The characteristics of primary and secondary arcs on a solar array in low earth orbit

Liying ZHU (朱立颖); Linchun FU (付林春); Ming QIAO (乔明); Bo CUI (崔波); Qi CHEN (陈琦); Junyi LIN (林君毅)

doi:10.1088/2058-6272/aa607a

Plasma Science and Technology > 2017 > 19(5): 55304-055304. > DOI: 10.1088/2058-6272/aa607a

Liying ZHU (朱立颖), Linchun FU (付林春), Ming QIAO (乔明), Bo CUI (崔波), Qi CHEN (陈琦), Junyi LIN (林君毅). The characteristics of primary and secondary arcs on a solar array in low earth orbit[J]. Plasma Science and Technology, 2017, 19(5): 55304-055304. DOI: 10.1088/2058-6272/aa607a

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The characteristics of primary and secondary arcs on a solar array in low earth orbit

1 Institute of Spacecraft System Engineering CAST, Beijing 100094, People’s Republic of China 2 Tianjin Institute of Power Sources, Tianjin 300381, People’s Republic of China

Funds: Supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 51407008)

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Received Date: July 27, 2016

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Abstract

Abstract

In this paper, the characteristics of the primary arc and secondary arc on a solar array in low earth orbit (LEO) are investigated. The vacuum plasma environment in LEO has been used to study the primary arc and secondary arc of a high-voltage solar array. Silicon solar cells with rigid substrate specimens are used for the experiment. The series-parallel spacing of the silicon solar cells is 1 mm. The string currents of the solar cells are 0.7 A, 1.5 A and 2 A. The primary arc and secondary arc are photographed by high-speed cameras. The differences between the primary arc and secondary arc are observed. The secondary arc can be observed before the primary arc is extinguished. The primary arc is a single arc when the string current is 0.7 A. Multiple arc columns are accompanied by higher arc current. Two arc columns of the primary arc can be observed at 1.5 A string current and 2 A string current. The multiple primary arc columns are related to higher bias voltage. The threshold for sustained arcing is near 145 V/0.7A, 105V/ 1.5A and 100V/2 A at 1 mm string gap. Moreover, the transition time of secondary arc formation is analyzed, and found to be about 10–13 μs. The string currents, string voltages and primary arc have no effect on the transition time of the secondary arc formation.
- secondary arc,
- solar array,
- electrostatic discharge,
- LEO

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References (23)

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