Space Mission Technology (SMT)

Satellite power systems

Lecturer: Damian Audley

Inputs from Atta Almasi, Pieter Dieleman, V. Lempereur, Heino Smit

Version: September 2023

Electrical power system (EPS)

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Power sources
• Primary Battery • Photovoltaic Solar Panels
• Secondary Battery • Solar dynamic
• Fuel cell • Nuclear
• Regenerative fuel cell • Electrodynamic Tethers
• Chemical dynamic • Radioisotope Thermal
generators
• Flywheel Storage

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Overview of primary power sources

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Contents
1. Satellite electrical power system:
1. Functions
2. Design drivers

2. Power sources
1. Primary and secondary power sources
2. Solar cells
1. Principle & Efficiency
2. Current research status

Today:
3. Power management and distribution
4. Voltage regulation
5. Power system examples (Herschel, SPICA, JWST)
6. Homework

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EPS (electrical power system) functional block diagram

Command and control

Users
Primary sources
Spacecraft
power generation Power Power loads
mangement distribution

Regulation Distribution
& &
Secondary sources control protection

Energy storage

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Contents
1. Satellite electrical power system:
1. Functions
2. Design drivers

2. Power sources
1. Primary and secondary power sources
2. Solar cells
1. Principle & Efficiency
2. Current research status

3. Power management and distribution

1. Voltage regulation
2. Power system examples (Herschel, SPICA, JWST)
3. Homework

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Voltage bus regulation (1)
• Example of voltage regulation needed: charging of car battery
with a solar panel

• Battery can be overheated or not charged at all (when V too

low): match between solar panel power and battery needed.

• Regulation is easy since

the solar panel survives
short-circuit: Voltage and
current can be tuned to
the resistance of the
battery

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Voltage bus regulation (2)
• Unregulated bus with a battery storage component
• the Vloads = battery voltage
• Possible large swing in voltage (i.e. 20%) to the load

• Quasi-regulated system that employs a simple battery charger

• Regulated bus in sunlight only
• Vloads higher than the voltage on the batteries during charging
• Vloads follow decrease in battery voltage as they are discharged

• Fully regulated system

• Vloads constant
• Decrease in system efficiency due to the power loss from overall bus
resistance.
• Increases battery life.

Scientific payloads require stable well known voltage: fully regulated bus.

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Voltage bus regulation (3) Solar cell operation

• Direct Energy Transfer (DET) systems

• Uses the voltage of the satellite bus, dissipates unneeded power
• Typically use shunt resistors to maintain bus voltage at a predetermined
level
• Solar panels not at peak power unless battery

is fully charged: lower efficiency

• Typical for systems less than 100 W

• PPT Power Distribution Systems

• Peak Power Trackers (PPT) extract the exact power required from
the solar array
• Dynamically changes the solar array’s operating point: keeps it just
below the maximum-power point (for stability)
• Uses DC to DC converters in series with the array
• extra weight, complexity, and cost
• Requires 4 - 7% of the solar array power and can be a noise source

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Voltage bus regulation (4) DET
• DET direct energy transfer
• To control the solar array power the regulator simply shunts (= short circuits) a
section of the solar array.
• Sequential switching shunt regulation (S3R) does this with a pulse width
modulator (PWM) signal on the shunt transistor, and varies the shunted cell

• BCR Battery charge regulator Voltage over a SA section

• and
BDR Battery discharge regulator resulting current
• PDM power distribution module
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Voltage regulators or DC/DCV converters reg

• Linear voltage regulator Iin linear Iload

• Lower voltage regulator
• Low noise Vin
Vload load
• Low efficiency

• DC/DC converter or SMPS (Switch Mode Power Supply)

• Topologies
• Buck converter (Vout < Vin)
• Boost converter (Vout > Vin)
• Buck-Boost converter

• High efficiency
• Depends on switching
characteristics and
component quality

• Higher noise due to switching

• Output filtering needed

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Linear Voltage Regulator Vreg
• Lower voltage Iin Iload
linear
• Low noise regulator
• Low efficiency
Vin load
Vload

Image Source: http://www.eetimes.com/document.asp?doc_id=1272466

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DC/DC converter (Switch Mode Power Supply)

• Topologies
• Buck converter (Vout < Vin)
• Boost converter (Vout > Vin)
• Buck-Boost converter

• High efficiency
• Depends on switching
characteristics and
component quality

• Higher noise due to switching

• Output filtering needed

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SMPS: Buck converter (Vout < Vin)

Blew in
Herschel

Switch closed: current flows through the inductor and load. Inductor stores magnetic energy.
Switch open: coil and capacitor will maintain voltage and current flow though load.
The output voltage depends on the duty cycle

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SMPS: Buck converter (Vout < Vin)
Simulation with LTspice:
https://www.analog.com/en/design-center/design-tools-and-calculators/ltspice-simulator.html

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SMPS: Boost converter (Vout > Vin)

Switch closed: current flows through the inductor and the inductor stores energy.
Switch open: coil acts as voltage source in series with input voltage resulting in a higher
output voltage depending on the duty cycle (the longer the switch is closed, the higher the V:
magnetic field stored in coil increases linearly with the time the switch is closes since current
increases linearly)
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SMPS: Boost converter (Vout > Vin)

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SMPS: Buck-Boost converter (Vout > or < Vin)

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SMPS: Buck-Boost converter (Vout > or < Vin)

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DC-DC converters: lot of AC

• EMC : Electromagnetic compatibility

• A satellite contains typically 100 DC-DC converters, each with

own switching frequency: 100 generators of 10—1000 kHz

• EMC can be issue with sensitive detectors: pickup through the

wires (often several meters)

• A single generator or frequency locking of all switching helps to

isolate this frequency and "design around this"

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Contents
1. Satellite electrical power system:
1. Functions
2. Design drivers

2. Power sources
1. Primary and secondary power sources
2. Solar cells
1. Principle & Efficiency
2. Current research status

3. Power management and distribution

1. Voltage regulation
2. Power system examples (Herschel, SPICA, JWST)
3. Homework

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Herschel Solar Array, main parameters
• Solar panels also served as sunshield: ended up at ~100°C
• 30 Sequential Shunt Switch Regulators (DET)

Begin of life End of Life

SS SS

Power >1960W >1643W

Mass (SA+SH) 140kg

SA Dimensions 3, panels Total Area

2.52x1.43m 10.8m2

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SPICA Power system

• 3 kW from PV Array with 14.86m2 surface area, S3R

Triple-junction cells 3G30 from Azur Space
• Battery with VES16 Li-Ion cells from SAFT
• PCDU: S3R + unregulated bus
S3R = Sequential Switching Shunt Regulator (DET)

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JWST Electrical Power Subsystem
• GaAs 2 kW

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JWST Electrical Power Subsystem

• https://www.eoportal.org/satellite-missions/jwst

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JWST Electrical Power Subsystem

• SAR: Solar Array Regulators

• four redundant buck converters each operating with a
maximum-power point tracking (PPT) algorithm
• Output voltage not tightly regulated: 22 V < Vbus < 35 V

• PCU: Power Control Unit

• switches that turn each science instrument or support device
on or off
• processors for the SAR MPPT algorithm

• TAU: Telemetry Acquisition Unit

• switches for various heaters and actuators

• Rechargeable Li-ion battery

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Contents
1. Satellite electrical power system:
1. Functions
2. Design drivers

2. Power sources
1. Primary and secondary power sources
2. Solar cells
1. Principle & Efficiency
2. Current research status

3. Power management and distribution

1. Voltage regulation
2. Power system examples (Herschel, SPICA, JWST)
3. Homework

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Questions to address in your mission report

• For your mission, describe the power system requirements and design:

• Total power required (EOL)

• Type of primary power source and why it was chosen

• If you used solar panels: size, efficiency, specific power

• Type of voltage regulation and why chosen. If not found on

internet, what would you choose for your mission and why?

• Type and capacity of battery and why chosen. If not found

on internet, what would you choose for your mission and
why?

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Solar panel area

• Book page 643:

• Psa = how much power the solar array must provide during
daylight to power the spacecraft over the entire orbit
• Pe and Pd are the spacecraft’s power requirements (excluding
regulation and battery-charging losses) during eclipse and
daylight, respectively.
• xe is the efficiency of the path from the solar array through the
battery to the load.
• xd is the efficiency of the path from the solar array directly to the
load.
• xe and xd are higher for direct energy transfer than for peak-
power tracking (PPT needs a power converter between arrays and
load).

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EPS System choices in practice

• Efficiency, η, of solar cells ranges from 14-30%

• Si:14%; GaAs: 19%; InP: 18%; multi-junction GaAs: 30%
• Inherent degradation
• design & assembly losses, temperature-related losses, shadowing due to
appendages: Id ≈ 0.77 (0.49-0.88)
• Cosine loss, factor of cos θ
• incidence angle between array normal and Sun vector
• typically use worst-case Sun angle
• Life degradation
• thermal cycling, micrometeoroids, plume impingement, material
• outgassing, radiation: degradation/year = 2—4%/year
• Ld = (1-degradation/year)satellite life in years
• Path efficiency is from solar array through batteries to loads
• Total path efficiency is 60—80%

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Solar panel area
• P0 = power output per unit area with the sun normal to the surface of
the solar array

• Power per unit area at Beginning of Life:

• Id = intrinsic degradation
• θ = angle of incidence

• Degradation after L years:

• Power production per unit area at End of Life:

• Calculate the solar-array area needed to produce Psa: Asa = Psa/PEOL.

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