Journal of Emerging Trends in Engineering and Applied Sciences: Research Areas

Article Title: Development of Software-Based Intelligent Power Storage and Management Control System (IPSMCS) For Satellite Application
by Adegboye, K.A. And Baruwa, A. A.

Abstract:
It is imperative that electrical power supply reliability and stability is pre-eminence for satellites to navigate their orbits and achieve their various application objectives. The Satellite Electrical Power Subsystem (EPS) generates, stores, controls, conditions and effectively distributes power for satellite's housekeeping operations. The motive of this research work is to develop a software-based intelligent Power Storage and Management Control System (IPSMCS) for application in the intelligent coordination of power storage, power savings, load switching and control of battery temperature in the EPS of a satellite. However, many application programs are suitable in this application such as; Fortran programming language, C-programming language, Assembly programming language and among others. But in this work, C-programming language was considered to develop the IPSMCS program codes to be implemented in KT69A53 microcontroller for software-based intelligence while Java programming language was used to achieve a simulation model for virtual test for system efficiency. The IPSMCS managed power through load shedding and power-cycling and actuated fault protection mechanism during power emergencies very quickly and automatically especially during a natural phenomenon dark period such as eclipse and sunlight orbit periods. It provides intelligence for real-time power storage. It monitored the solar source outputs to determine orbit periods, so also is the battery charge and discharge processes to determine threshold levels for Battery State Of Charge (SOC) and Depth Of Discharge (DOD) and actuated suitable battery charge rate regime for effective system performance. The IPSMCS offered an improvement over the conventional satellite power management and control systems with regards to the system's size reduction, self-contained intelligence, flexibility and improved system response to power emergencies. In this regard, a sustainable reliability of orbit operation is guaranteed and assured.

Keywords: spacecraft, satellite, electrical power supply, orbit, software, battery, solar array.

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