A CubeSat deployable solar panel system

Abstract

The power usage of CubeSat's onboard systems has increased with the complexity of the systems included. This paper presents a deployment system design which creates a plane of solar panels to collect energy. This allows more panels to be in direct normal sunlight at any given point (in conjunction with the onboard attitude determination and control system), facilitating increased power generation. The deployable system is comprised of a printed circuit board (holding the solar cells) which is attached to an aluminum hinge. The efficacy of this approach for power generation and its simplicity, as compared to other prospective approaches, are assessed herein.