Abstract
The electrical power system (EPS) generates, stores, conditions, controls, and distributes power within the specified voltage band to all bus and payload equipment. The protection of the power system components in case of all credible faults is also included. The basic components of the most widely used power system are (1) solar array, (2) solar array drive, (3) battery, (4) battery charge and discharge regulators, (5) bus voltage regulator, and (6) switches, fuses, and distribution harness.
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Notes
- 1.
Sheet Resistance is a special case of resistivity for a sheet of uniform thickness. The SI unit if resistivity is ohm · meter (Ω · m), which is more completely stated in units of Ω · m²/m (Ω · Area/Length). When divided by the sheet thickness, 1/m, the units are Ω · (m²/m²) = Ω. The alternate, common unit is ‘ohms per square’ (denoted ‘Ω/sq’), is dimensionally equal to an ohm and exclusively used for sheet resistance avoiding misinterpreted as bulk resistance of 1 Ω. Note that a square sheet with sheet resistance 50 Ω/sq has an actual resistance of 50 Ω independent of the size of the square.
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Further Reading
Patel, M.R., “Spacecraft Power Systems”, CRC Press, Boca Raton, 2005.
Hyder, A. K. et al., “Spacecraft Power Technologies,” Imperial College Press/World Scientific Publishing, London, 2003.
Acknowledgments
Several figures and tables in this chapter are reproduced with permission from Patel, M. R., “Spacecraft Power Systems”, CRC Press, 2005. The author is also grateful to two industry experts for reviewing the manuscripts and providing valuable feedbacks. They are Mr. James E. Haines, retired head of power system group of European Space Agency, and Mr. Abbas Salim, retired senior staff engineer of Lockheed Martin Corporation.
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Patel, M.R. (2014). Electrical Power. In: Macdonald, M., Badescu, V. (eds) The International Handbook of Space Technology. Springer Praxis Books(). Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-41101-4_10
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