Deployment verification of large CFRP helical high-gain antenna for AIS signals

Deployment verification of large CFRP helical high-gain antenna for AIS signal

Project course "Design of Mechatronic Systems"

The course "Design of Mechatronic Systems" at Technische Universität Ilmenau imparts the systematic procedure of mechatronic design. This paper shows the main features of VDI Guideline 2206, which provides the structured background for students education in mechatronics. Furthermore practical teaching experiences and results from the course are describe

Enhancing passive radiative cooling properties of flexible CIGS solar cells for space applications using single layer silicon oxycarbonitride films

Satellites in lower earth orbits have been primarily powered by photovoltaic modules. With growing power demand for new satellite concepts, solar cells are required to be flexible and ultra-lightweight to decrease launch costs. CIGS thin film solar technology is a promising candidate, since it can be manufactured on flexible substrates and possesses high radiation hardness. Poor radiative properties of CIGS on the other hand, lead to high temperatures and therefore power loss. High emissivity coatings on CIGS have already been reported but the influence on thermal and electrical aspects have not been addressed. Here we present the optical properties of silicon-oxycarbonitride coatings and their effect on electrical parameters on CIGS cells to be used for the DLR's GoSolAr power sail mission. We show that the single layer coating can significantly increase emissivity from 0.3 to 0.72, with minimal spectral losses and negligible impact on the functioning of the underlying CIGS cell. We simulated the thermal impact of the coating on solar cells in orbit and can predict that the maximum temperature of the cells is reduced by 30 °C, resulting in a significant power gain. Additionally, the coating has an emissivity of 0.87 in the atmospheric window of 8–13 μm making it a very good passive radiative cooler for terrestrial solar cells. The low-cost coating can replace glass and the process can be scaled up for large CIGS modules. The coating can also significantly increase the power to mass ratio of solar modules, reducing costs for space applications

The Preliminary Design of the GOSSAMER-1 Solar Sail Membrane and Manufacturing Strategies

The aim of the GOSSAMER-1 mission is an in-orbit deployment of versatile ultra-lightweight deployable sail hardware as a feasibility demonstration. The presented work focuses on the design and manufacturing of the sail membrane for GOSSAMER-1. The work has reached a preliminary design status which shall be presented in this paper. It includes mechanical analysis as well as a description of manufacturing strategies at the department of System Conditioning at the DLR Institute of Space Systems in Bremen

A Deployable Membrane-Based 100W Solar Array for SmallSats

The paper outlines the results of the intermediate development and testing of an 100 Wdeployable solar array for SmallSats. The activity is funded and carried out under ESA contract No. 4000133890/21/NL/MM/ra within the ARTES Advanced Technology programme. DEAR is a joint project between DLR, Astronika, AZUR SPACE Solar Power and ESA and aims at the development and ground demonstration of a membrane-based, deployable 100 W solar array that can be stowed in and deployed out of a 1U CubeSat volume. In the paper the main requirements for the development will be addressed which will lead to specific design constraints. Therefore, the design is mainly driven by the required 100 W power End-of-Life, its operation in a low Earth orbit environment for at least 5 years and its tight volume and mass restrictions. Especially in terms of mass and volume constraints these requirements demand that flexible or at least semi-flexible solar arrays need to be addressed for the problem solution. The paper will give an overview on the overall accommodation, the functionality of the deployment process and will present test results on breadboard level. An overview for the further ground demonstration of the development by means of an engineering model test campaign is presented