2nd IEEE International Conference on Power and Energy (PECon 08), December 1-3, 2008, Johor Baharu, Malaysia

Energy Balance Analysis of Small Satellite in

Low Earth Orbit (LEO)
Sung-Soo Jang* and Jaeho Choi**
*

**

Chungbuk National University, Cheongju, S. Korea. Email: ssjang@kari.re.kr

Chungbuk National University, Cheongju, S. Korea. Email: choi@chungbuk.ac.kr

Abstract In general, satellite electrical power system

plays an important role in its mission performance. To
perform the mission successfully, the satellite should be
provided with the sufficient power until End-of-Life (EOL).
To supply the sufficient power, it is not easy to install of
larger power generation and storage source with power
control units on satellite. Also, the thermal control is
difficult in the space. The various technologies have been
developed to reduce the satellite power sizing and to design
power efficiently.
The peak power tracking (PPT) method has been developed
for spacecraft power system to use maximum available
power of solar array. In general, to compensate for the solar
cells degradation at EOL in satellite, the solar array will be
designed with big enough margin. And, when the spacecraft
exits eclipses, the peak output power of a solar array
becomes very higher than its peak output power in the
normal sunlight operation power. As a result, the spacecraft
power system should dissipate high excess power through
shunt regulators in the beginning of mission and after
eclipse exit. To avoid the high power dissipation in the
beginning of life and to utilize maximum available power
after eclipse exit, the PPT is used in many recent spacecraft.
Particularly, this PPT method is useful for the spacecraft in
lower orbit because it goes through a large number of
eclipse.
Keywords Electrical power system (EPS); Satellite; Peak
power tracking (PPT); End-of-life (EOL)

I.

INTRODUCTION

The purpose of this paper is to present the results of

trade-off study to decide the sizing of Electrical Power
System (EPS) in small satellite in Low Earth Orbit (LEO).
Also this paper describes the power analysis methods and
input data used in the EPS End-of-Life, worst case, and
energy balance analyses for payload operations of
satellite mission in LEO. Both 01:10 PM and 01:25 PM
crossing time are considered, so the required power in
each case is analyzed with satellite roll maneuver
according to payload operation concept.
Cases considered during the analysis effort were each
payload roll maneuvers degrees for Local Time
Ascending Node (LTAN) of 01:10 PM and 01:25 PM. In
addition, data transmission to the Ground Station during
eclipse is investigated at LTAN of 01:00 PM, to assess
the greatest science mode battery DOD.
II.

control and distribution. The solar array (SA) will be

capable of supplying adequate power to recharge the
battery and maintain energy balance in each orbit at the
end of life. The rechargeable battery will be capable of
supplying steady state and transient electrical power to
spacecraft loads and to the instrument throughout the
various injection or operational modes. It provides
control circuits and driving motors to give single axis
pointing control for the solar array. It develops and
conditions telemetry measurements for selected power
system monitoring points. The EPS provides redundant
control of all the deployment release circuits. It also
provides the DC wiring harnesses for electrically
interconnecting the spacecraft and instrument equipment.
The EPS functional block diagram is shown in Fig. 1.
The SA generates the electrical power during periods of
solar illumination throughout the operational life of the
spacecraft, delivers the sufficient power to supply normal
spacecraft bus, payloads the power demands, and
achieves the per-orbit energy balance.
The battery will provide electrical energy to the
satellite during pre-launch operations, the launch phase,
eclipse periods, and during periods of peak power
demand that exceeds solar array output capability.
The solar array regulator (SAR) converts power from
the spacecraft solar array to the battery-clamped primary
DC power bus.
The power control unit (PCU) receives primary power
from the SAR during the sunlight portion of the orbit or
the battery during eclipse and creates a primary power
bus. The primary bus power is used for battery charging,
and to provide power to the spacecraft loads. And the low
voltage converter in PCU is supplied from the main
power bus.

ELECTRICAL POWER SYSTEM

The EPS provides solar energy, electrical energy

conversion and storage, voltage conversion, power

1-4244-2405-4/08/$20.00 2008 IEEE

Fig. 1. EPS functional block diagram.

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2nd IEEE International Conference on Power and Energy (PECon 08), December 1-3, 2008, Johor Baharu, Malaysia

III.
A.

The Required Power for Satellite Mission

time, a worst case of pitch-axis error and computed the

value of equivalent yaw error as the difference between
the real and nominal -angle occuring at summer solstice
were calculated as SA offpoint angle. The difference
between the actual -angle and the nominal -angle
provides the second orthogonal component of the SA
offpoint angle. But, in the each roll maneuver operation
the offpoint angle used is provided by system engineering
and SA drive error angle from attitude control engineer.
Figure 5 is the SA offpoint angle as a function of orbit
suntime.

Assumptions

In this paper, 700km altitude, the sun-synchronous

orbit is used for satellite in LEO. Before anything else, to
perform the power analysis, some assumptions are taken
for all LTAN with roll maneuver to take a consideration
of worst case conditions.
The assumptions are as followings:
- EOL worst case solar array degradation
- Summer solstice intensity
- Battery has one shorted cell
- Solar array high temperature
- Spacecraft load profile with payload operation
- Solar array offpoint angle variation
- Solar array shadow is present during most of suntime,
shadowing solar cell strings will not producing output
current
- Solar array clamped to battery voltage after eclipse

C. PPT Operation Characteristic

Peak Power Tracking (PPT) algorithm is used to

B. Considered Input Data for Power Analysis

In this paper, only the science mode power analysis
was considered. In satellite power analysis, of course, all
environmental conditions which can affect the SA power
are considered. So, in the paper, all factor that affect the
power including the load profile, SA temperature, SA
offpoint angle, and SA shadowing effect will be
discussed. Also, margin factors are included in the energy
balance analysis program for worst case conditions.

(a)

1) Satellite Load Profile

Fig. 2 shows the load profile including delta attitude
slew power during 20% Normal Mission and 10% with
30deg. roll maneuver, 2% with 56deg. roll maneuver, and
2% with 30deg. pitch maneuver in science mode. Added
attitude slew power is needed to driving the reaction
wheel in roll and pitch maneuver. Maximum satellite load
power will be around 780 watts during payload operation.
2) Solar Array Temperature
SA temperature is considered in this analysis. Of
course, the temperature margin uncertainty is added to
thermal engineers temperature data to consider the worst
case conditions. Fig. 3 presents the SA worst-case hot
temperature profile with temperature margin uncertainty
added during orbit suntime at EOL.

(b)
Fig. 2. Satellite load profile in science mode. (a) 20% mission load
profile in science mode, (b) Mission load in 10% with 30deg. 2% with
56 deg. Roll, and 2% with 30deg. Pitch maneuver.

3) Solar Array Shadowing Effect

The shadowing effect has been analyzed in the SA as
an orbit suntime function. In worst case analysis,
supposed that even though the string is shadowed
partially, this string cant produce the power. So, in 01:25
PM crossing time with roll maneuver, partially
shadowing strings cant produce the power in the
analysis. Fig. 4 is SA shadowing effect in 01:10 PM and
01:25 PM crossing time.
4) Solar Array Offpoint Angle
In the roll maneuver operation, systems engineering
has considered the each roll angle case at each crossing
time. In the zero roll operation at 01:25 PM crossing

Fig. 3. Solar array temperature profile EOL worst-case science mode.

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2nd IEEE International Conference on Power and Energy (PECon 08), December 1-3, 2008, Johor Baharu, Malaysia

(a)

(a)

(b)

(b)

Fig. 4. Solar array shadowing effect. (a) SA shadowing factors in 10%

with 30deg. and 2% with 56deg. roll mission @01:10PM: (b) SA
shadowing factors in 10% with 30deg. and 2% with 56deg. roll mission
@01:25PM.

Fig. 5. Solar array offpoint angle. (a) SA offpoint angle in 10% with
30deg. and 2% with 56deg. roll mission @01:10PM: (b) SA offpoint
angle in 10% with 30deg. and 2% with 56deg. roll mission @01:25PM.

extract the maximum SA power for satellite-load and

high-rate battery charging power. The use of PPT
algorithm results in EPS optimal sizing to support the
satellite mission successfully.
In Fig. 1, Solar Array Regulator (SAR) consists of buck
regulator with pulse-width-modulation (PWM) duty
cycles (D) by processor commands. With this
architecture, PPT algorithm is operating to track the
maximum solar array power. The calculation of PWM
duty cycles for PPT is based on the transfer function of a
buck-converter. General buck-converter output voltage
(Vout) has linear relation to the PWM duty cycles (D)
and the input voltage (Vin). The buck-converter is
directly connected to the solar array, as shown in Fig. 1.
The transfer function characteristic of a buck-converter is
combined with the solar array operation characteristic
curve.
The solar array has specific I-V curve characteristic
with illumination, temperature, and degradation. As
temperature increases, the solar-array open-voltage (Voc)
decreased dramatically. But it shows that solar-array
short-circuit current (Isc) is not changing much.
Fig. 6 is the ratio (Kmp) of open-circuit voltage (Voc)
and peak-power voltage (Vmp) on orbit. The Kmp is
almost constant during sunlight on orbit in Fig. 6. The
SAR transfer function is driven as following Eq. (1):

where, Kmp = Voc / Vmp.

The Kmp for the maximum solar array power varies
from BOL to EOL. And calculated PWM duty cycles
with Kmp for SAR operation will be used to track the
solar array peak power region. To update Kmp in real
operation, the solar array data should be analyzed and the
new value should be updated. To calculate PWM duty
cycles for SAR operation to track the peak power of solar
array, there are several steps in PPT algorithm.
Step 1) Read the battery voltage (Vbat)
Step 2) Command SAR1 PWM duty cycle to zero
Step 3) Read SAR1 solar array open-circuit voltage

SAR Duty Cycles for PPT = 255 X [Vbus / (Voc/Kmp)

Fig. 6. Kmp

(1)

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characteristic curve in PPT algorithm.

2nd IEEE International Conference on Power and Energy (PECon 08), December 1-3, 2008, Johor Baharu, Malaysia

during the roll maneuver because Fig. 12 uses the

minimum value of solar array power needed for achieving
energy balance in one orbit. The actual SA predicted
power capability in orbit at EOL is larger than the
required power. If this power is produced, even though in
the worst case orbit, the discharging current in the battery
will not occur.
In PPT operation, the peak voltage of SA is around 47
volts. Due to the EPS operation mode, the SA input
operation point will be adjusted to supply the proper
power of the satellite load.
In the eclipse, battery voltage will be down below the
25 volts, but it will be reached max 32 volts in carging
mode. And maximum charging current is approximately

Step 4) Calculate the new PWM duty cycle (D) for PPT
D = Kmp x Vbat / Voc
Step 5) Command the new PWM duty cycle to SAR
The PPT algorithm to find maximum solar array power
using Eq. (1) is guaranteed in the range of normal
charging battery voltage. In the lower voltage of the
battery caused by some faults, the PPT algorithms can not
find solar array peak power efficiently. But the long time
duration of lower battery voltage could not be happen in
satellite power design. If any, the time is a few
milliseconds like as fuse blown in the PCU, freewheeling
diode and MOSFET short in the SAR.
Figure 7 shows the maximum SA power voltage (Vmp)
in PPT mode using EOL solar cell characteristic on orbit.
The PPT constant value for EOL power simulation was
applied to track maximum SA power. After eclipse, Vmp
reached about 50 volts and it decreased until around 40
volts in PPT operation mode during sunlight. In the PPT
operation mode, the SAR PWM duty cycle was analyzed
using power simulation.
And, it was illustrated in Fig. 8. After eclipse exit,
PWM is operating at 57.6% to track maximum power and
is going up till 75.1% in higher SA temperature. Fig. 9
shows the normalized solar array output with respect to
SAR switching duty cycles at 28deg.C of solar array.
D. Analysis Method
The suntime-dependent input data sets previously
described were entered into the EPS energy balance
computer program. The output of this program includes
an identification of the minimum amount of solar array
power required to achieve per-orbit safe battery recharge,
as well as the battery depth-of-discharge incurred during
eclipse.
IV.

Fig. 7. SA Vmp in PPT operation.

CONCLUSION

A positive SA power margin exists for all satellite

operation cases analyzed. Table 1 summarizes the EPS
energy balance analysis results in each crossing time with
roll maneuver. As shown in Table 1, the power margin is
positive and battery Depth of Discharge (DOD) is
acceptable in all cases. Minimum power margin of 4.9 %
occurs at 01:25 PM crossing time with the largest roll
maneuver. And battery DOD range of 26.35 % to 26.67%
occurs for all roll maneuver cases. The maximum battery
DOD is 33 % for Korean ground station pass during
eclipse with LTAN of 01:00 PM. Fig. 10 shows that the
satellite battery cycle capability with a 33 % DOD,
providing 81 % cycle life margin.
Figure 11 shows that the results of required power to
provide the satellite mission with LTAN. The required
power of 01:10PM is larger than that of 01:25PM.
Figure 12 presents SA performance and battery charging
power of 10% mission with 30deg. Roll maneuver
operation in science mode with largest roll and shadow at
01:25PM crossing time. Battery may be discharged

Fig. 8. SAR PWM characteristic curve in PPT operation.

Fig. 9. Normalized Solar Array Output vs. SAR Duty Cycle @28deg.C

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2nd IEEE International Conference on Power and Energy (PECon 08), December 1-3, 2008, Johor Baharu, Malaysia

Table 1. EPS energy balance analysis results.

Crossing Time
Satellite
Operation
SA Power
Generation(W)
Required
Power(W)
Power
Margin(%)
DOD(%)
Crossing Time
Satellite
Operation
SA Power
Generation(W)
Required
Power(W)
Power
Margin(%)
DOD(%)

01:10 PM
Roll
10%
2%
30deg.
56deg.

Pitch
2%
30deg.

1,050

1,050

1,050

1,050

984

946

995

820

6.7

10.9

5.5

28

Normal
20%
0deg.

26.67

26.67
26.67
01:25 PM
Roll
10%
2%
30deg.
56deg.

Pitch
2%
30deg.

1,050

1,050

1,050

1,050

988

950

1001

837

6.3

10.5

4.9

25.4

26.35

26.35

26.35

26.35

Normal
20%
0deg.

25 amps in PPT operation. Battery DOD in previous orbit

was 21.9%, but battery will be fully recharged in the next
sunlight and Recharge Ratio (RR) will be reached 1.12
before next eclipse entrance.

26.67

(a)

(b)
Fig. 12. Satellite load power, solar array, and battery performance
prediction with minimum required power.

Fig. 10. Battery life cycles prediction with DOD.

REFERENCES
[1] W.J.Larson and J.R.Wertz, Space Mission Analysis
and Design, Kluwer Academic Publishers, 1995.
[2] Willard R. Scott, Sealed Cell Nickel Cadmium Battery
Application Manual, NASA, 1979.
[3] Mukund R. Patel, Spacecraft Power Systems, CRC
Press, 2005.

Fig. 11. Required power for science mode operation in 01:10PM and
01:25PM.

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