Arcing Predictions for PASP PLUS Solar Arrays.
Abstract
Future solar arrays are being designed for much higher voltages in order to meet high power demands at low currents. Unfortunately, negatively biased high voltage solar arrays have been observed to arc when exposed to the low earth orbit plasma environment. In previous work, analytical and numerical models of this arcing phenomenon on conventional solar cells have been developed which show excellent agreement with experimental data. The analytical model has been further developed to be more physically accurate and to be able to realistically model space experiments which will be operating in a widely changing environment. With this model, predictions were made for the solar array arcing on the upcoming Air Force Photovoltaic Array Space Power Plus Diagnostics (PASP Plus) experiment. These simulations predict arcing rates ranging from 0 to 4.3 arcs/second, depending on the array and the experimental and environmental conditions. It was found that the cell thickness plays a dominant role in relative arc rates between the various cells. The large simulated database generated was used to develop software that will he used to examine and analyze the flight data, extracting correlations between arc rate and the various material properties, environmental variables, and operational parameters. jg
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Aug 02, 1994
- Accession Number
- ADA292230
Entities
People
- Daniel E. Hastings
- James D. Soldi Jr.
Organizations
- Massachusetts Institute of Technology