Article ID | Journal | Published Year | Pages | File Type |
---|---|---|---|---|
4991669 | Applied Thermal Engineering | 2017 | 10 Pages |
Abstract
The energy generation and supply for in-orbit spacecraft have become an urgent problem concerning efficient and economical utilization of spacecraft formation flying. To fill the gap between the requirement of inter-spacecraft energy transfer and the development of wireless power transfer, this paper presents a novel wireless power transfer system whose transmission medium is concentrated sunlight. The system concentrates sunlight using a Fresnel lens, and changes the direction of concentrated sunlight beam with optical fibers. The light energy is converted to thermal form by a heat collector, and then it is utilized to generate electricity by a Stirling engine integrated with linear alternator. Equipments employed on fractionated spacecraft shall be supported by this electric energy. A coupled optic-thermodynamic model was developed to analyze system link efficiencies. This system offers characteristics such as high flexibility, relatively low cost for launch and maintenance, and most importantly, high end-to-end efficiency. Simulation results show that the geometric concentration ratio and the temperature ratio of expansion and compression spaces are two key parameters of this system. Output power of 234.3Â W was achieved on the distance of 100Â m, and the end-to-end efficiency of the system was above 20%.
Related Topics
Physical Sciences and Engineering
Chemical Engineering
Fluid Flow and Transfer Processes
Authors
Ming-Liang Zhong, Yun-Ze Li, Yu-Feng Mao, Yi-Hao Liang, Jia Liu,