Design of a flexible solar generator for on-orbit verification on a small satellite mission

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Design of a flexible solar generator for on-orbit verification on a small satellite mission

Zajac, Kai / Brunner, Sebastian / Langendorf, Sven

Novel flexible, lightweight and highly efficient Cu(In,Ga)Se2 (CIGSe) thin film solar cells on polyimide (PI) foil substrate were the starting point for the development of a flexible solar generator. This makes it possible to revolutionize the whole concept of solar generators with their common used technology of using rigid solar cells and support structure. The presented solar generator consists of an aluminium support/stowage structure and a drum on which the CIGSe thin film solar cells are rolled up. The container like structure (220 mm×104 mm×105 mm) is closed by carbon-fibre-reinforced polymer (CFRP) panels and the drum is hold in position with a self developed hold down and release mechanism (HDRM) using a melting wire. When releasing the mechanism a flexible solar array of 128 mm×344 mm will be self-deployed, without requiring any additional electric power. Once fully deployed the solar array is stiffened and self-locked.This paper presents a short overview of the baseline design requirements for a potential On-Orbit verification mission, the developed design for the planned OOV2 mission of the German Space Agency (DLR), results of the first verification tests and an outlook on a possible scalability.