Large-scale space-based solar power station: packaging, deployment and stabilization of lightweight structures

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10340698-B2
Application number	US-201514712812-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	May 14, 2015
Priority date	May 14, 2014
Publication date	Jul 2, 2019
Grant date	Jul 2, 2019

Abstract

A space-based solar power station, a power generating satellite module and/or a method for collecting solar radiation and transmitting power generated using electrical current produced therefrom, and/or compactible structures and deployment mechanisms used to form and deploy such satellite modules and power generation tiles associated therewith are provided. Each satellite module and/or power generation tile may be formed of a compactable structure and deployment mechanism capable of reducing the payload area required to deliver the satellite module to an orbital formation within the space-based solar power station and reliably deploy it once in orbit.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A space-based solar power station comprising:
a plurality of independently operable unconnected compactible satellite modules disposed in space in an orbital array formation, wherein each of the compactible satellite modules comprises:
a plurality of moveably interconnected structural elements each having a finite thickness and are foldable relative to each other along at least one fold axis via a slip-fold and are configured to slip relative to each other in a direction parallel to the at least one fold axis such that the dimensional extent of the satellite modules is compactible;
a plurality of independent power generation tiles disposed on each of the plurality of moveably interconnected structural elements, each of the independent power generation tiles having at least one photovoltaic cell and at least one power transmitter collocated thereon, the at least one photovoltaic cell and the at least one power transmitter in signal communication with each other such that an electrical current generated by the collection of solar radiation by the at least one photovoltaic cell powers the at least one power transmitter, and where each of the at least one power transmitters comprises:
an antenna configured to receive a radio frequency power signal; and
control electronics in signal communication with the antenna and configured to control the phase of the radio frequency power signal such that the at least one power transmitter is in phased signal coordination with at least one other power transmitter on the plurality of other power generation tiles thereby forming an independent phased array of power transmitters;

wherein the independent phased array of power transmitters is configured to transmit a power signal to a remote location.

2. The space-based power station of claim 1 , wherein the folded movably interconnected structural elements are further configured to wrap about a wrap axis with a rotational symmetry.

3. The space-based solar power station of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of moveably interconnected structural elements are configured to slip a predetermined distance relative to each other.

4. The space-based solar power station of claim 3 , wherein the moveably interconnected structural elements further comprise at least one open space formed along at least a portion of the at least one fold axis between the structural elements.

5. The space-based solar power station of claim 4 , further comprising interconnections along at least another portion of the at least one fold axis that bridge the at least one open space.

6. The space-based solar power station of claim 5 , wherein the interconnections along at least another portion of the at least one fold axis comprise ligament folds.

7. The space-based solar power station of claim 5 , wherein the interconnections along at least another portion of the at least one fold axis are at least one hinge selected from the group consisting of latachable, frictionless, and slippage.

8. The space-based solar power station of claim 3 , wherein the folded moveably interconnected structural elements form a stack having a first and second longitudinal end running transverse to the fold axis.

9. The space-based solar power station of claim 8 , wherein the stack of a plurality of moveably interconnected structural elements is configured to wrap into a curved structure having a bend radius at which plastic deformation of the moveably interconnected structural elements is avoided.

10. The space-based solar power station of claim 9 , wherein the bend radius does not exceed a minimum bend radius R min given by:

1

R
min

=

2
⁢

σ
y

Eh

where h is the thickness of the individual structural elements, E is the material modulus of the structural elements, and σ y is the yield stress of the structural elements.

11. The space-based solar power station of claim 9 , wherein the plurality of moveably interconnected structural elements are configured such that when disposed in a wrapped configuration the first and second longitudinal ends of the stack of a plurality of structural elements undergo no slip relative to each other.

12. The space-based solar power station of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of moveably interconnected structural elements are configured to compact such that a packaging efficiency, of the satellite module when in a compacted state, as determined by the ratio of the packaged volume of the compacted satellite module to the material volume of the satellite module, is greater than 50%.

13. The space-based solar power station of claim 12 , wherein the moveably interconnected structural elements have a deployed dimensionalized length λ ranging from 103 to 106 and a dimensionalized spacing ϕ between the moveably interconnected structural elements in a compacted state between 1 and 1.5 wherein the dimensionalized length and spacing are determined based on the overall packing efficiency.

14. The space-based solar power station of claim 3 , wherein each of the plurality of independent power generation tiles further comprise a plurality of moveable interconnection elements; and where the at least one photovoltaic cell and the at least one power transmitter of each independent power generation tile are movable relative to each other via the moveable interconnection elements.

15. The space-based solar power station of claim 14 , wherein the moveable interconnection elements of the power generation tiles are interconnected through one or more resilient members.

16. The space-based solar power station of claim 14 , wherein at least the photovoltaic cell and the power transmitter on each power generation tile are disposed on separate moveable interconnection elements such that an offset transverse to the planes of the photovoltaic cell and power transmitter is opened therebetween when the separate moveable elements are displaced.

17. The space-based solar power station of claim 16 , wherein the separate moveable elements are interconnected through one or more resilient members.

18. The space-based solar power station of claim 17 , wherein the resilient members are springs.

19. The space-based solar power station of claim 18 , wherein the resilient members and the power transmitter are configured to compact within the same plane.

20. The space-based solar power station of claim 16 , further comprising one or more conductive elements that extend between the offset to conductively couple the power transmitter and the photovoltaic cell.

21. The space-based solar power station of claim 14 , wherein each of the independent power generation tiles further comprise one or more collectors configured to concentrate incoming solar radiation onto each of the photovoltaic cells, and wherein the collectors are configured to engage with one or more resilient support structures configured to displace the collectors into and out of the plane of the photovoltaic cell.

22. The space-based power station of claim 1 , wherein the moveably interconnected structural elements are under a prestress tensional force, the pr

Assignees

• California Inst Of Techn

Inventors

• Pellegrino Sergio
• Atwater Harry A
• Hajimiri Seyed Ali
• Arya Manan
• Lee Nicolas
• Delapierre Melanie

Classifications

• H02S40/42

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• H02S10/40

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• B64G1/66

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• B64G1/407

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• B64G1/403

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