Power architecture for solar electric propulsion applications

摘要

System and method for powering an electric thruster (112) of an air vehicle (100). The method includes providing an unregulated high voltage output current of the high voltage solar array (122) directly to the electric propulsion system (104) of the air vehicle. The electric propulsion system produces a converted high voltage current by converting the voltage level of the unregulated high voltage output current. The converted high voltage current is supplied directly to the anode of the electric thruster. A regulated low voltage current is also generated by adjusting the low voltage output of the low voltage solar array (124). The conditioned low voltage current is used to power at least one electronic component of the electric thruster.