On the reliability of modular power conversion systems for small spacecraft

Modular power conversion systems for space application, thanks to their flexibility, can be easily adapted with minor changes to missions with different power requirements. In the perspective of an application to low-cost satellite, based on commercial off the shelf components, the main design drivers are efficiency and reliability. We will focus our attention to spacecrafts with body-mounted solar cells. Thus, trade-off between the opposite requirements, efficiency and reliability, have been discussed through the analysis of several redundancy schemes. Reliability calculation of circuits will be performed on the basis of MIL-HDBK-217F. The aim of this work is to demonstrate that specific design efforts allow to increase the reliability of COTS-based power systems to levels comparable to classical systems based on space qualified components.