Made in-house with scrap Gallium-Arsenide cells using a documented, repeatable production process. These panels cost 30x less than the off-the-shelf panel ($80 vs. $2400) and have 80% the power output. The solar panels double as light-sensors to tell the satellite when it’s in the sun. The side panels can fit approximately 20 cells, while the top panels have been designed to include 25 cells each. We are also in the process of testing these panels to find exact efficiencies and to confirm that they will convert enough sunlight into electrical energy to supply ample power to our satellite.
Requirements
- Total size must be less than 8.3 cm X 10 cm per side and 10 cm X 10 cm for top and bottom panels
- Must have >15% efficiency
- Must be available “off-the-shelf” without consumer purchasing restrictions
- Must be inexpensive
Specifications
- Triple Junction Gallium Arsenide TASC cells (Spectrolab)
- 10.5 V nominal per side
- 60% Packing Factor
- 1.8 W produced per side
- cell efficiency ~27% (typical silicon cells are approx. 16% efficient)
- $2.50 per cell (~$80 per side)
Placement Template
- One of the most important parts of construction is achieving such a high packing factor while ensuring that the cells do not touch one another (and result in a short). The placement template is a piece of acrylic which was cut using a Universal Laser Cutter. In the future these templates could potentially be made using rapid-prototyping in order to maintain the desired accuracy while minimizing costs.
During assembly, a solar cell can be placed in the cutout rectangle and pressed against the wall to ensure correct placement. The plans for the template were made by creating an Adobe Illustrator file using measurements taken from the PCB design software. The template is aligned with the PCB by sliding a dowel pin through the mounting holes in the PCB which have matching holes on the top placement template and a corresponding thick solid piece of aluminum.
PCB Design
Printed circuit boards have numerous advantages, the first of which is that they not only become the physical connection between the solar cells and the chassis but they also provide the electrical connection between cells which cut down on excess wiring that would be very difficult without professional processes.
The boards can also be produced in quantity for cheap prices and high precision using online vendors. When placing and arranging these cell rectangles on the PCB, multiple considerations were taken into account. The maximum packing factor was desired to covert the maximum energy possible, but was limited due to a few conditions. Due to the manual construction process, some safety factor had to be maintained between the cells in order to prevent accidental shorting due to human error. Also, the batteries’ maximum voltage is 8.4V so the panels must have solar cells in 5 cell groups in order to produce a high enough voltage. Mounting holes were placed on each of the corners to secure the PCB to the chassis.
The free program PCB Express was used to design our PCBs (seen on the right).
Attachment
Two easy to use mediums exist to electrically and physically connect the solar cells to the PCB, solder paste and conductive epoxy. Solder paste is placed between two metal surfaces, such as between a solar cell and a PCB pad and then passed through a solder oven. The oven melts the solder with a process called reflow soldering. The two components are then physically and electrically attached.
Conductive epoxy on the other hand is an adhesive which usually contains silver. Epoxy comes in two tubes, resin and hardener, and when combined it begins to cure and eventually solidifies.
Solder is a metal and therefore rigid with a very low volume resistivity. On the other hand, epoxy is a resin and therefore more forgiving, but it has a higher volume resistivity.
Since the thickness of the conduction medium is negligible, the difference in conductivity should not play an important factor. However, the extra “give” in the epoxy should help to dampen vibrations during launch. The most important advantage of the epoxy though is that it can cure at room temperature. As mentioned earlier, the solar cells are sensitive to high temperature so reflow soldering process may crack the cells. Added to this, configuring a reflow soldering process is complicated and time consuming. Therefore, using epoxy is the safer and more time efficient approach.
The epoxy found to suit these purposes is Epoxy Technology’s EPO-TEK H20E Electrically Conductive Silver Epoxy.
Assembly Instructions
- Set up Assembly Equipment: Solar Cells, Placement Template, new PCB, Epoxy, Syringe, and Alignment Dowel Pins
- Place clean, empty PCB in the Placement Template
- Mix Epoxy Resin and Hardener with appropriate amounts given on package directions
- Place mixed Epoxy in Syringe
- Dispense Epoxy onto PCB surface on the long rectangular pad
- Pick up one Solar Cell with the Handi-Vac and carefully place into position using the Placement Template
- Repeat Step 5&6 until all the cells are arranged
- Allow sit five minutes then remove Placement Template
- Allow Epoxy to cure for 24 hours
- Cut and strip top of 30 AWG Wire
- Solder Wire into holes on back side of PCB, cut to length and strip top
- Carefully bend Wire using tweezers and solder onto positive terminal of Solar Cell
- Repeat Step 12 until all positive terminals have been electrically connected to PCB
- Depending on the cure time of the Epoxy it may be necessary to only mix enough for a portion of the panel’s cells so that the Epoxy does not harden before positioning the Solar Cells
- DO NOT allow the Epoxy to harden outside the projection of the bottom of the Solar Cells; this will lead to electrical shorting between Solar Cells
- Care must be taken to avoid creating a solder bridge between the positive and negative sides of the Cell while soldering the wire into place which could short the two sides
Lithium Ion batteries, standard in many satellites, are lightweight and small. These batteries offer a low depth of discharge for increased life expectancy and low voltage drop. They are designed redundantly in case of battery failure. Recently, the power subsystem has reevaluated their choice of batteries for the satellite. This decision will be made based upon the needs of the flash system, which has also made some recent changes. The two options for batteries are the lithium ion (leave the stuff about it on there) and lithium iron phosphates, which have a different chemistry which lends itself to a different function.
The important connection of the power system is the batteries and panels, which means a different battery type may require less batteries in total.
Requirements
- Allow power input/output of approx. 5.4 W
- Lightweight and compact
- Limit depth of discharge to 20% to increase longevity
- Avoid large voltage conversion between batteries and subsystems to maximize efficiency
Specifications
- 4 LiFePO4 18650 Batteries
- 6.4 V nominal output voltage
- 1.1 Ah capacity
- 80 g total weight
Charge/Discharge
This test will allow us to measure the depth of discharge and the lifetime of our batteries. This can be done using a relatively simple circuit that continually charges and discharges the batteries, using data acquisition and a relay switch. This data would potentially allow us to find a charge and discharge curve for our particular batteries.
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Charge By Solar Panels
This will test the performance of the heart of the power system: how the batteries respond to the power from the panels. Based upon the results solar panel testing, the battery life cycle testing would occur under the light that best reflects the performance of the panel.
Outdoors
We would like to test the panels outdoors in the Providence sun to see how our panels are performing compared to predicted values.
Results: A preliminary test on a side panel was done in 4 pm sun of November. The panel produced values of .1 amps and 10.5 V, where we are expected to receive .12 amps and 12 V under ideal conditions.
Under Artificial Light
In junction with our battery testing, we are planning to tests the panels under certain lamps and again use scaling to determine their performance.
Results: Coming Soon…
Solar Simulator
• Through Brown’s School of Engineering, we have access to a Solar Simulator Lamp, provided by Professor Pacifici. This lamp provides the power of a sun that you cannot receive from a normal lightbulb. In addition, this machine can shift the wavelength of light to simulate being in space. In the future, this lamp will be used to test the efficiency of our cells as well as our panels. The lamp’s power will also help us learn how our panels perform as they increase in temperature by leaving it under the lamp for a prolonged period of time.
Results: Coming Soon…
