ADVANCED HIGH ENERGY ULTRALIGHT PHOTOVOLTAIC ARRAY FOR NON-NUCLEAR SPACE POWER

THE GENERAL OBJECTIVE OF THIS PROPOSAL IS TO DEVELOP NON-NUCLEAR, HIGH ENERGY DENSITY ENABLING TECHNOLOGY FOR A NEW KIND OF ADVANCED SOLAR HIGH-POWER PHOTOVOLTAIC (PV) ARRAYS FOR SPACE APPLICATIONS. THE SPECIFIC OBJECTIVE IS TO FABRICATE AN ULTRALIGHT, FLEXIBLE, PV ARRAY UTILIZING AMORPHOUS SILICON ALLOY THIN FILM SOLAR CELLS AND CAPABLE OF GENERATING ELECTRIC POWER AT 300 V DC, A PROTOTYPE OF ARRAYS THAT WILL BE REQUIRED IN FUTURE, HIGH-POWER, SPACE POWER SYSTEMS. THE CONSTRUCTION OF THE ARRAY WILL BE SUCH AS TO PREVENT LEAKAGE AND ARCING. THE ARRAY WILL BE OF SUFFICIENT SIZE (1-2 M SQUARE AND CAPABLE OF DELIVERING SIGNIFICANT POWER (50-100 W AT AM1) TO PROVIDE EVIDENCE OF SCALABILITY TO LARGE SYSTEMS. THE APPROACH WILL CONSIST OF THE STEPS OF PRODUCING TANDEM-JUNCTION, SINGLE-GAP, A-SI ALLOY SOLAR CELLS IN EXISTING ROLL-TO-ROLL DEPOSITION PROCESSOES, FABRICATION OF MONOLITHIC MODULES, INTERCONNECTING THEM INTO A HIGH-VOLTAGE ARRAY, ENCAPSULATING IT AND TESTING ITS PV PERFORMANCE AND PROTECTION AGAINST LEAKAGE AND ARCING AT HIGH VOLTAGES.