Title :
GaAs solar panels for small satellites: performance data and technology trends
Author :
Cross, Trevor A. ; Hardingham, Chris M. ; Huggins, Carlos R. ; Wood, Stephen P.
Author_Institution :
EEV Ltd., Chelmsford, UK
Abstract :
A high proportion of the microsatellites in the 50 kg-100 kg class have used high efficiency GaAs solar cells. Over the past decade improved GaAs manufacturing technologies have resulted in beginning of life (BOL) air mass zero (AM0) power conversion efficiencies at 25°C increasing from around 16% to around 20%. This paper reports the more than 4 years flight data from the UoSAT-5 together with solar array performance data for several different GaAs solar arrays using GaAs LPE, GaAs MOVPE and GaAs/Ge MOVPE process technology
Keywords :
III-V semiconductors; artificial satellites; gallium arsenide; liquid phase epitaxial growth; photovoltaic power systems; semiconductor epitaxial layers; solar cell arrays; solar cells; space vehicle power plants; vapour deposited coatings; vapour phase epitaxial growth; 16 to 20 percent; 25 C; 50 to 100 kg; GaAs; GaAs solar panels; GaAs-Ge; LPE GaAs; MOVPE GaAs; MOVPE GaAs/Ge; UoSAT-5 flight data; air mass zero efficiencies; beginning of life AM0 efficiencies; high efficiency solar cells; microsatellites; performance data; power conversion efficiencies; small satellites; technology trends; Costs; Epitaxial growth; Epitaxial layers; Gallium arsenide; Manufacturing processes; Photovoltaic cells; Power conversion; Satellites; Silicon; Space technology;
Conference_Titel :
Photovoltaic Specialists Conference, 1996., Conference Record of the Twenty Fifth IEEE
Conference_Location :
Washington, DC
Print_ISBN :
0-7803-3166-4
DOI :
10.1109/PVSC.1996.564000
