Mitigation of Electrostatic Discharge in Space Flexible Solar Arrays via Pseudomorphic Glass‐Integrated Encapsulation

High‐voltage flexible solar arrays are critical for high‐power spacecraft and large‐scale space facilities due to their reduced transmission losses and lightweight advantages. However, electrostatic discharge (ESD) induced by space plasma remains a major reliability constraint under high‐voltage operation. This work proposes a material‐driven mitigation strategy for space solar arrays that suppresses ESD susceptibility through dielectric modulation and integrated encapsulation. Dielectric matching between pseudomorphic glass (PMG) and the substrate enables interfacial electric field regulation. The integrated encapsulation strategy further eliminates triple‐junction regions, altering ESD‐prone regions and interrupting the evolution toward permanent sustained arc (PSA). The flexible solar array maintains electrical performance comparable to rigid panels while offering reduced mass and volume. Meanwhile, compared with traditional coverglass‐encapsulated rigid panels that experience PSA at 110 V, the proposed PMG‐integrated flexible solar array exhibits no PSA events at 800 V under equivalent conditions. Apparently, the high‐voltage flexible solar array in this study exhibits significant potential for enabling efficient and reliable space power generation, holding the promise for assuming a significant role in future space energy systems.

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Publication Details

Journal
Solar RRL
Published
2026-07-01
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1002/solr.70416
Primary Topic
Structural Analysis and Optimization
Type
article
Field-Weighted Citation Impact
0.00

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article

Mitigation of Electrostatic Discharge in Space Flexible Solar Arrays via Pseudomorphic Glass‐Integrated Encapsulation

Hongyun Zhao, Bin Su, Weinan Zhang, Qi Zhang et al.
Solar RRL
Structural Analysis and Optimization
article

Mitigation of Electrostatic Discharge in Space Flexible Solar Arrays via Pseudomorphic Glass‐Integrated Encapsulation

Hongyun Zhao, Bin Su, Weinan Zhang, Qi Zhang, Xiang Fu, Yue Wang, Q Liu, Chengyue Sun, Wei Zhang, Yiyong Wu, Detian Li
article en

Abstract

High‐voltage flexible solar arrays are critical for high‐power spacecraft and large‐scale space facilities due to their reduced transmission losses and lightweight advantages. However, electrostatic discharge (ESD) induced by space plasma remains a major reliability constraint under high‐voltage operation. This work proposes a material‐driven mitigation strategy for space solar arrays that suppresses ESD susceptibility through dielectric modulation and integrated encapsulation. Dielectric matching between pseudomorphic glass (PMG) and the substrate enables interfacial electric field regulation. The integrated encapsulation strategy further eliminates triple‐junction regions, altering ESD‐prone regions and interrupting the evolution toward permanent sustained arc (PSA). The flexible solar array maintains electrical performance comparable to rigid panels while offering reduced mass and volume. Meanwhile, compared with traditional coverglass‐encapsulated rigid panels that experience PSA at 110 V, the proposed PMG‐integrated flexible solar array exhibits no PSA events at 800 V under equivalent conditions. Apparently, the high‐voltage flexible solar array in this study exhibits significant potential for enabling efficient and reliable space power generation, holding the promise for assuming a significant role in future space energy systems.

Solar RRLVol. 10(13)
Harbin Institute of Technology (CN), Tianjin Research Institute of Electric Science (China) (CN), Lanzhou University (CN)
National Key Research and Development Program of China
Affordable and clean energy
Openalex Percentile: Top 12%
Structural Analysis and Optimization
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