Power System Design, Analysis, and Power Electronics Implementation on Generic Nanosatellite Bus (GNB) Spacecraft

• Main Author: Bonin, Grant
• Other Authors: Zee, Robert E.
• Language: en_ca
• Published: 2009
• Subjects: Spacecraft; Power Systems; 0538
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/1807/18940

The development of a multi-mission small spacecraft power system is described. This system has been designed for the University of Toronto Space Flight Laboratory Generic Nanosatellite Bus (GNB), an approximately 20cm cubical spacecraft with no deployed solar arrays. The GNB is inherently power-generation limited, and consequently, all available power must be utilized with maximum efficiency. This efficiency is achieved using an unconventional parallel-regulated architecture with Peak Power Tracking (PPT) functionality, and is shown to be the PPT design of highest efficiency for spacecraft of this class. In support of this design, a novel spacecraft power simulation suite has been developed, enabling parametric satellite power analysis with high fidelity. Finally, a unique variation on peak power tracking---referred to as peak current tracking---is described. This method is shown to reduce battery depth-of-discharge by as much as 20% over baseline architectures, and furthermore exhibits beneficial emergent behaviour for battery charge management.