STRUCTURAL DESIGN TRADE-OFFS FOR A DEPLOYABLE ROLLABLE SOLAR ARRAY

Kurzfassung

A design trade study on a deployable solar array is presented. The array consists of a rollable boom and a flexible, rollable blanket, allowing even large arrays to be stowed in a compact volume. Based on a functional demonstrator that has been tested during a parabolic flight campaign, the flight model is currently being developed. However, major design decisions regarding configuration and architecture still need to be finalized. Therefore, a design tool is developed that allows detailed trade studies to assess the performance impact of specific design decisions in terms of power per mass and power per volume. The tool employs an analytical approximation of the stiffness and stability of the boom based on non-linear FEA results. To assess volume, mass, and mass distribution, appropriate scaling laws are formulated for each component. The trade study is performed over a power range of 0.5 kW to 20 kW per wing and investigates, among other aspects, the deployment configuration, number of booms, and type of photovoltaic technology. Analysis of the trade study results shows that, in the low-power region, the lower limits in the component scaling laws have a strong impact on array performance. In the high-power region, mass-related performance remains at a high level. However, maintaining high volume-related performance at high power levels is found to be challenging. Increasing the number of booms and carefully defining stability requirements are found to be effective means of improving this performance metric.