Failure analysis of deployment mechanism of a satellite solar array

The reliability issue of a solar array deployment mechanism was analyzed with FMECA and FTA. The main failure modes, their effects and criticalities were illustrated. A fault tree was built. Both qualitative analysis and the quantitative analysis of the fault tree were performed. The probability of the top event, the structural importance and the critical importance coefficients of different basic events were calculated. According to the analyses, the main reasons of the satellite solar array deployment mechanism failure and the list of the critical components were presented, and the effects of different failures were classified according to the severity and the criticality of the faults. Recommendations for improving solar arrays´ reliability were provided for reliability design and structure improvement of the satellite solar array deployment mechanism.