Efficient Flyback Converter Design for Pulsed Plasma Thrusters with Applications in Cubesats

The space sector is currently undergoing a form of democratisation and is thus becoming more accessible. The advent of cubesats has accelerated this trend considerably. Currently, more sophisticated small satellites are being investigated with thrust capabilities onboard for repositioning them to higher orbits and for collision avoidance. Pulsed plasma thruster (PPT) technologies are widely regarded as a front runner within this mini space race. The power source for such PPTs requires highly efficient power converters that are low power (tens of Watts) with a high voltage output typically in the range of 1kV to 2kV. In this article we examine and compare various power switching technologies such as SiC, GaN and Super Junction MOSFETS to investigate their effect on the efficiency and charge time of a flyback converter utilised for capacitor charging of a PPT energy storage bank. The converter design and topology is explained within the overall context of the PPT based satellite system. The results demonstrate strongly that this design approach can be quite effective and lead to converter efficiency of over 88%. This work will heavily contribute towards the hardware realisation of an efficient cubesat design for future deployment.