AERO9610

The Space Segment

Week 5-2 Power Storage and

Management
 Summary
In this lecture, we will learn
• Power Storage
• Power Management and Distribution
• Power Budget and Power System Design

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 State-of-the-Art - Energy Storage
• Primary and secondary batteries are used for power storage when
solar energy is not available:
• Primary – not rechargeable, used for short mission durations.
• Secondary – rechargeable, ubiquitous on spacecraft missions.

• Typically, secondary batteries used in space applications include:

- nickel-cadmium (NiCd),
- nickel-hydrogen (NiH2),
- lithium polymer (LiPo),
- and lithium-ion (Li-ion)

• The current state-of-the-art energy storage systems use Li-ion or Generalised specific energy versus specific
power map. Credits: Encyclopedia of Energy
LiPo cells.

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 Key Performance Criteria for Satellite Batteries
• Battery Capacity: Charge stored by mass of active material ()
• Battery Voltage: Electric potential difference ()
• Battery Power: Energy stored (capacity * voltage, )
• Battery Cell Configuration: Series (voltage requirement), parallel
(capacity requirement), S–P, P-S topology
• Type of Battery: Determined by chemical composition, e.g., lithium-ion,
nickel-metal hydride, etc.
• Physical Mass: Weight of battery pack (g or kg)
• Specific Energy: energy per unit mass (
• Depth of Discharge (DoD): Percentage of discharged capacity compared
to nominal capacity

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 Secondary Li-ion and Lipo Batteries
• Typically, Li-ion cells deliver an average voltage of 3.6 V and the highest
specific energy obtained is well over 150 Wh/kg (latest cells have exceeded 240
Wh/kg).
• Variables that impact the aging of Li-ion batteries include temperature,
charge/discharge rate, depth of discharge and storage conditions.
• Li-ion and Lipo cells are typically manufactured in the following form factors:
• 18650 Cells (18 x 65 mm): industry standard, commonly used for SmallSats.
• 21700 Cells (21 x 70 mm): gaining popularity, offer high energy densities.
• 4680 Cells (46 x 80 mm): introduced by Tesla, larger form factor.

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 18650 Cells
Cell Specific Energy (Wh kg-1) Flight Heritage
LG ICR18650 B3 (2600
191 NASA’s PhoneSat, NoDES
mAh)
MarCO, ADAPT
Panasonic NCR18650B
243 (Sept 2022*: BioSentinel,
(3350 mAh)
Lunar Flashlight, NeaScout)
Molicel ICR18650H
182 NASA’s EDSN mission
(2200 mAh)
Canon BP-930s (3000
112 NASA’s TechEdSat missions
mAh)
LG MJ1 (3500 mAh) 260 NASA’s PACE mission

[1] Table 3-4, State-of-the-Art Small Spacecraft Technology, NASA

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 21700 Cells

[1] Figure 3.5, State-of-the-Art Small Spacecraft Technology, NASA

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 4680 Cells

[1] https://history-computer.com/4680-battery-cells/
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 Forefront Manufacturers

Commercial Li-ion Manufacturing Space Li-ion Manufacturing

Company Headquarters Company Headquarters
Panasonic Japan EaglePicher Technologies USA
LG Chem South Korea Enersys USA
Samsung South Korea GS Yuasa Japan
E-one Moli Taiwan Saft France
Sony Japan Tesla USA

[1] Table 3-5, State-of-the-Art Small Spacecraft Technology, NASA

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 Example – Battery System Design
• Design a NiCd battery to provide
- Average eclipse load of at for 38 min.
- With battery-to-load loss of 3%.
- Required lifecycle: 10,000 cycles at .
- Use cells with per cell.
- The specific energy of the NiCd battery: .
- Provide for battery redundancy.

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 Example – Battery System Design
• Fig 6.35 → maximum DOD = 30%
- Battery capacity requirement:

• Using 20 Ah cells
- 3 would be required normally
- But 4 are required for redundancy
- Energy capacity of 4 batteries:

• Specific energy ~24 Wh/kg:

Estimated cycle life of post-1970 NiCd
• Assume 1.25V/cell→ 23 cells/battery for 28V bus cells.

Fig. 6.35, Charles Brown, Elements of Spacecraft Design

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 Power Management and Distribution
Power management and distribution (PMAD) systems facilitate power
control to spacecraft electrical loads. PMAD takes a variety of forms
and is often custom-designed to meet specific mission requirements.
• Source control: control of the solar array
• Storage control: control of the batteries
• Output control: control of the power to loads

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 EPS PMAD Example
• 14V SmallSat EPS:
- Radiation-tolerant, flexible.
- Regulated 3.3V, 5V, and 12V.
- Unregulated battery power.
• 28V SmallSat EPS:
- 200-Watt S/A input.
- Provides 3.3V, 5V, and 12V.
- Includes power distribution.
- Radiation-tolerant, I2C, SPI.
• Modular PMAD System:
- Customisable, full power. The SmallSat Electric Power System
portfolio of Ibeos
- 200W to 2.5kW.
- Solar array tracking, battery regulation.
- Fault-protected distribution.
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 EPS PMAD Example
• Linear EPS provides regulated +5V and +3.3V power.
• Unregulated battery power (6 – 8.2V dc) is supplied to modules
compatible with the CubeSat Kit Bus.
• Battery configuration includes two or four 3.7V Li-Po cells.
• Each cell is a standard 1st- and 2nd-generation iPodÆ battery.
• Batteries consist of two cells, operated in series during discharge and
in parallel during charging.
• Up to two batteries can be operated in parallel.
• Non-latching relays switch cells between series and parallel
configurations. Rechargeable Electrical Power System for
• Two independent battery chargers charge cells during charging CubeSat Kit Bus by Pumpkin, Inc.
mode.

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 Initial Power Budget
% of Operating Power for
Minimum Power % of Operating Power for
Subsystem Medium to Large
Consumption Small Spacecraft
Spacecraft
Payload 20 – 50 W 40 40 – 80
Propulsion 0W 0 0–5
Attitude Control 0W 15 5 -10
Communications 15 W 5 5 -10
Command and Data
5W 5 5 -10
Handling
Thermal 0W 5 0–5
Power 10 – 30 W 30 5 – 25
Structure 0W 0 0

Table 10-9, Wertz, et al., Space Mission Engineering: New SMAD

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 Power System Preliminary Design Process
1. Select power source
2. Establish power requirements
• Power consumption for each mission mode
• Energy balance for each mode
• Set power source requirements
• Set power storage requirements
3. Size power generation system
4. Size power storage system
5. Determine requirements for power distribution
6. Establish mass and power budgets for power system
7. Conduct trade studies to improve design and refine power requirements

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 Take-aways
In this lecture, we have to
• Understand two types of batteries for power storage.
• Understand performance parameters for satellite batteries.
• Understand Li-ion and Lipo batteries.
• Apply and analyse battery system design
• Understand the power management and distribution.
• Apply the power budget to your design.
• Understand the power system preliminary design process.

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