Lithium-ion for Pico satellites power system

Abstract

Nowadays lithium ion battery has been widely used for most of the Pico satellites. Lithium ion battery is used because of the higher capacity compared to other types of battery. To achieve maximum efficiency from the battery, it requires system that can control the charging and discharging process. This system is very important in order to maximize the lifetime of the battery as well as to provide a better performance of the power system to the satellite. There are three ways in order to control charging and discharging process of the lithium ion battery and one of them is to use a microcontroller. This is the most advance process where it provides safer charging method, time efficient as well as higher efficiency with lower cost compare to contemporary system. Contemporary system requires higher cost to obtain higher efficiency. Based on the performance characteristics, lithium ion power system is capable to deliver high efficiency performance and easily programmable to meet requirements.