Final development and testing of a multifunctional power structure for the ROV-E project

Walker, Scott, Cook, A., Foster, J. and Aglietti, G (2014) Final development and testing of a multifunctional power structure for the ROV-E project. In Proceedings of the International Conference on Noise and Vibration Engineering, Special session ‘Dynamics of Aerospace Structures: Held in Conjunction with the 5th International Conference on Uncertainty in Structural Dynamics (USD 2014). Curran Associates, Inc..

Abstract

The ROV-E project is a three year European Union Framework 7 project, which began in January 2011, dedicated to the research and development of lightweight technologies for exploration rovers. As part of this the University of Southampton, along with other consortium members, have been looking into the development of a Multifunctional Power Structure (MFPS). This is a structure that combines aspects of the electrical power system into a single panel component, removing the unnecessary mass of additional structures and containers required to support distributed discrete components inside a rover. The specific components imbedded into the multifunctional panel include: power generation (photovoltaic cells), control electronics and power storage. The main focus of the research at the University of Southampton was the power storage function of the panel, which aimed at exploiting the cost benefits of using off the shelf components by using commercially available lithium polymer battery cells. Initial validation testing exposed these cells to structural, temperature and pressure environments which proved the robustness of the cells throughout the predicted lifecycle of the multifunctional panel. An initial representative honeycomb panel incorporating battery cells was constructed to validate the manufacturing process. This panel was then used experimentally to assess the failure methods of the cells, revealing that the cells are more likely to suffer performance loss due to bending than accelerations. Following on from the initial validation testing a full MFPS was designed and optimised before being subjected to mechanical and thermal environments. This paper focuses on the final design and testing of this complete MFPS. Although the testing encountered various unforeseen problems, the batteries were both mechanically and thermally validated as part of the complete MFPS.

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