Application and prospect of the fluid cooling system of solar arrays for probing the Sun

The Solar Close Observations and Proximity Experiments(SCOPE)mission,which has been proposed by the Yunnan Observatories,Chinese Academy of Sciences,aiming to operate at a distance of 5 to 10 solar radii from the Sun,plans to complete the in situ detection of the solar eruption process and observation of the magnetic field structure response.The solar flux received by the satellite ranges from 10^(3) to 10^(6) Wm^(-2),which poses challenges for thermal management of the solar arrays.In this work,the solar array cooling system of the Parker Solar Probe is discussed,the developments of the fluid loop technique are reviewed,and a research plan for a next-generation solar array cooling system is proposed.This paper provides a valuable reference for novel thermal control systems in spacecraft for solar observation.

Design and Test Analysis of a Solar Array Root Hinge Drive Assembly

A root hinge drive assembly is preferred in place of the classical viscous damper in a large solar array system.It has advantages including better deployment control and higher reliability.But the traditional single degree of freedom model should be improved.A multiple degrees of freedom dynamics model is presented for the solar arrays deployment to guide the drive assembly design.The established model includes the functions of the torsion springs,the synchronization mechanism and the lock-up impact.A numerical computation method is proposed to solve the dynamics coupling problem.Then considering the drive torque requirement calculated by the proposed model,a root hinge drive assembly is developed based on the reliability engineering design methods,and dual actuators are used as a redundancy design.Pseudo-efficiency is introduced and the major factors influencing the（pseudo-）efficiency of the gear mechanism designed with high reduction ratio are studied for further test data analysis.A ground prototype deployment test is conducted to verify the capacity of the drive assembly.The test device consists of a large-area solar array system and a root hinge drive assembly.The RHDA development time is about 43 s.The theoretical drive torque is compared with the test values which are obtained according to the current data and the reduction efficiency analysis,and the results show that the presented model and the calibration methods are proper enough.

Experimental Investigation of Solar Panel Cooling by a Novel Micro Heat Pipe Array

A novel micro heat pipe array was used in solar panel cooling. Both of air-cooling and water-cooling conditions under nature convection condition were investigated in this paper. Compared with the ordinary solar panel, the maximum difference of the photoelectric conversion efficiency is 2.6%, the temperature reduces maximally by 4.7℃, the output power increases maximally by 8.4% for the solar panel with heat pipe using air-cooling, when the daily radiation value is 26.3 MJ. Compared with the solar panel with heat pipe using air-cooling, the maximum difference of the photoelectric conversion efficiency is 3%, the temperature reduces maximally by 8℃, the output power increases maximally by 13.9% for the solar panel with heat pipe using water-cooling, when the daily radiation value is 21.9 MJ.

Wind-sand movement characteristics and erosion mechanism of a solar photovoltaic array in the middle of the Hobq Desert,Northwestern China

The operation and power generation of utility-scale solar energy infrastructure in desert areas are affected by changes in surface erosion processes resulting from the construction of solar photovoltaic(PV)power stations.However,few studies have addressed the interactions between solar PV arrays and aeolian erosion processes.In this study,wind flow field characteristics and the vertical distribution of sediments were investigated in the near-surface transport layer at three different locations with respect to the solar PV arrays in a 200 WM-p PV power station in the central Hobq Desert,northwestern China.The results indicate that the sediment transport varied around the panels,with the greatest transport occurring between the panels,followed by behind and in front of the panels.The sediment fluxes of all of the observation sites obey an exponential function.The secondary flow field zones formed around the PV panels:the conflux accelerating zone between the panels,the resistance decelerating zone of the under panels,and the transition zone of the rapid velocity increase in front of and behind the panels.This resulted in a greater shear force in front of the panels under the downward flow diversion effect of PV panels,and the wind erosion depressions were finally formed here.The results of this study provide information for planning better technical schemes for wind-sand hazards at solar PV power stations,which would ensure operational stability and safety in desert areas.

Study on volt-ampere characteristics of solar array arcs in LEO spacecraft

The primary and secondary arcs volt-ampere characteristics of low earth orbit solar arrays are studied in this research. Using three gallium-arsenide solar cell samples, the gap lengths of the solar cell are set to 1, 2, and 3 mm. First, the primary arc voltage characteristics of a solar array are analyzed. It is found that two steps are involved in the primary arc voltages, which are 116 and 22 V according to our experiment and are independent of the electrostatic discharge current and the gap lengths. By comparing with the arc pattern, we determined that current chopping may be the reason for the stepped arc voltage. Then, the characteristics of the secondary arc of the solar array are demonstrated. The study shows that the secondary arc voltage values increase with the gap length. In the case of the same cell with a fixed gap length, the voltage of the secondary arc increases with the string current. Finally, the relationship between the secondary arc voltage and the gap length is obtained which helps the string voltage and the gap length selection for system design.

Nano-sphere surface arrays based on GaAs solar cells

In this paper,we present our efforts on simulating and analyzing the effect of two-dimensional nano-sphere surface array on the characteristic of GaAs solar cells.Based on the scattering and diffraction theory of the photonic crystals,the simulation results show that the distance of adjacent nano-spheres(D)has the pronounced influence on the conversion efficiency and exhibits much poor tolerance,the absolutely conversion efficiency is reduced by exceeding of 2%as the D varies from 0 to 1μm,in addition,the lower conversion efficiency(<18%)is exhibited and almost remains unaltered when the D is of>2μm.The radius(R)of nano-spheres demonstrates much great tolerance.For D=0,the solar cells exhibit high conversion efficiency(>20%)and the efficiency is only varied by less than 1%when R is varied in a very wide region of 0.3-1.2μm.One can also find out that there is good tolerance for efficiency around the optimal value of refractive index and there is only about 0.2%decrease in final cell efficiency for around±24%variation in the optimal values,which implys that it does not demand high precision processing equipment and the whole nano-sphere array could be fully complemented using self-assembled chemical methods.

Application of millimeter-sized polymer cylindrical lens array concentrators in solar cells

A unique method is proposed to encapsulate solar cells and improve their power conversion efficiency by using a millimeter-sized cylindrical lens array concentrator. Millimeter-sized epoxy resin polymer（ERP） cylindrical lens array concentrators are fabricated by the soft imprint technique based on polydimethylsiloxane stamps. The photovoltaic measurements show that millimeter-sized ERP cylindrical lens array concentrators can considerably improve the power conversion efficiency of silicon solar cells. The validity of the proposed method is proved by the coupled optical and electrical simulations. The designed solar cell devices with the advantages of high-efficiency and convenient cleaning are very useful in practical applications.

Impact of utility-scale solar photovoltaic array on the aeolian sediment transport in Hobq Desert, China

Deserts are ideal places to develop ground-mounted large-scale solar photovoltaic (PV) powerstation. Unfortunately, solar energy production, operation, and maintenance are affected bygeomorphological changes caused by surface erosion that may occur after the construction of the solar PVpower station. In order to avoid damage to a solar PV power station in sandy areas, it is necessary toinvestigate the characteristics of wind-sand movement under the interference of solar PV array. The studywas undertaken by measuring sediment transport of different wind directions above shifting dunes andthree observation sites around the PV panels in the Hobq Desert, China. The results showed that the twoparameterexponential function provides better fit for the measured flux density profiles to the near-surfaceof solar PV array. However, the saltation height of sand particles changes with the intersection anglebetween the solar PV array and wind direction exceed 45°. The sediment transport rate above shifting duneswas always the greatest, while that around the test PV panels varied accordingly to the wind direction.Moreover, the aeolian sediment transport on the solar PV array was significantly affected by wind direction.The value of sand inhibition rate ranged from 35.46% to 88.51% at different wind directions. When theintersection angle exceeds 45°, the mean value of sediment transport rate above the solar PV array reducesto 82.58% compared with the shifting dunes. The results of our study expand our understanding of theformation and evolution of aeolian geomorphology at the solar PV footprint. This will facilitate the designand control engineering plans for solar PV array in sandy areas that operate according to the wind regime.

200-nm long TiO_2 nanorod arrays for efficient solid-state Pb S quantum dot-sensitized solar cellsR

To ensure the infiltration of spiro-OMeTAD into the quantum dot-sensitized photoanode and to consider the limit of the hole diffusion length in the spiro-OMeTAD layer, a rutile TiO2 nanorod array with a length of 200 nm, a diameter of 20 nm and an areal density of 720 ram 2 was successfully prepared using a hydrothermal method with an aqueous-grown solution of 38 mM titanium isopropoxide and 6 M hydrochloric acid at 170 ℃ for 75 min. PbS quantum dots were deposited by a spin coating-assisted successive ionic layer adsorption and reaction （spin-SILAR）, and all solid-state PbS quantum dot-sensitized TiO2 nanorod array solar cells were fabricated using spiro-OMeTAD as electrolytes. The results revealed that the average crystal size of PbS quantum dots was -78 nm using Pb（NO3）2 as the lead source and remain unchanged with the increase of the number of spin-SILAR cycles. The all solid-state PbS quantum dot-sensitized TiO2 nanorod array solar cells with spin-SILAR cycle numbers of 20, 30 and 40 achieved the photoelectric conversion efficiencies of 3.74%, 4.12% and 3.11%, respectively, under AM 1.5 G illumination （100 mW/cm2）.

An anomaly detection method for spacecraft solar arrays based on the ILS-SVM model

Solar arrays are important and indispensable parts of spacecraft and provide energy support for spacecraft to operate in orbit and complete on-orbit missions.When a spacecraft is in orbit,because the solar array is exposed to the harsh space environment,with increasing working time,the performance of its internal electronic components gradually degrade until abnormal damage occurs.This damage makes solar array power generation unable to fully meet the energy demand of a spacecraft.Therefore,timely and accurate detection of solar array anomalies is of great significance for the on-orbit operation and maintenance management of spacecraft.In this paper,we propose an anomaly detection method for spacecraft solar arrays based on the integrated least squares support vector machine(ILS-SVM)model:it selects correlated telemetry data from spacecraft solar arrays to form a training set and extracts n groups of training subsets from this set,then gets n corresponding least squares support vector machine(LS-SVM)submodels by training on these training subsets,respectively;after that,the ILS-SVM model is obtained by integrating these submodels through a weighting operation to increase the prediction accuracy and so on;finally,based on the obtained ILS-SVM model,a parameterfree and unsupervised anomaly determination method is proposed to detect the health status of solar arrays.We use the telemetry data set from a satellite in orbit to carry out experimental verification and find that the proposed method can diagnose solar array anomalies in time and can capture the signs before a solar array anomaly occurs,which reflects the applicability of the method.

Synthesis and application of TiO_2 single-crystal nanorod arrays grown by multicycle hydrothermal for dye-sensitized solar cells

TiO2 is a wide band gap semiconductor with important applications in photovoltaic cells. Vertically aligned Tit2 nanorod arrays （NRs） are grown on the fluorine-doped tin oxide （FTO） substrates by a multicycle hydrothermal synthesis process. The samples are characterized by X-ray diffraction （XRD）, scanning electron microscopy （SEM）, high-resolution transmission electron microscopy （HRTEM）, and selected-area electron diffraction （SAED）. It is found that dye-sensitized solar cells （DSSCs） assembled by the as-prepared Tit2 single-crystal NRs exhibit different trends under the condition of different nucleation and growth concentrations. Optimum cell performance is obtained with high nucleation concentration and low growth cycle concentration. The efficiency enhancement is mainly attributed to the improved specific surface area of the nanorod.

Control strategy of optimal deployment for spacecraft solar array system with initial state uncertainty

A control strategy combining feedforward control and feedback control is presented for the optimal deployment of a spacecraft solar array system with the initial state uncertainty. A dynamic equation of the spacecraft solar array system is established under the assumption that the initial linear momentum and angular momentum of the system are zero. In the design of feedforward control, the dissipation energy of each revolute joint is selected as the performance index of the system. A Legendre pseudospectral method(LPM) is used to transform the optimal control problem into a nonlinear programming problem. Then, a sequential quadratic programming algorithm is used to solve the nonlinear programming problem and offline generate the optimal reference trajectory of the system. In the design of feedback control, the dynamic equation is linearized along the reference trajectory in the presence of initial state errors. A trajectory tracking problem is converted to a two-point boundary value problem based on Pontryagin’s minimum principle. The LPM is used to discretize the two-point boundary value problem and transform it into a set of linear algebraic equations which can be easily calculated. Then, the closed-loop state feedback control law is designed based on the resulting optimal feedback control and achieves good performance in real time. Numerical simulations demonstrate the feasibility and effectiveness of the proposed control strategy.

The characteristics of primary and secondary arcs on a solar array in low earth orbit

In this paper, the characteristics of the primary arc and secondary arc on a solar array in low earth orbit（LEO） are investigated. The vacuum plasma environment in LEO has been used to study the primary arc and secondary arc of a high-voltage solar array. Silicon solar cells with rigid substrate specimens are used for the experiment. The series-parallel spacing of the silicon solar cells is 1 mm. The string currents of the solar cells are 0.7 A, 1.5 A and 2 A. The primary arc and secondary arc are photographed by high-speed cameras. The differences between the primary arc and secondary arc are observed. The secondary arc can be observed before the primary arc is extinguished. The primary arc is a single arc when the string current is 0.7 A. Multiple arc columns are accompanied by higher arc current. Two arc columns of the primary arc can be observed at 1.5 A string current and 2 A string current. The multiple primary arc columns are related to higher bias voltage. The threshold for sustained arcing is near 145 V/0.7 A, 105 V/1.5 A and 100 V/2 A at 1 mm string gap. Moreover, the transition time of secondary arc formation is analyzed, and found to be about 10–13 μs. The string currents, string voltages and primary arc have no effect on the transition time of the secondary arc formation.

Composite Semiconductor Quantum Dots CdSe/CdS Co-sensitized TiO_2 Nanorod Array Solar Cells

CdSe/CdS semiconductor quantum dots co-sensitized TiO2 nanorod array was fabricated on the transparent conductive fluorine-doped tin oxide （FTO） substrate using the hydrothermal and successive ionic layer adsorption and reaction （SILAR） process. The structural and morphological properties of the samples were characterized by X-ray diffraction （XRD）, field-emission scanning electron microscopy （FESEM）, and transmission electron microscopy （TEM）. The results indicate that CdSe/CdS QDs are uniformly coated on the surface of the TiO2 nanorods. The shift of light absorption edge was monitored by taking UV-visible absorption spectra. Compared with the absorption spectra of the TiO2 nanorod array, deposition of CdSe/CdS QDs shifts the absorption edge to the higher wavelength. The enhanced light absorption in the visible-light region of CdSe/CdS/TiO2 nanorod array indicates that CdSe/CdS layers can act as co-sensitizers in quantum dots sensitized solar cells （QDSSCs）. By optimizing the CdSe layer deposition cycles, a photocurrent of 5.78 mA/cm2, an open circuit photovoltage of 0.469 V and a conversion efficiency of 1.34 % were obtained under an illumination of 100 mw/cm2.

Shape Memory Polymer Composite Booms with Applications in Reel-Type Solar Arrays

Solar arrays are the primary energy source for spacecraft.Although traditional rigid solar arrays improve power supply,the quality increases proportionally.Hence,it is difficult to satisfy the requirements of high-power and low-cost space applications.In this study,a shape-memory polymer composite(SMPC)boom was designed,fabricated,and characterized for flexible reel-type solar arrays.The SMPC boom was fabricated from a smart material,a shape-memory polymer composite,whose mechanical properties were tested.Additionally,a mathematical model of the bending stiffness of the SMPC boom was developed,and the bending and buckling behaviors of the boom were further analyzed using the ABAQUS software.An SMPC boom was fabricated to demonstrate its shape memory characteristics,and the driving force of the booms with varying geometric parameters was investigated.We also designed and manufactured a reel-type solar array based on an SMPC boom and verified its self-deployment capability.The results indicated that the SMPC boom can be used as a deployable unit to roll out flexible solar arrays.

Arrangement of Multirow Solar Collector Array on Limited Roof Width

At the limited roof north-south （N-S） width of a building, for the array with multirow collectors based on no shading at winter solstice noon and sloped at latitude, this paper studied the shading and the radiant energy striking on solar collector array. Based on Kunming solar radiation data, the annual and monthly solar radiant energy striking on multi-array collectors was analyzed and estimated, from no shading to partial shading by adding 1-3 collector row, at the slopes of 10°, 15°, 20°, 25°, 30°, 35° and 40°, respectively. The results showed that properly increasing the row number by reducing the slope of collectors was reasonable in order to get more annual radiant energy. Adding 1 row at 10° of slope was economical for Kunming, based on the 5-row array at 25°. And adding collector row by 20% at 10° of slope could increase the radiant energy striking on the array by 19%.

420nm thick CH_3NH_3PbI_(3-x)Br_x capping layers for efficient TiO_2 nanorod array perovskite solar cells

The rutile TiO2 nanorod arrays with 240 nm in length, 30 nm in diameter, and 420 btm 2 in areal density were prepared by the hydrothermal method to replace the typical 200-300 nm thick mesoporous TiO2 thin films in perovskite solar cells. The CH3NH3PbI3 xBrx capping layers with different thicknesses were obtained on the TiO2 nanorod arrays using different concentration PbI2.DMSO complex precursor solutions in DMF and the photovoltaic performances of the corresponding solar cells were compared. The perovskite solar cells based on 240 nm long TiO2 nanorod arrays and 420 nm thick CH3NH3PbI3 xBrx capping layers showed the best photoelectric conversion efficiency （PCE） of 15.56% and the average PCE of 14.93 ± 0.63% at the relative humidity of 50%-54% under the illumination of simulated AM 1.5 sunlight （100 mW.cm-2）.

Study on plasma expansion model of primary discharge on spacecraft solar array

In the space plasma environment, primary discharge may occur on the solar array and evolve into a destructive sustained arc, which threatens the safe operation of the spacecraft. Based on the plasma expansion fluid theory, a new multicomponent plasma expansion model is proposed in this study, which takes into account the effects of ion species, ion number, initial discharge current, and Low Earth Orbit(LEO) plasma environment. The expansion simulation of single-component and multicomponent ions is carried out respectively, and the variations of plasma number density, expansion distance, and speed during the expansion process are obtained.Compared with the experimental results, the evolution of propagation distance and speed is closed and the error is within a reasonable range, which verifies the validity and rationality of the model. The propagation characteristics of the primary discharge on the solar array surface and the influence of the initial value on the maximum propagation distance and the propagation current peaks are investigated. This study can provide important theoretical support for the propagation and evolution of the primary discharge and the key behavior of the transition to secondary discharge on spacecraft solar array.

Design of Digital Solar Water Pump Using Microcontroller ATmega 32

This paper focuses on the application of solar energy along with microcontrollers to design and run a motor to pump water from various sources.The solar water pump is one of the applications or appliance that perform task with the use of solar radiation.The solar water pump consists of solar PV array,solar pump,inverter,AC water pumping device etc.Solar energy radiation is converted in electrical current or power source which is then used to run a pump and draw water directly from ground,wells,rivers,lakes etc.In this paper,the relationship between flow rate of the water and luminous intensity of the solar irradiance is studied and the data are linearly fitted to find out the correlation between these parameters.Also the study about efficiency of the solar powered water pump shows that the operation of this type of pumping system is quite efficient than other types of fossil fuel engines like diesel,petrol,kerosene etc.in long run.The use of Arduino Uno,flow sensor,LDR sensors in the solar powered water pump helps to analyze the relation between these parameters and know the conditions favorable for excess supply of water in short time efficiently.These solar powered devices are the future of clean and green future of this world.Thus it is not only necessary but also compulsory to enhance the usage of solar energy throughout the globe.

Flight trajectory optimization of sun-tracking solar aircraft under the constraint of mission region

The optimal yawing angle of sun-tracking solar aircraft is tightly related to the solar azimuth angle,which results in a large arc flight path to dynamically track the sun position.However,the limited detection range of payload usually requires solar aircraft to loiter over areas of interest for persistent surveillance missions.The large arc sun-tracking flight may cause the target area on the ground to be outside the maximum coverage area of payload.The present study therefore develops an optimal flight control approach for planning the flight path of sun-tracking solar aircraft within a mission region.The proposed method enables sun-tracking solar aircraft to maintain the optimal yawing angle most of the time during daylight flight,except when the aircraft reverses its direction by turning flight.For a circular region with a mission radius of 50km,the optimal flight trajectory and controls of an example K-shaped sun-tracking solar aircraft are investigated theoretically.Results demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed approach to optimize the flight path of the sun-tracking aircraft under the given circular region while maximizing the battery input power.Furthermore,the effects of varying the mission radius on energy performance are explored numerically.It has been proved that both net energy and energy balance remain nearly constant as the radius constraint varies,which enables the solar aircraft to achieve perpetual flight at almost the same latitude as the large arc flight.The method and results presented in this paper can provide reference for the persistent operation of sun-tracking solar aircraft within specific mission areas.