Hybrid Energy Storage System for CubeSat Applications

Abstract

Over the last decades, the UAE has initiated multiple space-related projects in order to be among the leading countries in the space field by 2021. To follow the UAE's vision in the space field, YahSat's Lab at Khalifa University provides the opportunity to learn and develop working of small satellites such as CubeSats. In CubeSat, the electrical power subsystem (EPS) is one of the crucial elements which supplies power to all other subsystems. The CubeSat EPS utilizes battery storage system to supply the loads during eclipse period as well as during peak load operation. The main objective of this thesis is to design a hybrid energy storage system (HESS) for the CubeSats with peaky loads and evaluate the performance in terms of battery life cycle. The HESS utilizes ultracapacitors and they are mainly used to support the peaky power loads. As a case study, Light-1 is utilized to design the HESS for the mission. The proposed mission includes using a higher data rate transmitter to ensure downlinking all the data from the CubeSat. Increasing the data rate ensures downloading all data to the ground station, but it presents a significant challenge to the EPS as the power requirement increases. Thus, the HESS is proposed to enhance the EPS performance in terms of ensuring reliability, particularly during peaky load operation. The design procedure of the HESS is included in this thesis along with the evaluation of the system performance. The analytical analysis show that the proposed HESS can enhance the battery life cycles by approximately 29%. The results also show that the total mass of the CubeSat is increased by 14% while the volume is rised by 32.8%. Although, there is a trade-off between the power, mass, and the volume of the CubeSat, however, for peaky power load missions it is sufficient to increase the mass and volume to obtain more power. Also, the ultracapacitor enhances the reliability of the energy storage unit as it ensures the operation of all subsystems in case of battery failure. The simulation results and the analytical studies demonstrate that the proposed HESS is beneficial for future space missions with the peaky loads.

Date of Award	Dec 2020
Original language	American English