Engineering topics

Smith, C. F., Jr.

Publications and source records attributed to Smith, C. F., Jr..

3 records

NASA NTRS1984

Solar-array-materials passive LDEF experiment (A0171)

The objective of this experiment is to evaluate the synergistic effects of the space environment on various solar-array materials, including solar cells, cover slips with various antireflectance coatings, adhesive, encapsulants, reflector materials, substrate strength materials, mast and harness materials, structural composites, and thermal control treatments. The experiment is passive and consists of an arrangement of material specimens mounted in a 3-in.-deep peripheral tray. The effects of the space environment on the specimens will be determined by comparison of preflight and postflight measurements of mechanical, electrical, and optical properties.

Whitaker, A. F.↗

NASA NTRS1979

Characterization of three types of silicon solar cells for SEPS deep space missions. Volume 1: Current-voltage characteristics of OCLI BSF/BSR 10 ohm-cm, and BSR 2 ohm-cm cells as a function of temperature and intensity

Three types of high performance silicon solar cells, BSF/BSR 10 ohm-cm, BSR 10 ohm-cm, and BSR 2 ohm-cm, were evaluated for their low temperature and low intensity performance. Sixteen cells of each type were subjected to ten temperatures and nine intensities. The BSF/BSR 10 ohm-cm cells provided the best performance at 1 solar constant and +25 C with an efficiency of 14.1% while the BSR 2 ohm-cm cells had the highest low temperature and low intensity performance with an efficiency of 22.2% at 0.04 solar constant and -170 C and the most consistent cell-to-cell characteristics.

Whitaker, A. F.↗

NASA NTRS1978

Evaluation of materials for high performance solar arrays

A program has been underway to evaluate materials for advanced solar arrays which are required to provide power to weight ratios up to 100 W/kg. Severe mission environments together with the lack of knowledge of space environmental materials degradation rates require the generation of irradiation and outgassing engineering data for use in the initial design phase of the flight solar arrays. Therefore, approximately 25 candidate array materials were subjected to selected mission environments of vacuum, UV, and particle irradiation, and their mechanical and/or optical properties were determined where appropriate.

Whitaker, A. F.↗