Circuit Analysis of Solar Array Arcing on Spacecraft with SPICE

摘要

When solar array is operated at a high voltage, arcs occur on the array surface. Our task is to examine the effects of conductive current generated by arcing on solar array circuit of spacecraft. First, an equivalent circuit of small solar array module is modeled. The equivalent circuit is composed of current source, diode, resistance, inductance and capacitance. We measured the frequency characteristic and Ⅰ-Ⅴ characteristic of a given solar array, and modeled the equivalent circuit to have the same characteristics by electronic circuit simulation software (SPICE). Spacecraft has hundreds of solar cells which are connected in series and/or parallel. We modeled an entire solar panel by connecting each unit solar array module all together. Next, an equivalent circuit of the arc inception was made. We simulated the transient current and excessive voltage.