Development and testing of a deploying mechanism for the solar panel structure in ARAMIS satellite platform

The small size satellites like ARAMIS platforms are low cost solutions for the creation
of several kinds of satellite applications. ARAMIS is a new approach used
in CubeSat. Its faces are PCBs that realize all basic features of the satellite and
that represent also the physical tiles of the CubeSat. ARAMIS structure can be
implemented for different format of CubeSat (1U, 2U, 3U), it is able to bring on
board small telescopes, antennas and other; nevertheless these are characterized to
have a high power consumption, therefore the faces of CubeSat are not large enough
to mount a number of solar panels able to provide enough power to satellite subsystems.
For this reason, a solution with deployable solar panels might be used. In the
launch phase these deployable structures are closed to avoid vibration. After the
expulsion from the P-POD module, the solar panels’ structure is deployed once in
orbit and in this way the total surface of satellite exposed to the sun is increased,
therefore also the power. The deployable solar panels are a solution that can be
adapted to all CubeSat configurations.
The designing of the deploying mechanism, (that allows to open the solar panels’
structure), and the test board where it is placed, is the target of my work. The thesis
deals with the mechanical as well the electrical part of test board focusing on the
compatibility with ARAMIS structure. Trough Altium Design the PCB has been
developed. First of all the circuit has been described through the creation of a blocks
diagram in order to describe the behaviour of the entire system. This operation has
been followed by the physical realization of the board taking into account the right
positioning of components. All elements that form the PCB are chosen considering
the worst case in order to guarantee correct operation. Attention has been paid at
the deploying mechanism used to detach the fixing wires. They keep closed the solar
panels’ structure, during the launch, before passing the atmosphere and entering in
orbit. The UML language has been used to describe main operations and for the
design phase. All the main blocks have the corresponding UML class. All these
classes are referred to Bk1B6711 and 1B111E sections of the ARAMIS project of
the Polytechnic of Turin.