Arc discharges ground experiment of solar array module plasma interactions
- Paper number
IAC-06-C2.6.07
- Author
Prof. Jingyu Tong, Beijing institute of satellite environment engineering, China
- Year
2006
- Abstract
As the development of space station and LEO large spacecraft platform, power requirement in space have increased dramatically. High-voltage, low-current solar array will be developed necessarily in order to reduce power loss and cables mass. However, the interactions of spacecraft with space plasma will become severely with a high-voltage solar array. It is thought to be one of the key technology to research the interactions of spacecraft with space plasma and protection in LEO large space activity. The paper introduces a ionospheric plasma facility developed by Beijing Institute of Spacecraft Environment Engineering. This facility consists of a cylindrical chamber with 1500mm in diameter and 3000mm long, a microwave ECR plasma source, and a Langmuir probe measurement system. The plasma density in chamber is 104/cm3~107/cm3, it can be adjustable as the requirement. Some experiment studies on solar array module arcing and anodized aluminum arcing have been carried out with this facility. A DC power supple (0~1000V adjustable) ,was used to bias the samples in the plasma. The power supple was isolated from samples by a 10kW resistor. The dependence of arcing thresholds, arcing rates, and arcing strengths on biased voltage, and plasma density has been researched. The experiment results show: the solar array modules have 130V threshold in 106/cm3 plasma density. The threshold will reduce as the plasma density increase. On the other hand, when the biased voltage and plasma density increase, arcing rates, and arcing strengths will increase, too. The arcing experiments of two anodized aluminum with different anodic layer thickness in plasma gave the results: both samples were breakdown. The threshold of sample with 7mm anodic layer is 120V in 106/cm3 plasma density. Another of sample with 10mm anodic layer is 160V. Some black spots can be inspected at the arcing place visually. Now, the research on protection and assessment from plasma arcing are been carrying out.
- Abstract document
- Manuscript document
IAC-06-C2.6.07.pdf (🔒 authorized access only).
To get the manuscript, please contact IAF Secretariat.