JP2000228834A - Input power controller - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an input power control for satisfactorily resetting an artificial satellite, without taking a large scale of measures, even if a load to the satellite increases. SOLUTION: In an input power controller 1, a rising output voltage of a solar battery 4a is detected by a voltage detecting circuit 21, when an artificial satellite moves from a shade area to a daylight area, and a switch 23 of a power consuming circuit 20 is turned on, so that the output power is consumed by a resistor 22 and a load 6 is not provided with the power. Then, the power is input into a battery control circuit 3 through a shunt resistor 25 of the power consuming circuit 20. A battery switch 5a is turned on by a battery control circuit 3, so that a battery 5 is connected to the load 6 and the load 6 is adequately reset by the power of the battery 5.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an input power supply control device mounted on an artificial satellite or the like, and more particularly to a power supply device using a solar cell and a load input using a battery charged by the power supply device as an input power supply. The present invention relates to an input power supply control device that is provided on the side and discharges battery power while suppressing voltage so that it can be restarted well on orbit.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, when a satellite orbiting the earth enters a sunshine area, this type of power supply unit supplies power to a load using power generated by a solar cell as a power source, and partially stores the power in a battery. When the artificial satellite enters the shaded area, the battery is discharged to supply power to the load at all times. However, if the attitude control of the satellite is performed while the satellite is in the shaded area, the battery may be exhausted.In this case, wait until the satellite enters the sunshine area and the solar cells rise. become. Here, since the artificial satellite orbiting the earth enters the sunshine area from the shade area through the penumbra area, the output of the solar cell gradually rises.

[0003]

As described above, the output of this type of power supply gradually rises when it starts up. On the other hand, the load of an artificial satellite is composed of a large number of on-board devices connected to a bus line of a power supply device, and the on-board devices include many on-board devices with a low-voltage protection function. Here, the mounted device with the low-voltage protection function performs an operation such that the power is turned on when the power output voltage exceeds the starting voltage, and the power is turned off when the power output voltage falls below the starting voltage.

[0004] When the power supply device starts up due to the electromotive force of the solar cell, these mounted devices with a low-voltage protection function are turned on when the voltage of the power supply electromotive force gradually increases and reaches the starting voltage. . However, the solar cell is in the process of rising, and the power supply cannot supply the power required to start the load connected to the bus line, so when the load starts, power is consumed and the power supply output voltage decreases. As a result, the load becomes lower than the starting voltage of the load, and the power of the load is cut off during starting. Then, when the power is not turned on to the load, the output voltage of the solar cell increases, so that the power is turned on again to the load. In this way, these on-board devices are repeatedly turned on and off until the output of the solar cell reaches enough power to start the load, and the resulting noise causes abnormal operation of the on-board devices. May cause.

[0005] In recent years, as the artificial satellites have become more sophisticated and larger in size, the satellite load has been increasing. Further, in order to instantly start the satellite load, it is usually necessary to charge a large-capacity capacitor used for a power input filter of each device in addition to the load power of the satellite. For this reason, until the output of the solar cell reaches power that can satisfy the load power, the time during which the power is repeatedly turned on and off for these mounted devices becomes longer, which tends to cause abnormal operation of the mounted devices. ing.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made to solve the above problem. When the power supply of a satellite starts up, the power supply output voltage gradually rises, so that the satellite load is increased at the starting voltage point of the satellite load. An object of the present invention is to provide an input power supply control device that does not cause the above-described abnormal operation.

[0007]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided an input power supply control device connected to a power supply using a solar cell and a bus line of the power supply. A battery, a voltage detection circuit connected to the bus line for outputting a switch control signal, and a switch control signal connected to the bus line for inputting the switch control signal and consuming power of the bus line with a dummy resistor; A power consumption circuit that outputs a part of this power as a battery connection control signal, and power is input from the battery connection control signal or the bus line,
And a battery connection control circuit for discharging the power of the battery to a load connected to the bus line.

As a result, the satellite power supply can be stably started with the sufficient power of the battery having a low impedance, and the unstable power can be reduced by the power consumption circuit that consumes the power generated by the solar cell. Since the power is not supplied to the satellite, the reliability of starting the satellite power supply can be improved. Furthermore, even when the battery is not charged, it can be charged while flying in the sunshine area, so that the power consumption circuit section of the power supply output suppression circuit becomes large, measures against heat generation,
There is no need to take large-scale countermeasures for the circuit for high power.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the input power supply control device according to the first aspect, the resistance value of the dummy resistor is
The resistance may be equal to or lower than the lower one of the resistances of the load or the battery connection control circuit. As a result, the voltage of the bus line can be suppressed to a value equal to or lower than the activation voltage of the on-board devices having the low-voltage protection function, and the on-board devices can be more reliably prevented from starting. Further, when the battery connection control circuit starts to be driven, it can be reliably started by the battery connection control signal from the power consumption circuit.

[0010] The third aspect of the present invention is the first or second aspect.
In the input power supply control device described above, the dummy resistor is a variable resistor. This allows the resistance value of the dummy resistor to be freely adjusted when the starting voltage of the mounted device having the low-voltage protection function is different.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, in the input power supply control device according to any one of the first to third aspects, a manual control signal input from the outside is inputted to forcibly connect the dummy resistor. It has a configuration provided with an auxiliary switch for disconnection. Thus, when control by the switch control signal becomes impossible due to a trouble or the like, power consumption in the power consumption circuit can be forcibly stopped by the manual control signal.

According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, in the input power supply control device according to any one of the first to fourth aspects, the voltage detection circuit operates with the power of the bus line. Thus, there is no need to prepare a battery or the like for driving the voltage detection circuit, and the power supply starting device can be reduced in size and weight.

According to a sixth aspect of the present invention, in the input power supply control device according to any one of the first to fifth aspects, the battery connection control circuit inputs a manual control signal to connect the battery to the bus line. This is a configuration for controlling the discharge of the battery. Thus, when the power output suppression circuit becomes uncontrollable due to a trouble or the like, the discharge of the battery is forcibly controlled by the manual control signal, and the equipment mounted on the artificial satellite can be started normally.

[0014]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Hereinafter, an input power supply control device according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a schematic block diagram showing an input power control device according to an embodiment of the present invention. In FIG. 1, reference numeral 1 denotes a power supply activation device, which is a solar cell 4a and a solar cell 4a.
a power supply device 4 comprising a bus line 7 connected to the power supply device a, a power supply output suppression circuit 2 for suppressing a power supply output voltage connected to the bus line 7 and outputting a battery connection control signal, and a battery connection control signal or bus line And a battery connection control circuit 3 for controlling the discharge of the battery 5 by inputting power from the battery 7 and a battery 5 connected to the bus line 7.

A load 6 is connected to the bus line 7, where the load 6 simulates all power loads of the satellite. The load 6 includes a mounted device having a low-voltage protection function, that is, a device that starts up at a minimum operating voltage (hereinafter referred to as a starting voltage) that guarantees operation of the device.

The power supply output suppression circuit 2 includes a voltage detection circuit 21
And a power consumption circuit 20. Voltage detection circuit 2
Numeral 1 is connected to the bus line 7 and is operated by a very small amount of electric power in the early stage of the rise of the solar cell 4a. Here, the voltage detection circuit 21 operates below the voltage at which the load 6 and the battery connection control circuit 3 operate. This allows the power consumption circuit 20 to consume power before the minute power of the solar cell 4a is supplied to the load 6 and the battery connection control circuit 3.

The voltage detection circuit 21 is connected to the bus line 7
When the voltage reaches a voltage at which the battery connection control circuit 3 can be driven, a switch control signal for turning off the switch 23 is output. As a result, the power consumption circuit 20 is disconnected from the bus line 7 and stops consuming the power of the solar cell 4a, and stops outputting the battery connection control signal to the battery connection control circuit 3. Here, the battery connection control circuit 3 can continuously operate by inputting power from the bus line 7 instead of the battery connection control signal, so that the battery switch 5a can be controlled.

The power consumption circuit 20 has a structure in which the dummy resistor 22 and the like can normally consume power at a voltage at which the voltage detection circuit 21 outputs a switch control signal for turning off the switch 23. Thereby, the power consumption circuit 20 can suppress the voltage of the bus line 7. Further, when the voltage detection circuit 21 detects this voltage, the switch 23 is turned off, so that it is possible to prevent the power consumption circuit 20 from being supplied with power higher than the power consumption capability. Here, preferably, the lower the voltage at which the switch 23 is turned off, the better. This is because the power consumption capability of the power consumption circuit 20 can be reduced, so that it is not necessary to take large-scale measures for the power consumption circuit 20, measures against heat generation, and measures against large power consumption of the circuit.

The power consumption circuit 20 includes a solar cell 4a
, A supplementary switch 24 for forcibly shutting off the power consumption circuit by a manual control signal from a ground station or the like, and a switch 23 for inputting a switch control signal to control the power consumption circuit 20. And a shunt resistor 25 that supplies a part of the power of the solar cell 4 a supplied to the power consumption circuit 20 to the battery connection control circuit 3.
Which are connected in series and connected to a bus line.

The dummy resistor 22 has a resistance value equal to or lower than the lower one of the resistance values of the on-board equipment having the low-voltage protection function of the load 6 and the battery connection control circuit 3. By doing so, the dummy resistor 2
The power consumption 2 suppresses the output voltage by consuming the very small power that the solar cell 4a has started to generate, so that the output power is not supplied to the load 6 and the battery connection control circuit 3. Therefore, it is possible to prevent the load 6 and the battery connection control circuit 3 from starting to be driven in an insufficient state by the output of the insufficiently output solar cell 4a. Preferably, the dummy resistor 22 is freely adjusted according to the starting voltage of each mounted device, so that the output voltage can be suppressed appropriately. Therefore, the dummy resistor 22 is preferably a variable resistor.

The auxiliary switch 24 is normally connected to the solar cell 4a
Is turned on in order to supply the power of the power consumption circuit 20 to the power consumption circuit 20. When the switch 23 cannot be controlled due to some trouble and the power consumption in the power consumption circuit 20 is to be forcibly stopped, a manual control signal is input to the auxiliary switch 24 to be turned off.

The shunt resistor 25 branches the power for operating the battery connection control circuit 3 and supplies the power to the battery connection control circuit 3. That is, the shunt resistor 25 suppresses the electric power generated by the solar cell 4 together with the dummy resistance 22, and can operate the battery connection control circuit 3 using a part of the electric power. Therefore, there is no need to provide a battery or the like for operating the battery connection control circuit 3 normally, and the power supply activation device 1 can be reduced in size and weight, and electric energy can be effectively used.

The battery connection control circuit 3 is connected in parallel with the shunt resistor 25, and is also connected to the bus line 7. Here, when the solar battery 4a starts to generate power from the state where the power of the artificial satellite is turned off, the battery connection control circuit 3 inputs power from the power consumption circuit 20 that can normally drive the battery connection control circuit 3, and returns to normal. Activate In other words, a small amount of electric power when the power generation of the solar cell 4a is started is consumed by the power consumption circuit 20, so that the abnormal operation of the battery connection control circuit 3 can be prevented. When the voltage detection circuit 21 outputs a switch control signal for turning off the switch 23 and the power consumption circuit 20 stops power consumption, the battery connection control signal is not output. The power for driving the battery connection control circuit 3 is input from the line 7 to operate normally.

That is, the battery connection control circuit 3 is activated by the input from the power consumption circuit 20 when the solar cell 4a starts generating power from a state where the power of the artificial satellite is turned off,
A battery connection control signal is output to turn on the battery switch 5a. Then, the battery 5 can be discharged to the bus line 7. Here, since some of the mounted devices have a low starting voltage, after the solar cell 4a starts generating power, the voltage detection circuit 21 detects the voltage, the switch 23 is turned on, and the battery connection control circuit 3 operates. Enter the power,
It is preferable to shorten the time until the battery switch 5a is turned on. This can reduce the risk that the mounted device is adversely affected by the low voltage at the initial stage of power generation of the solar cell 4a.

When power is supplied to the bus line 7, the battery connection control circuit 3 detects the voltage by the voltage detection circuit 21 and turns off the switch 23.
Although power cannot be input from the power consumption circuit 20, power can be input from the bus line 7 and operation can be performed.
Further, although not shown, when power is supplied to the bus line 7 and the load 6, that is, the mounted device starts up, the battery connection control circuit 3 controls the battery switch 5a according to a battery connection control signal from the mounted device. be able to. That is, the battery connection control circuit 3 can turn on the battery switch 5a when the battery 5 needs to be charged, and can turn off the battery switch 5a to prevent overcharging. Furthermore, when the satellite is in the shaded state, the battery switch 5
When a is turned off, all the power of the satellite can be turned off.

The battery connection control circuit 3 inputs the battery connection control signal from the power consuming circuit 20 and turns on the battery switch 5a. When the battery 5 is not charged or the charging is insufficient. At this time, the load 6 cannot be started normally because the power is not supplied or the power is insufficient even if supplied. When the voltage detection circuit 21 outputs a switch control signal for turning off the switch 23,
The battery connection control signal is no longer supplied from the power consumption circuit 20 to the battery connection control circuit 3, or the battery connection control circuit 3 inputs the power of the solar cell 4a from the bus line 7 or the insufficient power discharged from the battery 5. do it,
The battery switch 5a is turned on. Thus, the battery 5 can be sufficiently charged while the artificial satellite is flying in the sunshine area.

The battery connection control circuit 3 usually has
The battery switch 5a can be controlled by the battery connection control signal from the power consumption circuit 20 and the battery connection control signal from the mounted device. However, when the power supply output suppression circuit 2 cannot be controlled due to some trouble and the battery connection control signal is not output from the power consumption circuit 20, a manual control signal is input and the battery switch 5a can be forcibly controlled.

The battery 5 is connected to a bus line 7 via a battery switch 5a. Here, the capacity of the battery 5 has a sufficient capacity to start the load 6, and the impedance of the battery 5 is low, so that the load 6 can be started well. Also, since the electromotive force of the solar cell 4a is slightly higher than the rated voltage of the battery 5, the battery 5 has the battery switch 5a turned on, and
When this electromotive force is higher than the rated voltage, it is automatically charged.

The operation of the input power supply control device according to the embodiment of the present invention configured as described above will be described.
To reset the power of the satellite, when the satellite enters the shaded area with the battery 5 fully charged, the discharge from the battery 5 to the bus line 7 is cut off, and When the satellite flies over the penumbra area and the sunshine area, it is necessary to start the satellite power supply well.

Therefore, first, when the artificial satellite enters the shaded area, the on-board device outputs a battery connection control signal to the battery connection control circuit 3, which outputs the battery control signal, and the battery switch 5
Turn off a and turn off the artificial satellite. Here, the moment the battery switch 5a stops discharging the battery 5, the power of the on-board equipment of the artificial satellite is cut off.

In this state, when the artificial satellite flies in the outer space and enters the penumbra area, the solar cell 4a receives sunlight and starts power generation. This power generation is a very small output at first,
The voltage detection circuit 21 operates with this output to detect a voltage. Here, the voltage detection circuit 21 operates at a voltage lower than the voltage at which the load 6 starts operating, and outputs a switch control signal to the switch 23 of the power consumption circuit 20.

When the switch 23 is turned on, the electromotive force of the solar cell 4a is supplied to the power consuming circuit 20. Here, the dummy resistor 22 of the power consumption circuit 20 is
Since the resistance value is equal to or less than the resistance value of the load 6, the power generated by the solar cell 4 a is consumed by the dummy resistor 22 so that the starting voltage does not become the operating voltage of the load 6, and the voltage of the bus line 7 can be suppressed. .

A part of the power input to the dummy resistor 22 is also consumed by the shunt resistor 25 and is also input to the battery connection control circuit 3 as a battery connection control signal. That is, since the power for driving the battery connection control circuit 3 uses a part of the power consumed by the power consumption circuit 20, it can be reduced in size and weight as the power supply starting device 1, and the power of the solar cell 4a can be reduced. Can be used effectively.

The battery connection control circuit 3 operates upon receiving a battery connection control signal from the power consumption circuit 20, outputs a battery control signal to the battery switch 5a, and automatically turns on the battery switch 5a. When the battery switch 5a is turned on, the battery 5 is connected to the bus line 7, and the load 6 receives power from the battery 5 and starts.
Here, the battery 5 stores sufficient electric power to activate the load 6, and since the battery 5 has a low impedance, the load 6 can be driven well. Although it is necessary to instantaneously charge a large-capacity capacitor used in each power supply input filter of the load 6, stable start-up can be performed by using the power of the battery 5.

Battery 5 sufficiently charged in bus line 7
When the voltage is discharged from the power supply, the voltage of the bus line 7 becomes higher than the voltage at which the battery connection control circuit 3 can be driven. To turn off. Thus, the power consumption circuit 20 does not consume power. Here, when a trouble occurs in the switch 23 and it cannot be turned off, the power consumption in the power consumption circuit 20 can be forcibly stopped by turning off the auxiliary switch 24 by a manual control signal.

When the switch 23 is turned off, the battery connection control signal is not output from the power consuming circuit 20 to the battery connection control circuit 3.
Can input power of a certain voltage or more from the bus line 7 and continuously control the battery switch 5a. Therefore, not only on-board equipment without the low-voltage protection function, but also on-board equipment with the low-voltage protection function, the power supply voltage drops during startup and the power supply is cut off and the power supply is turned on and off repeatedly. Is started without.

As described above, according to the input power supply control device of the present embodiment, even when the power supply of the battery 5 is completely used after the power supply of the artificial satellite is once turned off and the power supply of the onboard equipment is cut off. The mounted device can be started well. That is, the power of the artificial satellite can be reset well. Here, when the storage capacity of the battery 5 is insufficient or not stored at all, the artificial satellite can charge the battery 5 although the load 6 cannot be started normally in the first round in the sunshine area. When the artificial satellite enters the shaded area, the battery connection control circuit 3
, The battery switch 5a is turned off, and the power of the artificial satellite can be turned off. When the vehicle enters the sunshine area on the second lap, the load 6 can be started normally.

Further, by setting the voltage for outputting the switch control signal for turning off the switch 23 of the voltage detection circuit 21 low, the power consumption circuit 20 does not need to consume a large amount of power. There is no need to increase the size of the power consumption circuit unit 20 and take measures against heat generation and measures against large power consumption of the circuit, and the power supply activation device 1 can be reduced in size and weight.

[0039]

As described above in detail, according to the input power supply control device of the present invention, when the solar battery starts to hit the solar battery, the load of the whole satellite supplied from the solar battery is driven. Can suppress insufficient power and prevent unstable mounting of a device with a low-voltage protection function or the like. Also, by using a part of the suppressed power, the battery connection control circuit 3 is operated to discharge the battery 5 to the bus line, so that the on-board equipment having the low-voltage protection function can be started normally.

Also, since the power stored in the battery is used, the power supply output suppressing circuit is increased in size, measures against heat generation,
It is not necessary to take measures to cope with the high power of the circuit, so the power supply starter can be made smaller and lighter, and the impedance as a power supply is low, so when the power supply is restarted in orbit, the start-up reset of the satellite equipment And a steep power supply rise characteristic that can guarantee the power supply.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic block diagram of an input power supply control device of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Power supply starting device 2 Power supply output suppression circuit 3 Battery connection control circuit 4 Power supply device 4a Solar cell 5 Battery 5a Battery switch 6 Load 7 Bus line 20 Power consumption circuit 21 Voltage detection circuit 22 Dummy resistor 23 Switch 24 Auxiliary switch 25 Shunt resistor

Claims (6)

[Claims] A power supply device using a solar cell; a battery connected to a bus line of the power supply device; a voltage detection circuit connected to the bus line to output a switch control signal; A power consumption circuit that receives the switch control signal and consumes power of the bus line by a dummy resistor, and outputs a part of the power as a battery connection control signal by a shunt resistor; and the battery connection control signal or the bus. And a battery connection control circuit that receives power from a line and discharges the power of the battery to a load connected to the bus line. 2. The input power supply control device according to claim 1, wherein a resistance value of the dummy resistor is equal to or lower than a lower resistance value of the load or the resistance value of the battery connection control circuit. An input power supply control device having a low resistance value. 3. The input power control device according to claim 1, wherein said dummy resistor is a variable resistor. 4. The input power control device according to claim 1, wherein an auxiliary switch for inputting a manual control signal input from the outside to forcibly disconnect the dummy resistor is provided. An input power supply control device, comprising: 5. The input power supply control device according to claim 1, wherein said voltage detection circuit operates with power of said bus line. 6. The input power control device according to claim 1, wherein the battery connection control circuit inputs a manual control signal to control discharge from the battery to the bus line. An input power supply control device characterized in that: