空间站太阳能光伏和热动力电源系统的比较

针对我国未来空间站的建设，对目前可行的电源系统的技术特性做了分析比较。太阳光伏电池技术成熟，有应用经验，但其效率低，面积大，寿命不够理想，后期运行费用很高。太阳能热动力系统利用相变材料蓄热来满足阴影期循环的连续发电要求，具有效率高、结构紧凑、寿命长、质量轻、可靠性好等优点，长期运行的费用低，是一种先进的太阳能电源方案，其中闭式Baryton循环系统总效率可达到17％，在技术上比Stirling循环成熟，是最有可能近期实现的电源。闭式Brayton循环可以作为空间站太阳能电源系统的首选技术方案。

Comparison of photovoltaic and solar dynamic power system for space station

Aiming at the design of Chinese future space station, a review on the technical features of the current available space power system was carried out. The photovoltaic solar cell has been applied successfully to space crafts for many years and was applied to the present space stations which require power less than 75 kW at the initial stage. The experiences from Russia and US space station proved that PV system requires electrochemical batteries for energy storage. The frequent maintenance of the batteries added much more operational costs. Furthermore, PV system has a relatively lower efficiency and more areas for solar collection which increased the aerodynamics drag and the system mass. Solar dynamic system has higher conversion efficiency leading to lower surface areas, lower system mass and has longer life with less performance degradation in low earth orbit due to environmental interaction effects. Solar dynamic system requires no energy storage units which save lots of operational costs during the life cycle of a space station. The closed Brayton cycle have been proved to have a maximum orbit efficiency of more than 17% and is a possible technical power system for near future application.