DEPLOYABLE STRUCTURE FOR FLEXIBLE SOLAR GENERATORS

摘要

The last developments on thin film solar cells openadditional changes for integration of low mass solarcells on fair cost ranges in medium and large size solararrays. Configuration and structural aspectsaccompanies the development utilizing the promisingperformance and behavior of thin film solar cells.Main advantages are expected from their robustness,their low area mass, and their flexibility.The presented solar array structure concept is based onthe in-orbit bonding concept of thin-walled collapsiblebooms. It is directed to rolled up or folded solarblanket structures of about 1.5 kW power per wingand a power to weight ratio of about 100 W/kgincluding blanket, structure, and deploymentmechanism. The development was executed undercontract of ESA, contract-no. 16716/03/NL/CH withinthe project 'Structural Design of Advanced SolarArrays'.The paper includes a short overview about past andcurrent structural concepts of solar arrays, designobjectives, configuration aspects, and a description ofthe design and results of the first verification tests.