Electrical Performance of the International Space Station U.S. Photovoltaic Array During Bifacial Illumination
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NASA/TM—2002-211724 IECEC–2002–20004 Electrical Performance of the International Space Station U.S. Photovoltaic Array During Bifacial Illumination Ann M. Delleur and Thomas W. Kerslake Glenn Research Center, Cleveland, Ohio July 2002 The NASA STI Program Office . in Profile Since its founding, NASA has been dedicated to • CONFERENCE PUBLICATION. Collected the advancement of aeronautics and space papers from scientific and technical science. The NASA Scientific and Technical conferences, symposia, seminars, or other Information (STI) Program Office plays a key part meetings sponsored or cosponsored by in helping NASA maintain this important role. NASA. The NASA STI Program Office is operated by • SPECIAL PUBLICATION. Scientific, Langley Research Center, the Lead Center for technical, or historical information from NASA’s scientific and technical information. 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Kerslake Glenn Research Center, Cleveland, Ohio Prepared for the 37th Intersociety Energy Conversion Engineering Conference sponsored by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Electron Devices Society Washington, DC, July 28–August 2, 2002 National Aeronautics and Space Administration Glenn Research Center July 2002 Acknowledgments The authors wish to thank Jeffrey S. Hojnicki for his help with code development; Anthony Jannette for maintaining the on-orbit operations summary; all the other members of the ISS EPS Analysis Team at GRC for their assistance; and Lou Ignaczak, Dave McKissock, and Bruce Manners for their reviews. Available from NASA Center for Aerospace Information National Technical Information Service 7121 Standard Drive 5285 Port Royal Road Hanover, MD 21076 Springfield, VA 22100 Available electronically at http://gltrs.grc.nasa.gov/GLTRS IECEC 2002 Paper No. 20004 ELECTRICAL PERFORMANCE OF THE INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION U.S. PHOTOVOLTAIC ARRAY DURING BIFACIAL ILLUMINATION Ann M. Delleur and Thomas W. Kerslake National Aeronautics and Space Administration Glenn Research Center Cleveland, Ohio 44135 Phone: 216-433-5519 Fax: 216-433-2995 [email protected] [email protected] predictions derived from the authors’ previously ABSTRACT published work on back-illuminated performance With the first United States (US) photovoltaic modeling (Delleur, Kerslake, et al., 1999) and albedo- array (PVA) activated on International Space Station enhanced performance modeling (Kerslake and (ISS) in December 2000, on-orbit data can now be Hoffman, 1997, 1999). A photograph of the US PVAs compared to analytical predictions. Due to ISS (2B and 4B) on ISS is shown in Figure 1. operational constraints, it is not always possible to point the front side of the arrays at the Sun. Thus, in many cases, sunlight directly illuminates the backside 4B US PVA 2B US PVA of the PVA as well as albedo illumination on either the front or the back. During this time, appreciable power is produced since the solar cells are mounted on a thin, solar transparent substrate. It is important to present accurate predictions for both front and backside power generation for mission planning, FGB Array FGB Array certification of flight readiness for a given mission, (Russian) (Russian) and on-orbit mission support. To provide a more detailed assessment of the ISS power production capability, the authors developed a PVA electrical SM Arrays performance model applicable to generalized bifacial (Russian) illumination conditions. On-orbit PVA performance data were also collected and analyzed. This paper FIGURE 1. – ISS AFTER SHUTTLE SEPARATION, describes the ISS PVA performance model, and the UF-1 MISSION methods used to reduce orbital performance data. Analyses were performed using SPACE, a NASA- Close-up photographs of the PVA wings after GRC developed computer code for the ISS program deployment were taken and are shown in Figures 2 office. Results showed a excellent comparison of on- and 3. From a power perspective, it is best to point orbit performance data and analytical results. the front side of the arrays at the sun. However, several operational scenarios require that the arrays INTRODUCTION be held fixed and thus the sun can directly illuminate The ISS is a complex spacecraft that will take the backside of the large US solar arrays. For several years to assemble in orbit. With the first example, the US ISS arrays are held stationary to United States photovoltaic array launched, installed, minimize plume impingement from the space shuttle and activated on flight 4A (early December 2000), the during docking and undocking as well as during on-orbit data can now be compared to analytical shuttle wastewater dumps. In addition, many NASA/TM2002-211724 1 assembly and maintenance procedures also require with on-orbit data as described in a companion paper that the arrays be held at fixed position for hours, (Jannette, et al., 2002). which can significantly reduce power generation. To provide a more detailed assessment of the During the portions of the orbit when the ISS power production capability, engineers at the backside is directly illuminated by the sun, NASA Glenn Research Center (GRC) collected and appreciable power (about 1/3rd of front side power) is reduced ISS PVA orbital performance data during produced since the solar cells are mounted on a thin, backside direct solar and Earth albedo illumination solar transparent polymer substrate. Figure 3 shows conditions. These data were compared with the backside of PVA panels containing series- analytical predictions from the latest, bifacial PVA connected, 8cm by 8cm crystalline silicon solar cells performance model, implemented in SPACE. This with gridded back contacts and copper flat printed paper describes the methods used to process on-orbit circuit interconnects (Vogt and Proeschel, 1988, data, the improved ISS PVA performance model and Hashmi, 1993, Lillington, et al., 1988). the results from comparing SPACE analytical predictions with PVA orbital performance data. PVA TELEMETRY AND DATA PROCESSING Orbits that had a significant portion of direct backside solar illumination with little to no shadowing were considered optimal for analysis. At moderate to high solar beta angles (the angle between the Sun- Earth line and the orbit plane), significant shadowing of the arrays by the station structure or the shuttle occur. Since shadowing can reduce the number of active strings, recreating the available array current can be done with a shadowing factor, but for ease of analysis, orbits without shadowing were desired. Sun tracking the front side is the normal solar array operation, thus to have backside illumination with no shadowing, orbits with unusual array pointing at low solar beta angles were investigated. Once a possible time period was identified, the data was put through FIGURE 2. – ISS PHOTOVOLTAIC ARRAY WING two tests to determine if there was indeed backside (FRONT SIDE) illumination as well as a sufficient time span of backside illumination to be useful for analysis. For the first test, the total array current (IPVA) was plotted to determine if there were any periods where the current peak did not exceed 80A, the maximum current output for backside illumination (Delleur, Kerslake, et al., 1999). If a candidate day passed the peak current test, then a second test on the data was needed to