INTEGRATING ELECTRICAL SYSTEMS WITH SOLAR

ARRAYS

Mentor : Brent Hughes

Noah Garcia-Galan

Lockheed Martin 2100 Space Park Drive

ISM Teacher: Mrs.Click

*Some information in this presentation comes from outside sources.

LOCKHEED MARTIN

Left : Brent Hughes

Right : Noah Garcia -Galan

Brent Hughes Works as the Technical director at Lockheed Martin

After graduating from Texas AM, Brent Hughes established himself at Lockheed Martin where, through years of working for various projects such as the space shuttle, become Manager of an electrical designs team

MANAGERIAL ASPECT

• Mr. Hughes manages the Electrical Power Systems (EPS) team for Lockheed Martin, which supports the NASA Orion contract.

• He is responsible for the technical leadership of the product team that develops the following: • Power Generation including solar arrays• Power distribution in the Crew Module and Service Module• Power Storage, including Lithium ion batteries

• Mr. Hughes also manages the budget and schedule of the design, manufacturing and test of all the components of the EPS system• Management of the schedule is critical since there are many parts

that need to be procured in advanced to be able to assemble the spacecraft on time

• Budget planning and execution includes material cost, development of designed products, and engineering support required to do design, installation, and test of the EPS hardware

LOCKHEED MARTIN’S ROLE IN ORION

• Lockheed Martin is the prime contactor for the Orion project.

• The company designs, manufactures, and tests spacecraft that need to meet the requirements and objectives that are provided by NASA

• As a prime contractor, Lockheed integrates other sub-contactor’s efforts and manages the overall development of the spacecraft• Sub-contactors managed by Lockheed include:

• Hamilton Sandtrand• Honeywell• Aerojet

• Lockheed also does the assembly and test operations to ensure that the spacecraft is working as designed once it is built

ELECTRICAL SYSTEMS DETAILS

• Electrical Power Systems on Orion are comprised of Power Generation, Storage, and a Power Distribution sub-subsystem.

• Power Generation:• There are 4 Solar Array Panels in the Service Module (SM) of Orion,

which are deployed after orbit insertion, several minutes after launch.

• The Solar Panels provide electrical power from deployment to Crew Module (CM) – SM separation, approximately 20 minutes before Orion re-entry into Earth Atmosphere.

• Power Storage:• There are 4 Lithium Ion Batteries located in the CM, which store

power generated by the Solar Panels, and provide electrical power during eclipse and after CM-SM separation, when the Solar Panels are no longer available.

• Power Distribution:• Power is distributed by 2 main strings of components in Orion, at

120V.• There are several components that perform the distribution

functions, but the most relevant are the Power Data Units (PDU), and the Load Switch Cards, which provide power switching for the different electrical loads.

MATH MODELS• The EPS designers rely on math models to obtain predictions of the EPS

system at different levels• Power Generation – Solar cell and Panel performance:

• The Solar Panels are comprised of solar cells with specific electrical characteristics. The math models enable the engineers to calculate how much the individual cells produce, and how much is expected from the entire Solar Panel given things like temperature, sun angle, etc.

• Power Storage: Battery Performance and margins• The Orion batteries are used during times when there is no solar

power available from the arrays, so it is critical to understand how much capacity is available, and how quickly they will drain.

• Math models can calculate how fast the power will be drained from the batteries, and how long a voltage level can be maintained on the bus by calculating the total amount of current from all the loads like: heaters, fans, lights, etc.

• Power distribution: Similar to electrical systems in homes, Orion EPS has protection from short circuits, etc. • Math models can calculate how many loads can be connected to

a switch, given the load current demand and capacitance, and line losses/resistance.

• Through the use of VBA in Excel, math iterations can be run in lengths to describe inherent patters that show a relationship between the parameters given and the performance data.

• The programing language used, VBA, is an event driven language that allows that user to define specific structures that run in setup that is then associated with a “macro”.

• The macros are then either assigned to a command button or run separately to display the results of the coded function.

The main purpose of creating math models is to show the interaction with both the solar arrays and electrical storage systems that supply life essential operations to the crew of either Orion space craft or the International Space Station…

The project appeared to have strong ties with the current Lockheed Martin project of Orion, which would provide a stronger base for possible applications of the math models in the present conditions of the space program."How To: Expose Code to VBA in a Visual Basic Project." How To: Expose Code to VBA in a Visual Basic Project. N.p., n.d. Web. 23 Feb. 2015.

PRODUCT DESIGN

To describe why I chose this product:

What is it about:

Mabbutt, Dan. "What Is Visual Basic?" N.p., n.d. Web. 23 Feb. 2015.

Product

VBA code is viewed in a separate window from excel spread sheet

This representation is similar to the code that will be used in the final product. The only difference will be in the equations used

Once the code is run, either through a button or other means, the function established in the code will use variables that can be determined by the user or another function

CONCLUSION• The project and product both have allowed me to develop a further

understanding of the role electrical and systems engineering has in the field of aerospace engineering.

• With hopes of a possible career in NASA or Lockheed Martin, this mentorship provided information over the processes and structures of the design and systems teams. The importance and applications necessary to complete a specified mission allow for a wide range of groups to develop a complex design that fully integrates various factors that become essential to the continuation of space exploration.

The Mentorship

"Case Study: NASA and Lockheed Martin Use @RISK for Planning First Manned Mission to Mars - Palisade." Case Study: NASA and Lockheed Martin Use @RISK for Planning First Manned Mission to Mars - Palisade. N.p., n.d. Web. 23 Feb. 2015.

Thanks To Graders

Thank you Mr. Hughes and ------ as well as Mrs. Click for allowing me to work with my mentor and evaluate the project I have sustained

REFERENCES"Case Study: NASA and Lockheed Martin Use @RISK for Planning First Manned Mission to Mars - Palisade." Case Study: NASA and Lockheed Martin Use @RISK for Planning First Manned Mission to Mars - Palisade. N.p., n.d. Web. 23 Feb. 2015.

"How To: Expose Code to VBA in a Visual Basic Project." How To: Expose Code to VBA in a Visual Basic Project. N.p., n.d. Web. 23 Feb. 2015.

Mabbutt, Dan. "What Is Visual Basic?" N.p., n.d. Web. 23 Feb. 2015