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A FROMBERG
BRITISH AEROSPACE
BRISTOL
GREAT BRITAIN
ABSTRACT
The Space Telescope Solar Array (STSA), which is
supplying the power for the joint NASA / ESA
Hubble Space Telescope (HST) is the largest
flexible solar array built to date, carrying 48760
BSFR silicon cells. The double roll-out solar array
was successfully deployed in orbit on 25th April
1990. STSA is designed to survive at least 5 years
in low earth orbit (30,000 thermal cycles) and
will supply at least 4400W at 34V after four
years.
STSA had to, be designed to survive the
aggressive ATomic Oxygen (ATOX) environment.
This was achieved by t h e development of an
ATOX resistant carrier substrate and of two
different types of ATOX resistant interconnectors.
A 10 R c m BSFR solar cell with an extremely
smooth surface was developed to ensure a good
quality of the interconnector weld. The array is
protected against shadowing and hot spots by
solar cell shunt diodes. Thermal cycling was
performed
up to 65,000 cycles which
demonstrated that the lifetime of t h e array
should be in the order of ten years.
1.
S. KROEHNERT
TELEFUNKEN SYSTEMTECHNIK
WEDU
GERMANY
LOWER
INTRODUCTION
LOWER
BLANKEl
su"
- v2
+ v2
WING
WING
UPPER
BLANKET
LOWER
BLANKET
Figure 1: HST
UPPER
BLANKET
1.
'
1309
DBA
3.
Adhesive (DP46971)
Adheslve (DP46971)
Base material
Base resistivity
Junction
Back surface field
Ka tonH
Adieslve (DP46971
Glass fibre filled w i d DC935W
Silver Mesh
1310
Antireflective layer
Surface roughness
Silicon thickness
Dimensions
BOL SCA efficiency
SCA absorbtivity
SCA emissivity
10 Ohm cm
r,a!
weldingrelief
joints
LJLU
..
I
.
welding joints
So-called "shunt diodes" now limit power consumption in the shadowed cells by reducing the
max. possible cell reverse operating voltage. It
must be ensured that the maximum possible
voltage within a shunt interval will not cause an
electrical breakdown, destroying the solar cells
affected, and that the maximum power
1311
"C)
base material
base resistivity
doping/junction
contacts
dimensions
coverglass
emissivity
absorptivity
interconnector
6.
LIFETIME PREDICTION
6 . 1 STRUCTURAL INTEGRITY
1312
px:
4 2 0 0 4 . . . , . . . , . . . . . . . , . . . , .
0
385
730
1096
1400
llPS
T l m In Orblt (&ye)
PMU
Figure 8.
YEARS IN ORBIT 1
4 6
75
7.
Ilowever, if only the effects of radiation are used
to evaluate t h e power during lifetime t h e
resulting total degradation would be underest i in a ted .
I n addition to the natural environment
(radiation temperature, ATOX) further potential
impacts on the power output, such as solar cell
orientation errors, random cell failure and mismatch, micrometeorite and space debris
bombardment, have to be considered. These
effects are considered in form of current and
voltage loss factors applied to the solar cell I/V
characteristic.
CONCLUSIONS
1313
REFERENCES
L. Gerlach, Improved Solar Generator Technology
for t h e Eureca Low Earth Orbit, Proc. 5th.
European Symp. on Photovoltaic Generators in
Space, Scheveningen, ESA SP-267,Nov.1986.
D. Poeck, Design Development, Qualification and
Flight Production of an ATOX Resistant Flexible
Solar Array for LEO Mission, Proc. European
Space Power Conference,
Madrid, Oct. 1989 (ESA SP-294).