Optimization of silicon 8 cm*8 cm wrapthrough space station cells for ´on orbit´ operation

Author

Lillington, D.R. ; Kukulka, J.R. ; Mason, A.V. ; Sater, B.L. ; Sanchez, J.

Author_Institution

Spectrolab Inc., Sylmar, CA, USA

fYear

1988

fDate

1988

Firstpage

934

Abstract

The optimization of space station solar cells for on-orbit performance is described. Design trades were performed in which back AR coating thickness was traded against thermal absorptance and performance under front and back (albedo) illumination. Typical examples of modeled cell performance under different scenarios are given. Experimental illuminated output data under back illumination for specific AR coating thicknesses are also given. Computer modeling of the solar cell array using TRASYS and SINDA programs also provide on-orbit thermal data and performance predictions. The overall backside response from albedo illumination was found to make a considerable contribution to the total array performance, particularly during the early stages of space station assembly when the arrays are feathered.

Keywords

electronic engineering computing; elemental semiconductors; semiconductor device models; silicon; software packages; solar cells; space vehicle power plants; AR coating; SINDA; Si; TRASYS; modeling; optimization; performance; semiconductor device models; software packages; solar cell array; space station solar cells; thermal absorptance; Assembly; Chemical lasers; Coatings; Contacts; Lighting; NASA; Photovoltaic cells; Predictive models; Propulsion; Satellite ground stations; Silicon; Space stations;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Photovoltaic Specialists Conference, 1988., Conference Record of the Twentieth IEEE

Conference_Location

Las Vegas, NV, USA

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/PVSC.1988.105841

Filename

105841