EVOLUTIONS OF THE ARIANE 5 ELECTRICAL POWER SYSTEM

摘要

The future versions of the Ariane 5 European heavy launcher will require an evolution of its Electrical Power System (EPS) in order to cope with increased requirements in energy and power, associated with mission duration extension and equipment power demand. Since the initial design of the EPS, lithium based technologies have matured and are now considered as a replacement of the current Silver-Zinc (Ag-Zn) batteries, with expected benefits in terms of mass, cost and operational constraints. Candidate electrochemical couples are primary Li-SOC12 and LiMnO2 cells, as well as secondary Li-ion. A compromise is to be found between energy and power, the primary cells being more energy capable, but limited in terms of peak power. Among the possible architectures, some are incorporating supercapacitors. This new family of components, intermediate between batteries and conventional capacitors, can greatly improve the overall EPS performance by allowing a primary lithium based architecture to achieve both high energy and power capability.