Development of space solar cells at Spectrolab

Author

Boisvert, J. ; Law, D. ; King, R. ; Bhusari, D. ; Liu, X. ; Mesropian, S. ; Larrabee, D. ; Woo, R. ; Edmondson, K. ; Krut, D. ; Peterson, D. ; Rouhani, K. ; Benedikt, B. ; Karam, N.

Author_Institution

Boeing-Spectrolab, Inc., Sylmar, CA, USA

fYear

2011

fDate

19-24 June 2011

Abstract

High efficiency Inverted Metamorphic (IMM) and Semiconductor Bonded Technology (SBT) multi-junction solar cells have been under development at Spectrolab for use in space and near space applications. This paper will review the present state-of-the-art of this technology at Spectrolab with an emphasis on performance characterization data at operating conditions that these solar cells will experience in flight. Solar cell current-bias characteristics under illumination (LIV) at AM0 28°C are presented along with external quantum efficiency measurements that are used to verify the X-25 solar simulator LIV short circuit current density. A mechanical and thermal stress model has been used to predict mechanical stresses on a ultra-lightweight panel assembly in orbit and will be discussed.

Keywords

solar cells; space power generation; thermal stresses; LIV short circuit current density; Spectrolab; X-25 solar simulator; external quantum efficiency measurement; inverted metamorphic solar cells; mechanical stress model; multijunction solar cells; semiconductor bonded technology; space solar cells; temperature 28 C; thermal stress model; ultralightweight panel assembly; Photovoltaic cells; Photovoltaic systems; Semiconductor device measurement; Space vehicles; Stress; Substrates;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Photovoltaic Specialists Conference (PVSC), 2011 37th IEEE

Conference_Location

Seattle, WA

ISSN

0160-8371

Print_ISBN

978-1-4244-9966-3

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/PVSC.2011.6186250

Filename

6186250