System Architecture and Component Evaluation for ESTCube-2 Electrical Power System

Abstract

This thesis is focused on the architecture of the electrical power system (EPS) and implementations of the various subsystems within the EPS for ESTCube-2 nanosatellite. The main goals are to establish a high level system architecture compatible with the rest of the satellite and investigate solutions for the battery management and protection (BMPS) and the voltage conversion and power distribution systems (VCPDS). In this work, an overview is given of the ESTCube-2 mission and the satellite’s architecture. Based on the satellite architecture, requirements are set for the EPS subsystems to be investigated. For the BMPS, two hot-swap controller based solutions are investigated, prototyped and tested. For the VCPDS, two load switch designs are evaluated, six different voltage converters are characterized and solutions for the power distribution system are proposed. Based on the testing results, recommendations are made for the final implementation.