Kavli Affiliate: Harry Atwater
| First 5 Authors: Behrooz Abiri, Manan Arya, Florian Bohn, Austin Fikes, Matan Gal-Katziri
| Summary:
We propose a novel design for a lightweight, high-performance space-based
solar power array combined with power beaming capability for operation in
geosynchronous orbit and transmission of power to Earth. We use a modular
configuration of small, repeatable unit cells, called tiles, that each
individually perform power collection, conversion, and transmission. Sunlight
is collected via lightweight parabolic concentrators and converted to DC
electric power with high efficiency III-V photovoltaics. Several CMOS
integrated circuits within each tile generates and controls the phase of
multiple independently-controlled microwave sources using the DC power. These
sources are coupled to multiple radiating antennas which act as elements of a
large phased array to beam the RF power to Earth. The power is sent to Earth at
a frequency chosen in the range of 1-10 GHz and collected with ground-based
rectennas at a local intensity no larger than ambient sunlight. We achieve
significantly reduced mass compared to previous designs by taking advantage of
solar concentration, current CMOS integrated circuit technology, and ultralight
structural elements. Of note, the resulting satellite has no movable parts once
it is fully deployed and all beam steering is done electronically. Our design
is safe, scalable, and able to be deployed and tested with progressively larger
configurations starting with a single unit cell that could fit on a cube
satellite. The design reported on here has an areal mass density of 160 g/m2
and an end-to-end efficiency of 7-14%. We believe this is a significant step
forward to the realization of space-based solar power, a concept once of
science fiction.
| Search Query: ArXiv Query: search_query=au:”Harry Atwater”&id_list=&start=0&max_results=10