Realization and Space-Qualification of a Solar Composite Panel With Integrated Supercapacitors

Abstract Available energy is the most decisive factor for a successful space mission. The electrical energy provided, determines the duration of the mission and thus the amount of scientific data obtained. A lot of research is currently done to develop powerful and efficient batteries. Due to the chemical storage processes their lifetime is limited to much less than 30000 cycles. In contrast, supercapacitors use reversable physical processes for energy storage. This principle allows more than 1 million cycles. Therefore, they can be considered as maintenance-free and to be the ideal candidates for structural integration. This approach offers great opportunities to save weight and volume, which are interesting properties for expensive space applications. In this publication, semi-finished thin-film supercapacitors are integrated into fiber-reinforced plastics composites by autoclave processing. The supercapacitors are manufactured using aluminum collectors coated a with an activated carbon electrode. As electrolyte the ionic liquid 1-ethyl-3-methylimidazolium bis(trifluoromethylsulfonyl)imide is used as electrolyte. Within the project Hybrid Solar Energy Storage (HySES) an experimental setup was build using commercial batteries and integrated supercapacitors for a DLR satellite mission. After intensive electro-mechanical material characterizations and design challenges the whole setup was tested under vacuum-thermal cycling and intensive mechanical stresses. Following the project Peak Power Platform (PPP) 2019, this is the second application using integrated supercapacitors proven for in-orbit tests.