DESIGN AND ANALYSIS OF A COMPOSITE SANDWICH SOLAR ARRAY STRUCTURE FOR THE EU:CROPIS COMPACT SATELLITE WITH AS FEW RELEASE MECHANISMS AS POSSIBLE

Abstract

This paper presents the design and analysis of a composite sandwich solar array panel with internal local stiffeners. The purpose of this investigation is the connection between the panel and the satellite structure. The application for this purpose is the Eu:CROPIS (Euglena and Combined Regenerative Organic-Food Production in Space) compact satellite. The release mechanisms to be used are Frangibolts. A main design driver is the use of as few hold down and release mechanisms as possible. This approach is well founded due to the resulting reduction in complexity of the on board computer, the harness and its connections. Furthermore, the reduction in release mechanisms reduces the power consumption during the detumbling phase after launch. A finite element model is used to calculate the deformations, stresses and strains of the solar panel in different configurations. The numbers of hold down and release mechanisms (HDRM) as well as the layout of the internal panel stiffeners are investigated. The hold down and the bearing forces are evaluated under launch loads to examine the different array configurations.