A solar array structure, such as for a spacecraft, uses thin solar array panels that, when in a stowed configuration, are stiffened by being bent or curved in one direction to be shaped like a section of a cylinder and placed within a rigid structural frame. As a curved solar panel is not as efficient as a flat panel directly facing the sun, the solar array panels are curved in their stowed configuration for launch only, but flatten after deployment by use of a partially flexible structural frame, where a rectangular frame is made of two opposing rigid sides and two opposing flexible sides, with a thin flexible solar panel attached to rigid sides only. The rigid sides are compressed during stowage to curve the panel before hold-down tensioning. The structure and panels return to their flat free state configuration after release.
Partially flexible solar array structure
2024-02-27
Patent
Electronic Resource
English
IPC: | B64G Raumfahrt , COSMONAUTICS / H01L Halbleiterbauelemente , SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICES / H02S GENERATION OF ELECTRIC POWER BY CONVERSION OF INFRA-RED RADIATION, VISIBLE LIGHT OR ULTRAVIOLET LIGHT, E.G. USING PHOTOVOLTAIC [PV] MODULES , Erzeugung elektrischer Energie durch Umwandlung von Infrarot-Strahlung, sichtbarem Licht oder ultraviolettem Licht, z.B. unter Verwendung von Photovoltaik [PV]-Modulen |
Flexible Solar Array of COMETS
British Library Conference Proceedings | 1998
|Flexible Solar Array of COMETS
British Library Online Contents | 1998
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