ensuring the nominal working of a flight-
like operation procedure. For that purpose, the ESP has
been submitted to a light source and operated from the
ground-segment EGSE. The integration of the ESP on
PROBA-2 has been a full success.

3. CONCLUSIONS
The in-flight measurements that will be performed after
PROBA-2 launch (presently foreseen in 2009) will
provide a first set of data required for performance
assessment and quantitative determination of
contamination and aging effects on solar concentration
technology. As the driving market for this technology is
GEO telecommunication satellites, the thermal design
of the experiment has been carefully adjusted in order to
obtain solar cell temperature similar to GEO
environment. Moreover, the knowledge acquired on this
experiment will be crucial for the scientific deep-space
missions, where lightweight concentration technology
will save mass and lower costs on particularly large
solar arrays.

4. ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
This program has been funded thanks to the support of
the Belgian Space Policy Office.

5. REFERENCES
[1] Habraken, S., Defise, J.M., Colette, J.P., Rochus, P.
et Al. (2000). Space solar arrays and concentrators.
51st. International Astronautical Congress, IAF-00-
R.2.03, Brazil.

[2] Environmental Tests on the ESP Concentrator
Coating. (2006). Materials Report Number 4556, ESA,
Materials and Processes Division.

[3] PROBA2 FM Test Report. (2008). REDAC 30922,
Galileo Avionica.

[4] Teston, F., Creasey, R., Bermyn, J., Mellab, K.
(1999). PROBA: ESAs Autonomy and Technology
Demonstration Mission. Proc. 13th. annual AIAA/USU,
Conference on Small Satellites.

[5] Rochus, P., Defise, J.M., Lecat, J.H., Stockman, Y.,
Franco, P., Gillis, J.M., Mazy, E., Halain, J.P., Rossi, L.,
Thibert, T. et Al. (2004). PROBA II Payload: A Belgian
Mini Space Weather Observatory. 55th. International
Astronautical Congress, Vancouver, Canada.

[6] Defise, J.M., Lecat, J.H., Stockman, Y., Rochus, P.,
Mazy, E., Denis, F., Halain, J.P., Rossi, L., Thibert, T.
et Al. (2005). SWAP and LYRA: space weather from a
small spacecraft. Proc. 2nd. International Conference
of Recent Advances in Space Technologies.

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