Modelling and preliminary thermal study of a fed-by-laser thermoelectric generator system on board of a 3U CubeSat

Abstract

Wireless energy transfer (WET) devices using arrays of hybrid photo-thermoelectric plasmonic (HPTP) generators are under investigation to be a potential power source choice for CubeSats. This power generation system is based on the conversion of photon energy into electric energy via thermal gradients employing a large-range pulsed laser as source. During the study of the devices’ integration on board a 3U CubeSat, the thermal subsystem was identified as the most critical, and thus its study has a major relevance for the demonstration of the technology herein proposed. The methodology employed to characterize the HPTP generators within the CubeSat thermal model is shown in this paper. From here, we cover the influence of the most significant model parameters under a given operational case, as well as a comparison on the performance of different thermoelectric devices configurations. Overall, the results show a maximization of the power obtained with the circular cells configuration and a very small variation in the temperature field with changes in the most significant parameters in the ranges dictated by the European Cooperation for Space Standardization (ECSS) that enables high reliability on the results that could be obtained from the model, despite the uncertainty inherent in a sensitivity study at the early stages of the project development.