SOLAR ARRAY POINTING CONTROL FOR THE INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION ELECTRICAL POWER SUBSYSTEM TO OPTIMIZE POWER DELIVERY

摘要

Precise orientation control of the International Space Station (ISS) Electrical Power System (EPS) photovoltaic (PV) solar arrays is required for a number of reasons, including the optimization of power delivery to ISS system loads and payloads. To maximize power generation and delivery in general, the PV arrays are pointed directly at the sun with some allowance for inaccuracies in determination of where to point and in the actuation of pointing the PV arrays. Control of PV array orientation in this sun pointing mode is performed automatically by onboard hardware and software. During certain conditions, maximum power cannot be generated in automatic sun tracking mode due to shadowing of the PV arrays cast by other ISS structures, primarily adjacent PV arrays. In order to maximize the power generated, the PV arrays must be pointed away from the ideal sun pointing targets to reduce the amount of shadowing. The amount of off-pointing to maximize power is a function of many parameters such as the physical configuration of the ISS structures during the assembly timeframe, the solar beta angle and vehicle attitude. Thus the off-pointing cannot be controlled automatically and must be determined by ground operators. This paper presents an overview of ISS PV array orientation control, PV array power performance under shadowed and off-pointing conditions, and a methodology to maximize power under those same conditions.