The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Jun. 06, 2000
Filed:
Apr. 09, 1998
Stephen D Burke, Redondo Beach, CA (US);
Umesh S Ketkar, Redondo Beach, CA (US);
Hughes Electronics Corporation, El Segundo, CA (US);
Abstract
Solar wing positioning methods are provided which favorably reduce seasonal variation of generated power in a satellite while simultaneously managing the composite system influence that off-pointed solar wing operation imposes on the satellite. The composite system influence includes environmental torques and may also include other system influences such as wing-to-body thermal radiation, thruster plume impingement and antenna/sensor field of view encroachment. In the simplest method embodiment, the solar wings are tilted asymmetrically from a nominal position to reduce seasonal power variations and are further tilted symmetrically to generate a solar pressure torque component which, on a diurnal average basis, compensates a gravity gradient torque component that is substantially generated by the net, off-pointed configuration of the wings.