Structural Design, Analysis of Large-Area Flexible Solar Array for Space Solar Power Station

Abstract

Large-area flexible roll-out solar array system has huge application potential in space structure especially for the Space Solar Power System (SSPS) due to the advantages of the lightweight, high area to mass ratio, excellent folding and deployable capabilities. For SSPS to operate economically, solar array system must operate at power levels greater than MW, while the commercial SSPS should operate at power levels no less than GW. Therefore, advanced flexible solar array systems with areas up to 104 m2 and 107 m2 are essential. In this study, a modular large-area flexible roll-out solar array system with several subarrays is proposed, in which Composite lenticular boom is used as the load-carrying structure, and inflation constrained with Velcros is designed as the drive mechanism. The single array can be expanded to more than 1000 m2, while the specific power is expected to reach more than 500 W/kg. In this paper, structural dynamics, inflation deployment dynamics and on-orbit thermal performances of the subarray are analyzed, the result show that the proposed solar array system is reasonable and feasible for SSPS application.