Qualitative experiment with arc discharges on negatively biased solar cells

Kuninaka, Hitoshi

doi:10.2514/3.26196

Cited by 4 publications

References 5 publications

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Flight Data Analysis for the Photovoltaic Array Space Power Plus Diagnostics Experiment

Soldi¹,

Hastings²,

Hardy³

et al. 1997

Journal of Spacecraft and Rockets

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As power demands continue to increase, spacecraft power systems are being designed to operate at higher voltages. When operating at high negative voltages, however, arcing may occur on the solar cells, generating electromagnetic interference and solar cell damage.Numerical and analyticmodels have been developed to simulate the arcing onset process, showing good agreement with experimental data. This simulation was used to predict arcing levels for the conventional geometry solar cells own on the Photovoltaic Array Space Power (PASP) Plus experiment. Both pre ight and post ight simulations showed good agreement with the ight data. The ight data were analyzed to examine correlations between arc rates and the various material, environmental, and operational parameters and to validate the theoretical model. Arcing levels were found to depend strongly on bias voltage, with the scalings suggested by the model proving to relate the arcing rates on the different modules accurately. Cell temperature was also veri ed as being a critical parameter, with high arcing rates seen at low temperatures. As expected from the model, there is a critical temperature, above which no arcing occurs. The ion ux was also seen to affect arc rates, as expected. Radiation ux to the arrays, however, did not affect arcing levels, although the data to support this conclusion are limited. Thus, the model was found to predict arcing levels for the cells under varying environmental and operational conditions and to allow data from one module to be accurately scaled to a module with different material and geometric parameters. This simulation could then be used to perform power system or solar cell design trade studies, with much less ground and ight testing needed for verication. NomenclatureA = Fowler-Nordheim coef cient (1:54 £ 10 ¡6 £ 10 4:52Á ¡1=2 W =Á W A=V 2 ) A array = solar array area, m 2 A cell = solar cell area, m 2 A wave = discharge wave area, m 2 B = Flower-Nordheim coef cient (6:53 £ 10 9 Á 1:5 W V =m) b n = coef cients in polynomial t to d i =d C diele = capacitance of dielectric, F/m 2 C front = capacitance of coverglass front surface, F C s = ion acoustic velocity, m/s C 1 , C 2 = coef cients to arc rate ts d = thickness of dielectric, m d i = distance of electron rst impact point from triple junction, m d 1 = thickness of coverglass, m d 2 = thickness of adhesive, m E d = neutral adsorbate binding energy, eV E max = electron incident energy for maximum secondary electron yield, eV E se = secondary electron energy, eV E se1 = electron incident energy for a secondary electron yield of unity, eV e = electron charge m e = electron mass, kg m i = ion mass, kg N cell = number of solar cells in array N n = number density of neutral particles adsorbed on dielectric side surface, m ¡2 N n0 = surface neutral density for monolayer coverage, m ¡2 n e = plasma number density, m ¡3 n na = ambient neutral density, m ¡3 n nc = critical desorbed neutral density for breakdown, m ¡3 Q ESD = effective electron stimulated desorption cross section, m ...

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Flight Data Analysis for the Photovoltaic Array Space Power Plus Diagnostics Experiment

Soldi¹,

Hastings²,

Hardy³

et al. 1997

Journal of Spacecraft and Rockets

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Dielectric charging processes and arcing rates of high voltage solararrays

Cho

Hastings

1991

Journal of Spacecraft and Rockets

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When high-voltage solar arrays are used in the low Earth orbit environment, serious interactions are known to occur between the solar cell material and the surrounding plasma. Arcing is known to be one of the most severe interactions. The charging processes of the dielectric coverglass by charged particles are studied numerically. If there is a field emission site with a high electric field enhancement factor /? on the interconnector, charging processes due to enhanced field electron emission (EFEE) can be initiated and lead to the collisional ionization in neutral gas desorbed from the coverglass. Based on this arcing onset model, an arcing rate is calculated for a high-voltage solar array and good agreement is found with experimental data.= area of a solar cell, m 2 4 C hrg =area of the coverglass that looses stored charge due to an arcing event, m 2 int =area of an interconnector, m 2 B =6.53xl0 9 0J 1 ; 5 , V/m Cdiel = capacitance per unit area, F/m 2 d = dielectric plate thickness, m E = electric field, V/m E^ = energy required to desorb one neutral particle, eV E e = electron emission energy, eV Et = electron incident energy on dielectric plate, eV h (P) = distribution function of field enhancement factor ram = total ram current from ambient to computational domain, A/m 7cond(y) = ambient ion current density to conductor location y, A/m 2 j e = incident electron current density to dielectric, A/m 2 Jec(y) = electron emission current density emitted from location y on the conductor, A/m 2 Jee(x) = secondary electron current density emitted from location x on dielectric, A/m 2 Jen = electron current density due to ionization of neutral gases, A/m 2 Jid(x) =ion current density to location x on dielectric plate, A/m 2 jtn = ion current density due to ionization of neutral gases, A/m 2 y'ram = ram current density, en 0 V orbit , A/m 2 / = length of conductor gap between dielectric plates, m N-mi = total number of solar cell interconnectors on solar array N es = total number of emission sites on solar array n es = emission site density, m~2 n n = neutral density, m ~3 n 0 = ambient ion density, m~3 P = probability R = arcing rate of entire solar array, s" 1 5 s T s V AQ e d Vdsp A a tfion TEFEE Tion 4> w= emission site area, m 2 = distance from triple junction measured along dielectric surface, m = surf ace temperature of coverglass, K =bias voltage (<0), V = orbital velocity, 8 km/s at LEO = neutral velocity, m/s = field enhancement factor = secondary electron yield = ion-induced secondary electron yield = charge lost from coverglass front surface due to an arc, C = dielectric constant of dielectric plate, F/m -desorption energy efficiency = individual arcing rate, s ~ l = surface charge density, C/m 2 = ionization cross section, m 2 = EFEE charging time, s = ion charging time, s = electric potential, V = surface potential, V = work function of conductor surface, eV = plasma frequency, rad/s

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