SBIR-STTR Award

NASA needs lower cost solar arrays with high performance for a variety of missions. While high efficiency, space-qualified solar cells are in themselves costly, > $250/Watt, there is considerable additional cost associated with the parts and labor needed to integrate the Photovoltaic Assembly. The standard approach has evolved with only minor changes, sacrificing cost because of risk aversion. Integration cost can be as much as double the bare cell cost – i.e. >$500/watt. Dramatic cost savings can be realized through manufacturing engineering of more efficient automated assembly processes. If the design of the Photovoltaic Assembly could be modified to be compatible with conventional and automatable electronic assembly and terrestrial solar panel assembly approaches, there could be considerable cost savings. There are many additional benefits with automation which include higher quality and consistency. This can reduce failures, increase production throughput, speed turnaround, and improve overall reliability. Cost and quality improvements can be realized on both thin and rigid arrays, increasing current capabilities, and enabling future high power missions. The benefits of automation are enhanced by the need for high power generation in support of energy intensive space missions. A 300kW array at $500/W would cost $150M just for the solar cell integrated array panels. A $150/W cell integration cost reduction would translate into savings of $45M, before considering the immediate and substantial benefits in consistency, reliability, and schedule. The Phase I effort demonstrates feasibility of a low cost array using an automated and integrated manufacturing approach, performed on an automation friendly solar cell, verified with environmental testing, and is used to predict array cost for a high power mission. Meeting these technical objectives will demonstrate reduced cost and justify a Phase II SBIR program preparing for a flight experiment.

Spacecraft for NASA, DoD and commercial missions need higher power than ever before, with lower mass, compact stowage, and lower cost. While high efficiency, space-qualified solar cells are in themselves costly, integrating them into a high performance Photovoltaic Assembly (PVA) using conventional glassing, interconnecting, stringing, tiling and laydown techniques can double their cost in $/Watt. The cost of solar power could be significantly reduced if the design of the Photovoltaic Assembly could be modified, modularized and standardized to be compatible with automated electronic assembly and terrestrial solar panel manufacturing methods. Additional benefits of such an approach include higher quality and consistency, improved qualification traceability, and robustness on thin flexible as well as rigid arrays. During the Phase I effort Vanguard successfully demonstrated automated pick-and-place, electrical interconnection, and adhesive dispensing adapted to our lightweight flexible Thin Integrated Solar (THINS) PVA. THINS uses multi-cell covers and advanced interconnection and encapsulation technology, which enables automated integration of traditional and advanced space qualified solar cells. Engineering economic analysis showed the potential for >30% PVA $/Watt cost reduction, while the encapsulation approach associated with THINS showed enhanced durability in space environments, even at high voltages and extreme thermal cycle environments. During the Phase II Program we will further enhance our automated sub-module manufacturing, and scale the approach to the module level. Automated assembly scale up will be performed while integrating into an existing deployable space structure platform, enhancing the TRL of a high performance high power application of automated cell integration scalable from tens to hundreds of kilowatts, and providing a credible commercialization path, all while reducing solar array costs by more than $150/W.