The Failure Analysis of Paralleled Solar Array Regulator for Satellite Power System in Low Earth Orbit

Abstract

A satellite power system should generate and supply sufficient electric power to perform the satellite mission successfully during the satellite mission period, and it should be developed to be strong to the failure caused by the severe space environment. A satellite power system must have a high reliability with respect to failure. Since it cannot be repaired after launching, different from a ground system, the failures that may happen in space as well as the effect of the failures on the system should be considered in advance. However, it is difficult to use all the hardware to test the performance of the satellite power system to be developed in order to consider the failure mechanism of the electrical power system. Therefore, it is necessary to develop an accurate model for the main components of a power system and, based on that, to develop an accurate model for the entire power system. Through the power system modeling, the overall effect of failure on the main components of the power system can be considered and the protective design can be devised against the failure. In this study, to analyze the failure mode of the power system and the effects of the failure on the power system, we carried out modeling of the main power system components including the solar array regulator, and constituted the entire power system based on the modeling. Additionally, we investigated the effects of representative failures in the solar array regulator on the power system using the power system model.