Effect of parasitic plasma currents on solar-array power output

Abstract

Solar-array voltage-current curves are calculated by assuming the existence of parasitic loads that consist of local currents of charged particles collected by the array. Three cases of interest are calculated to demonstrate how the distribution and magnitude of parasitic currents affect output. Solar array performance degradation became significant when the total parasitic current plus the load current exceeded the short-circuit current. Approximate graphical methods were useful for many applications. Power loss, which was calculated by summing the product of parasitic current and the local potential, underestimated the loss in maximum power.