Arc rate predictions and flight data analysis for the PASP Plus experiment

Soldi, James D.; Hastings, Daniel E.; Hardy, D. A.; Guidice, D. A.; Ray, K.P.

doi:10.2514/6.1996-368

Cited by 6 publications

(7 citation statements)

References 8 publications

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“…Pre-flight and post-flight simulations showed good agreement with the observations. Earlier ground experiments had found that the arc rate increases with voltage and plasma density and decreases with temperature [135], [136]. Other experiments [137]- [139] found an increase in arc rates with increasing voltage and plasma density.…”

Section: Low Altitude Chargingmentioning

confidence: 98%

Spacecraft charging - An update

Garrett

Whittlesey

1996

34th Aerospace Sciences Meeting and Exhibit

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Twenty years after the landmark SCATHA program, spacecraft charging and its associated effects continue to be major issues for earth-orbiting spacecraft. Since the time of SCATHA, spacecraft charging investigations were focused primarily on surface effects and spacecraft external surface design issues. Today, however, a significant proportion of spacecraft anomalies are believed to be caused by internal charging effects (charging and ESD events internal to the spacecraft Faraday cage envelope). This review will, following a brief summary of the state of the art in surface charging, concentrate on the problems introduced by penetrating electrons ("internal charging") and related processes (buried charge and deep dielectric charging). With the advent of tethered spacecraft and the deployment of the International Space Station, low altitude charging has taken on a new significance as well. These and issues tied to the dense, low altitude plasma environment and the auroral zone will also be briefly reviewed.

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Section: Low Altitude Chargingmentioning

confidence: 98%

Spacecraft charging - An update

Garrett

Whittlesey

1996

34th Aerospace Sciences Meeting and Exhibit

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“…A hypothesis for such a correlation is that the radiation deposits charge within the dielectrics, which would then alter the potential structure in the triple junction region and affect the arcing rate. 21 When examining the data, cell temperature, bias voltage, and plasma ion ux were all kept constant, because correlations between arcing and these parameters were all found to exist. Because the majority of the data was taken at low altitudes, where the plasma density was greatest, most of the data is at a relatively low radiation ux, making this study somewhat limited.…”

Section: Radiation Effectsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Numerical studies of the thin and thick GaAs/Ge cells found that the average enhancement factor decreases with bias voltage for both arrays, and the average enhancement factor on the thick cell is approximately1.25 times that of the thin cell. 21 Thus, the coef cients C 1 and C 2 can be scaled by this factor,¯f , to take into account the difference in the enhancement factor between the two cells.…”

Section: Dielectric Thickness Scalingmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…At this point, high levels of arcing were seen, especially on the APSA module 5 while in eclipse when the cells were cold. 31 Because of Biasing from ¡160 to ¡400 V was next carried out Oct. [17][18][19][20][21][22]1994 (days 94,290-94,295). The APEX orbit during this time was in a noneclipse orientation, and so the cells were always hot when biased, gathering a large number of data points at the high temperatures.…”

Section: Experiments Operationmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…(7)are both functions of the dielectric thickness. The coef cients for a cell of dielectric thickness D 1 can be scaled to a cell of thickness D 2 by21 …”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

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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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