SOLAR ARRAY DESIGN FOR THIN FILM SOLAR CELLS

摘要

Thin-film solar cells will soon be available for space application having power efficiency of 12 % to 15 %. An attractive solution is the application of thin-film solar cells deposited on thin metal foils. Existing rigid panels or flexible blanket designs can be applied with the thin-film solar cells, but the benefits of the new thin-film solar cells can only be fully employed with modified solar array designs. A novel solution is to use corrugated thin-film solar cells attached to tensioned strings, as shown in Fig.1. A panel mass of less than 0.45 kg/m~2 (including the mass of the solar cells) is now within reach. Solar array designs are reviewed for power levels from 5 to 25 kWatts. Design layouts are presented that keep the stowed and deployed frequencies on a satisfactory level. Designs with the thin-film solar cells can be lighter than the existing solararrays with GaAs solar cells and a performance of > 80 Watts/kg can be achieved for the higher power levels.