TESTING A SMALL ENERGY CONVERSION MODULE UNDER MULTIPLE SUNS IN VACUUM

摘要

Space Solar Power (SSP) is broadly defined to be the collection of solar energy in space and its wirelesstransmission for use on earth. It has been observed that the implementation of such a system could offer energysecurity, environmental, and technological advantages to those who would undertake its development. Amongrecent implementations commonly proposed for SSP, the Integrated Symmetrical Concentrator (ISC) and ModularSymmetrical Concentrator (MSC) concepts have received considerable attention. They each employ an array ofmodules for performing conversion of concentrated sunlight into microwaves for transmission to earth. Untilrecently, no module prototypes had been subjected to the challenging conditions inherent to the space environment.The customized space simulation testing and the associated development described herein details our team’s effortsto test a prototype module in vacuum under multiple suns of solar concentration. A small vacuum chamber and4000W Xenon light source were adapted to provide the desired test conditions. In particular, much effort wasdevoted to arriving at an effective, inexpensive solution that was consistent with the project’s budget constraintswithout compromising the fidelity and relevance of the tests.