Thermoplastic–Carbon Fiber Composites Could Aid Solar-Based Power Generation: Possible Support System for Solar Power Satellites
Publication: Journal of Composites for Construction
Volume 15, Issue 2
Abstract
Solar power has merit as a renewable source of energy; it is the largest asset available for consumption on Earth and is limitless. There have been many ideas proposed to beam solar power to Earth; all have been dependent upon the provision of a backing frame to support solar panels, photovoltaic cells, and transmission. This paper suggests one type of rigid deployable skeletal structure and its material of manufacture to form the backing frame of solar panel systems; the structure takes the form of a skeletal double-layer tetrahedral system. The composite material is polyethersulphone thermoplastic polymer reinforced with carbon fiber (CF). This paper also discusses the hostile environment of space in relation to the fiber-reinforced polymer (FRP) composite material, with special reference to the thermal response. Finally, it suggests the alternate possibility of using a rigidized inflatable flexible skeletal structure and, as far as is possible, compares (a) the relative cost of transferring the two structures to low Earth orbit from Earth, and (b) the cost of solar energy relative to other forms of energy.
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Acknowledgments
I would like to express my gratitude and thanks to Francis Kiddle, the former chief engineer in the Space Department at the RAE (now QinetiQ), Farnborough, for help given during the experimental work. Likewise, the staff of the Solar Simulation Space Structures Laboratory at the RAE who assisted so willingly the members of the Composites Structures Research Unit, University of Surrey, by introducing them to their testing facilities and helping with the complicated tests undertaken in the 3.5 m solar simulation chamber. I would also like to extend my thanks to my past postdoctoral research scientists, past research officers, research students, and technicians for their help and dedication in producing the fascinating results obtained from the experimental and numerical simulation studies undertaken “in space”; without their help this paper could not have been written. I would like to express my special thanks to Professor Urs Meier, who has always been extremely interested and helpful in any of our numerous composite structures discussions. He has been a source of inspiration to me since I first met him in early 1980. His influence in the field of composites for construction will leave a large void in the advanced composites area.
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Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Journal of Composites for Construction
Volume 15 • Issue 2 • April 2011
Pages: 239 - 247
Copyright
© 2011 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Oct 22, 2009
Accepted: Jun 11, 2010
Published online: Mar 15, 2011
Published in print: Apr 1, 2011
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