Конструктор спутника "ОрбиКрафт"

Power supply system
Virtual consumption - 60mA

The power supply system, or PSS, is the heart of the satellite. The power supply system of real satellites charges the batteries from solar batteries, converts the voltage of the batteries into a stabilized board voltage to supply to various devices. In some cases, the PSS is able to turn the power of individual consumers on or off either on-command or automatically.

In the construction set, the power supply system includes a rechargeable battery. The presence of solar panels and the logic of rechargeable batteries are “virtually” considered. The “virtuality” of solar batteries is related to the fact that charging batteries from real solar panels is difficult in a room; the effective charge would require an excessively large solar panel surface area. Therefore, the PSS is arranged as follows. The first part of the PSS (real) provides energy to all of the consumers. It is charged from the 220V network and contains enough energy for a “flight” of up to 4 hours. The second part of the PSS (virtual) simulates the operation of the satellite PSS. It has a limited supply of virtual energy. The virtual part is visible at the request of PSS telemetry. This energy is replenished when the solar panel imitator is placed on the Sun simulator. When the virtual energy is exhausted, the task executed by the “spacecraft” is abruptly terminated - as happens in real life.

The real power supply system includes a voltage converter, a charger, and a rechargeable battery. The charger included in the construction set charges the battery. The PSS is connected to the on-board information network/power network with standard loops.

During normal operations, the “satellite” is completely autonomous, and is powered only by on-board batteries, gradually expending its virtual and real energy reserves while carrying out the flight program put on-board.

As part of the “ground” service before the flight, the on-board batteries, of course, need to be recharged. For this purpose, the charger is connected to the 220V network. In this case, the LED indicator on the PSS lights up in green. In the case of battery discharge to the load (to the satellite network), the LED lights up red. When the network is switched on and the load is simultaneously connected, the LED lights up in yellow.

Important notes
When working with the satellite, it is not recommended to leave the PSS connected to the charger for a long time (more than 4 hours) when there is no load (green LED color). This connection can shorten the battery life. Other combinations of connections are allowed.