JPS58196065A - Electric energizing path system for solar light generator of satellite missile - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Summary] This bulletin contains application data before electronic filing, so abstract data is not recorded.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention provides a flexible, collapsible or rollable spacecraft photovoltaic device constructed from a plurality of modular configurations of support foils. Concerning electrical current-carrying circuit systems.

Photovoltaic power generation devices currently used in satellites such as the Intelsat V-series are comprised of lightweight, rigid bodies that are flexible and interconnected. These tectonic plates expand in orbit to an area of up to 3o. In these structural plates, bare wires are used as the current carrying system and as connecting elements twistable flat cable windings or flat cable strips with large loops, which are screwed or glued.

For the next generation of photovoltaic power plants, much larger yet significantly lighter support structures are being envisioned. This support structure consists, for example, of a flexible foil substrate that is folded in an accordion-like manner and that, on the track,
A telescoping mechanism allows it to be stretched over an area of 10- or more.

These newly developed foil surfaces need to be folded overlapping each other with very small spacing of only about 2 cm to reduce storage space. Therefore, the previously proven effectiveness of flat energizing cables with plugs attached to the back side of the solar power generation device is limited by the newly developed types due to their bending stiffness moments and excessive bending radii. Cannot be used for solar power generation equipment.

The object of the present invention is to be able to equip individual foil structural sections in a large-area modular configuration and to be suitable for connecting the individual sections to each other in a simple and spaceflight-compatible manner. The object of the present invention is to provide an electrical current-carrying system of the type described at the beginning. Generally speaking, electrical current-carrying systems are used in spaceflight at altitudes such as g! You must fully satisfy your energy. This is because spaceflight involves high alternating thermal loads due to the sun and the Earth's shadow, and also imposes extremely high reliability requirements throughout the mission. Furthermore, the electrical connection elements must be constructed in such a way that tensile loads cannot at any time affect these connection elements.

Furthermore, it provides a solution to the problem of how to be able to perform non-destructive disconnection and reconnection several times for the purpose of re-weiring and repair of entire photovoltaic power plant sections. It is also important that

According to the present invention, the above problem is solved as follows.

That is, the current carrying path is placed in a very thin layer (e.g. 17-50 pOu) on a support body section provided with a copper coating.
, integrally formed by a photoresist etching method, and at the section conductor connection of the support body section, the conductor path is formed in the form of a piano hinge, the protruding end being connected to the adjacent support body. It was placed over the weld area of the section and welded at the weld mound.

Embodiments of the invention emerge from the dependent claims.

The effects of the present invention include the fact that the current carrying path system is lightweight;
For example, the following points should be taken into account: the resistance of the current-carrying system to the impact mechanical loads during startup is large, and the current-carrying system has sufficient resistance to the tensile forces and surface tension during deployment. It has shape stability and fatigue strength. The production of current-carrying systems by photoresist etching is significantly more cost-effective than the individual complete wiring conventionally carried out using bare wires or flat cables. Further, at the connection points of the sections, conventionally, a large number of current-carrying path disconnection plugs are required, which increase the space required for this structure and the added weight of the paper, but these are also unnecessary. The newly developed solar power generation device is expected to have a dramatically larger area by more than three times compared to the conventional structure, but due to the space and weight required for conventional wires and flat cables, The drawbacks of plugs increase exponentially as the area of newly developed solar power generation devices increases.

Next, the present invention will be explained in detail with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 shows the back side of a flexible and foldable solar power generation device. Solar power generation device with 7 spm (Nura panel assembly) 8F1 ~ spm 7
It consists of Each of these spms (hereinafter referred to as support body sections) has, at the vertical section connection/separation line (hinge axis 2), a plurality of alternating piano-like thin hinge sleeves 3 (second a
(See also Figures 2d). These hinge sleeves 5 are
It is formed from a support body seam [4] crimped on the front side and a tube 5, made of aluminum or other material, for example, inserted into the hinge shaft 2. The crimped support body joint plate 4° and the tube 5 are fixedly glued to the support body 1 (second
(Surface marked with dots in Figures a and 2b).

The hinge sleeve 3 is arranged in individual sections with a selected pitch in Figures 2 & 2d.

Between the hinge sleeves 5, there is provided a foil seam plate 6 that extends from the center. However, in adjacent sections, the hinge sleeves 5 are configured to be shifted by one pitch length. With this configuration, the bolt sleeves 5 can be engaged accurately when assembling the sections together, and it is possible to connect the bolt sleeves 5 by means of the thin insertion shaft 7. All sections are outside the 2nd a
The pitch of the hinge sleeve 5 is as shown in the figure, and the pitch on the inside is shifted by one pitch from the hinge sleeve 3 on the outside as shown in FIG. 2b. In this way, all sections can be assembled in the same way, and alternative sections can be inserted as needed.

The starting material for the support body 1 is polyimide foil (Kapton). However, it is provided with a copper coating, either on one side or on both sides as required. The etching process improves the surface flatness, increases the tear resistance and load capacity in the bonded hinge sleeve 5, and thus improves the overall permissible tensile force that should be generated during deployment, and finally: In order to optimize the insensitivity to all occurring mechanical loads, the upper side of the support body section is covered entirely with ultra-thin glass fiber tufts or prepregs (Pr@pr@gs: (not shown) or coat the upper side of the support body section with a very thin glass fiber lamination or prepreg (not shown) only in the section connection areas. Separation by providing a thin glass fiber coating on the top surface in this way! The 7 flexibility and foldability of the foil composite at the fold line [8 (Fig. 1) K of the photovoltaic device located between I2, even with a small folding radius of less than one It will not be damaged.

The back side of the solar power generation device 1 is provided with an electrical conduction path system formed from a copper coating by a photoresist etching method (see FIG. 1). The central line is especially provided for signal conductors. Starting from the outermost section 8Pm 1, the individual conductive paths 10 of the current flow obtained from the solar cell are arranged as internally as possible,
The entire length of the solar power generation device is led to the connection plug of the Niwa-Kyuushi satellite. The current carrying path of the next section, after drawing into the central part, extends from this central part closely to the current carrying path of the first section.

Same below. In this way, a cover is formed on the back surface with etched conductor tracks, which has the shape of a fir tree as a whole and becomes thicker towards the inside. All current paths 10 begin at one or more connection points 11 of the solar cell module 12 . All the ten or one connection points 11 of the solar cell module 12 connect to the section current path connection 14 via the fold line 8 and the hinge axis 2 with the fold current path connection 15 (see FIG. 3). (see Figures 2a-2d).

In this case, the individual conductor paths or conductor paths are configured as two-wire conductor paths for rounding redundancy. The ten conductors of 211 and the one conductor of two wires are each referred to as a current-carrying conductor pair 15. Alternative current-carrying conductor pairs 16 guided at the extreme outside along the length of the photovoltaic device are provided for connecting the replacement section at any section location.

After forming the electrical conduction path system 9 by the etching method,
For insulation purposes, all supporting body sections 6Pm1~
A thin polyimide foil is crimped onto the back side of 7. This polyimide foil leaves the steel conductor exposed only where it is necessary to later connect it to the adjacent conductor track end during welding.

The conductive path 10 is connected by the intermediate web 17 at the fold current conductive path connection 13 (FIG. 3).

The width of the current-carrying path connection area at the fold 118 is made by multiple slits that have already been formed by etching.
8, it is divided into a plurality of conductor connection parts 19. This is to prevent a tear in the conductor from becoming infected if a tear occurs in the conductor at this folding point.

The connecting portions at the hinge shaft 2 at the section connection/separation points (FIGS. 2a to 2d) are constructed as follows.

The two-wire current conductor 10 of the individual current conductor pair 15 is connected to the widened connection surface 20 in front of the hinge axis 2 of the carrier foil section HP 1-7. Connection surface 20 is t'l'
It has two hinge sleeves 30 wide and ends in front of the edge of the glued carrier foil wadding 4.

Adjacent to this connection surface 20, a plurality of current conductor recesses 21, separated by etched slits 18, are led up to the terminal edge of the projecting support foil grid plate 6.

The support foil grid plate 6 is reinforced with a thin glass fiber fabric on the front side up to 220 points along the chain line, and is similarly covered with an insulating foil on the back side up to the point on the chain line 22. On this support foil grid plate 6, from the front side, the etched text is etched with a window 2 in the polyimide layer by laser ablation.
3 (indicated by broken lines and hatching) is formed. As a result, on these window surfaces 23, from the support foil surface,
The copper conductor will be exposed locally with exposed metal.

In the welding area @ 24 (the hatched area) of the widened connection surface 20, the thickness of the coated copper is increased from the thickness of the current-carrying path to several times the thickness of the current-carrying path. It is increasing. Similarly, the protruding support foil grid plate 6
In the welded window 23 (polyimide foil window) formed by etching, the thickness of the current-carrying steel layer is increased to the required culm. The purpose of increasing the copper thickness locally in this way is to obtain more advantageous, i.e. less extreme, layer thickness conditions for the ** provided at that location. The purpose is to create a welding process in which the welding parameters are allowed to vary within a relatively wide error range, thus avoiding defective welds.

When assembling the support body sections 8P 1 to 7, place the support body sections 8P 1 to 7 on an assembly table with the back side facing up, and the hinge sleeves 5 provided alternately engage and center the support body sections 8P. Insert 1 so that they match. that time,
All protruding support foil grids 6 must be guided onto the top side (back side) of the section so that they overlap on the opposing hinge sleeves (see also Figure 26).
. By passing a thin plug-in shaft 7 into the bore of the coated tube 5, the sections are mechanically connected. The overlapping conductive path extensions 21 are then welded at a plurality of weld points 25 or 24 in the weld area 24 with increased copper thickness near their outer edges using etched weld windows 25. Weld short IK welds. In this case, at 20 hinge axes, a thin semicircular insertion strip made of plastic is inserted between the overlapping and protruding support joints @ 6 and the hinge sleeve 3 located below the support foil grid plate 60. Insert. These insertion strips are flexible. The thickness of these insertion strips is also such that the insertion strips do not cause the overlapping support body seam plates 6 to rest flat, but rather form a slight flexing wave 26 in the support body seam plate 6 on the hinge axis 2. , are selected such that the outer edge of the joint plate 6 pushes these deflection waves 26 back toward the axial center.

These deflection waves 26 (see FIG. 2C) cause the support body seam plate 6 to bend around the inner hinge sleeve 3 in the folded state, still with sufficient play, so that the welding The design is such that point 25 does not receive any tensile load even in the folded position.

In the deployed position, the flexure waves 26 are formed again, so that the tensile force of the surface brace absorbed through the piano keyboard hinge does not have an undesirable effect on the weld joint 25.
To prevent.

Advantageously, welding is carried out by the laser pulse method.

In situations where surface utilization in photovoltaic devices is mostly edge-bound, the pressure-sensitive solar cell module 12 glued to the underside of the welding area 24 must not be damaged by the electrode pressure. It is from. In embodiments in which the welding area 24 of the current path 10 is not covered by a solar cell on the front side, it is also possible to use resistance welding with double electrode guidance from above. Although it is possible in principle to braze the connections, this is not preferred for solar power generation devices used in spaceflight.

FIG. 2d illustrates a row of welding points 25 at the outer ends of overlapping current path extensions 21 as a first connection. When it is necessary to replace a section in an already assembled solar power generation device, the support body joint plate 6 is welded to the support body sections 8P 1 to 7 adjacent to the stones located below the support body joint plate 6. Area-4 to 1, along the separation line 27 shown in dotted lines close to the first row of welding points 25 using a special scalpel, '1. Can be separated. Once the sections have been reassembled at the replacement location, a new welding point array 28 close to the separation line 27 allows the welded joint to be carried out in the manner described above.

With such a connection method, multiple repairs and welds are therefore possible. After completion of the weld and weld inspection, all exposed copper surfaces at the weld location are covered with self-adhesive thin Kapton foil strips (not shown) to insulate these copper surfaces. These insulating foil strips can be non-destructively peeled off as needed to perform the necessary repairs.

According to the procedure described above, in all sections, all the electrical conductive paths 10 are kept in contact with the welds by the deflection waves 26 and are protected from the effects of tensile stress under any conditions such as operation, folding tests, and packaging. Connected at the final stage of assembly to prevent damage. The current collecting conductor of the solar cell module 12 on the upper surface side is connected to the support body 1 in the same manner.
The window 23 formed by etching allows the current-carrying path 1 that directly corresponds to the connection point 11 to
01C welded.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of the back side of a flexible and foldable solar power generation device, and FIGS.
FIG. 3 is a schematic representation of an embodiment of a connection (separable and reconnectable); FIG. 8Pmu1~8Pmu7...Solar panel assembly. 1... Support body section, 2... Hinge axis. 3... Hinge sleeve, 4... Support body joint plate. 5... Pipe, 6... Support body joint plate, 7... Insertion shaft. 8. Look around, ? ... Current carrying path system, 10... Current carrying path. 11... - 1N point of contact, 12... Solar cell module. 13... Folded current-carrying path connection part. 14--Section energizing path connection section. 15... Current-carrying path bear, 16... Alternative current-carrying conductor bear. 17... Middle web, 18... Slit. 20... Connection surface, 21... Current-carrying path current portion. 25--Welding window, 24--Welding area, 25--Welding point. 26... Deflection wave, 27... Separation line.

Claims (7)

[Claims] (1) In an electrical current-carrying system for a photovoltaic power generation device of a spacecraft, the current-carrying path is (10) is formed integrally in a very thin layer (e.g. 17-50 p Ou) on a support foil sector film (IF films 1-7) provided with a copper coating by a photoresist fist etching method. At the sector 1 energizing path connection portion (14) of the support structure sexy section (8Pm 1 to 7), the energizing path (10) is formed in the form of a piano hinge, and at this time, the protruding end portion (21
) on the welding area (24) of the adjacent support foil Sexylan (1 am 1-7) and #l with the welding area (24)
An electrical current-carrying system for a solar power generation device on a spacecraft characterized by a close contact with the spacecraft. (2) The support body (1) of the support body section (8P1-7) has a corresponding support body seam plate (6) at the protruding end (21) of the current carrying path (10), and the weld window ( 23
) is formed in the support body joint plate (6). Electric current carrying path system for a solar power generation device of a spacecraft according to claim 1. (3) A bending wave (26) is formed on the protruding support body joint plate (6), and the insertion strip is laid down during welding of the current carrying path (10). Electrical current-carrying system for a solar power generation device on a spacecraft. (4) The copper thickness of the current carrying path (10) is the same as that of the welding area (24) and welding 1! An electrical current carrying system for a solar power generation device of a spacecraft according to claim (1), which is increased several times (2!S) by a plating-like addition method. . (5) Claim No. (1) in which the current-carrying path (10) is covered outwardly with a thin solid foil.
An electrical current carrying system for a solar power generation device of a spacecraft as described in paragraphs. (6) The energizing path (10) has a protruding end portion (21) and a vertical line (1B).
An electrical current-carrying line system for a solar power generation device of a spacecraft according to item 1). (7) The spacecraft according to claim 1, wherein an alternative current-carrying conductor bear (16) is integrally provided on the outer longitudinal edge of the support body section (8P members 1 to 7). The electrical current-carrying system of a solar power generation device.