Experimental study on high-voltage solar array sustained arc discharge induced by high charging

Abstract

It has been reported that sustained arc discharge induced by electrostatic discharge (ESD) could cause permanent damage to high-power and high-voltage solar array of spacecrafts. The paper focuses on ESD simulating experiments on Si and GaAs samples, and induces sustained arc discharge. The physical mechanism of sustained arc discharge is discussed by comparing the charging/discharging phenomena between Si and GaAs samples. The experiments show that sustained arc discharge can produce a permanent short-circuit channel between solar cell strings through which the solar array’s photovoltaic power may flow out sustainedly. The analyses show that sustained arc discharge strongly depends on solar array structure, solar array operating voltage, ESD characteristics and cell materials.