A lean satellite electrical power system with direct energy transfer and bus voltage regulation based on a bi-directional buck converter

The lean satellite approach requires aggressive measures for cutting development time and resource utilization; therefore, the power system should be simple, with a low part count, high reliability, and good electrical performance. The fully-regulated bus direct energy transfer (FRDET) architecture is considered the most common solution for big satellites; however, it is rarely used in lean satellite designs because of its complexity and the lack of commercial off-the-shelf solutions. Based on this, a new implementation of the FRDET architecture was proposed, prototyped, and evaluated. The system was based on a bidirectional converter that charges and discharges the battery while maintaining the bus voltage regulation. The system was evaluated by comparing it with the prevailing architectures in the field, in terms of efficiency and average harvested solar power per orbit. The proposed system was superior in both aspects which made it more suitable for its application in lean satellite designs.