CubeSats primary structures are usually made with aluminium alloys, with few examples of CFRP primary structures under study. Power system battery arrays usually occupy spacecraft internal volume and mass that should be available to the payload. A CFRP structural/battery array configuration has been designed, allowing to integrate the electrical power system in the bus primary structure. Its configuration has been developed with the modular design philosophy of the AraMiS CubeSat. It is sized as a tile, mounted on an external face of the 1U CubeSat. It accommodates two solar cells, while the opposite face accommodates power system circuitry. Following a cellular structure concept, a set of commercial LiPo batteries has been placed between two CFRP panels and spaced out with CFRP ribs. Compliance with launch mechanical loads has been evaluated with a finite element analysis. A preliminary thermal analysis has been performed to simulate a LEO orbit environment. The results indicate that even with a low degree of structural integration, more volume and mass can be allocated to the payload, with respect to traditional, functionally separated designs in aluminium alloy. The low degree of integration allows to employ relatively cheap, commercial off-the-shelf components.

Design of a multifunctional composite structure for modular CubeSat applications / Capovilla, Giorgio; Cestino, Enrico; Reyneri, Leonardo M.; Romeo, Giulio. - ELETTRONICO. - 304:(2019), pp. 1-8. (Intervento presentato al convegno 9th EASN International Conference on Innovation in Aviation & Space tenutosi a Athens nel 3-6 September 2019) [10.1051/matecconf/201930407001].

Design of a multifunctional composite structure for modular CubeSat applications

CAPOVILLA, GIORGIO;Enrico Cestino;Leonardo M. Reyneri;Giulio Romeo
2019

Abstract

CubeSats primary structures are usually made with aluminium alloys, with few examples of CFRP primary structures under study. Power system battery arrays usually occupy spacecraft internal volume and mass that should be available to the payload. A CFRP structural/battery array configuration has been designed, allowing to integrate the electrical power system in the bus primary structure. Its configuration has been developed with the modular design philosophy of the AraMiS CubeSat. It is sized as a tile, mounted on an external face of the 1U CubeSat. It accommodates two solar cells, while the opposite face accommodates power system circuitry. Following a cellular structure concept, a set of commercial LiPo batteries has been placed between two CFRP panels and spaced out with CFRP ribs. Compliance with launch mechanical loads has been evaluated with a finite element analysis. A preliminary thermal analysis has been performed to simulate a LEO orbit environment. The results indicate that even with a low degree of structural integration, more volume and mass can be allocated to the payload, with respect to traditional, functionally separated designs in aluminium alloy. The low degree of integration allows to employ relatively cheap, commercial off-the-shelf components.
File in questo prodotto:
Non ci sono file associati a questo prodotto.
Pubblicazioni consigliate

I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.

Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/11583/2759712
 Attenzione

Attenzione! I dati visualizzati non sono stati sottoposti a validazione da parte dell'ateneo