Solar power for near-sun, high-temperature missions

Abstract

Existing solar cells lose performance at the high temperatures encountered in Mercury orbit and inward toward the sun. For future missions designed to probe environments close to the sun, it is desirable to develop array technologies for high temperature and high light intensity. Approaches to solar array design for near-sun missions include modifying the terms governing temperature of the cell and the efficiency at elevated temperature, or use of techniques to reduce the incident solar energy to limit operating temperature. An additional problem is found in missions that involve a range of intensities, such as the Solar Probe + mission, which ranges from a starting distance of 1 AU from the sun to a minimum distance of 9.5 solar radii, or 0.044 AU. During the mission, the solar intensity ranges from one to about 500 times AM0. This requires a power system to operate over nearly three orders of magnitude of incident intensity. MISSIONSExtending the temperature range of operation for solar arrays is highly desirable for extending the range of operation of space missions to the near-sun environment [1][2][3]. Achieving high-efficiency and reliable operation in these temperature regimes is a difficult technological challenge.Existing solar cells suffer significant performance loss at the high temperatures encountered in Mercury orbit and near the sun.An example of such a mission is the Solar Probe+ spacecraft [4], shown in Figure 1. This is a mission designed to probe the solar corona and the near-sun environment from an approach distance as close as 9.5 solar radii, or 0.044 Astronomical Units (AU). During the mission, the solar intensity is ranges from one to about 510 times AM0 [5]. This requires a power system that can operate over nearly three orders of magnitude of incident intensity.

High-Temperature Polarization-Free III-Nitride Solar Cells with Self-Cooling Effects

“…High-performance solar cells operating at high temperatures (e.g., >300 °C) are highly desired for high-temperature photovoltaic (PV) applications, such as space missions near the Sun, − terrestrial photovoltaic thermal (PVT) hybrid solar collector systems, and concentrating solar power (CSP)/PV hybrid systems . For example, the perihelion distance of Mercury is 0.307 astronomical units (AU) from the Sun.…”

Analysis of Solar Cell Efficiency for Venus Atmosphere and Surface Missions

“…Analysis of the use of solar cells for high-temperature operation has been a subject of interest for other applications and missions [9]. Testing shows that commercial triple-junction solar cells continue to operate at temperatures of 400°C without catastrophic degradation [1 0, 11].…”

Temperature influence on performance degradation of hydrogenated amorphous silicon solar cells irradiated with protons

“…However, it has not been fully investigated how the degradation behavior changes depending on the irradiation temperature. It is also important from a practical perspective to clarify the temperature influence on the radiation degradation, because temperature conditions of solar panels vary depending on a given space mission: for example, low light intensity and low temperature conditions in deep space and high light intensity and high temperature conditions such as Venus, Mercury, and near Sun . Under the circumstances, several studies on the temperature influence on radiation degradation have been performed.…”