NuclearPowerSystem

General Mission Analysis Tool

NuclearPowerSystem

NuclearPowerSystem — A nuclear power system

Description

The NuclearPowerSystem models a nuclear power system including power generated as function of time and distance from the sun.

For a complete descripton of how to configure all Resources required for electric propulsion modelling, see the Tutorial named Chapter 12, Electric Propulsion

See Also ElectricTank, ElectricThruster, SolarPowerSystem

Fields

Field Description
AnnualDecayRate

The annual decay rate of the power system.

Data Type

Real

Allowed Values

0 <=Real <= 100

Access

set

Default Value

5

Units

Percent/Year

Interfaces

GUI, script

BusCoeff1

Coefficient of power required by spacecraft bus.

Data Type

Real

Allowed Values

Real

Access

set

Default Value

0.3

Units

kW

Interfaces

GUI, script

BusCoeff2

Coefficient of power required by spacecraft bus.

Data Type

Real

Allowed Values

Real

Access

set

Default Value

0

Units

kW*AU

Interfaces

GUI, script

BusCoeff3

Coefficient of power required by spacecraft bus.

Data Type

Real

Allowed Values

Real

Access

set

Default Value

0

Units

kw*AU2

Interfaces

GUI, script

EpochFormat

The epoch format for the PowerInitialEpoch field.

Data Type

String

Allowed Values

Valid Epoch format.

Access

set

Default Value

UTCGregorian

Units

N/A

Interfaces

GUI, script

InitialEpoch

The initial epoch of the system used to define power system elapsed lifetime.

Data Type

String

Allowed Values

Valid GMAT Epoch consistent with PowerInitialEpochFormat

Access

set

Default Value

01 Jan 2000 11:59:27.966

Units

N/A

Interfaces

GUI, script

InitialMaxPower

The maximum power generated at the PowerInitialEpoch.

Data Type

Real

Allowed Values

Real >= 0

Access

set

Default Value

1.2

Units

kW

Interfaces

GUI, script

Margin

The required margin between power left after power bus, and power used by the propulsion system.

Data Type

Real

Allowed Values

0 <=Real <= 100

Access

set

Default Value

5

Units

Percent

Interfaces

GUI, script

GUI

The GUI for the NuclearPowerSystem is shown below.

Remarks

Computation of Base Power

The NuclearPowerSystem models power degradation as a function of time. You must provide a power system initial epoch, the power generated at that epoch, and an annual power decay rate. Additionally, the AnnualDecayRate field models the power degredation on a per year basis. The base power is computed using

where "tau" is the power AnnualDecayRate, P_0 is InitialMaxPower, and "delta t" is the elapsed time between the simulation epoch and InitialEpoch.

Computation of Bus Power

The power required by the spacecraft bus for all subsystems other than the propulsion system is computed using

where A_Bus, B_Bus, and C_Bus are BusCoeff1, BusCoeff2, and BusCoeff3 respectively and r is the distance from the Sun in Au.

Computation of Power Available for Propulsion

Total power is compute using

Thrust power available for electric propulsion is finaly computed using

Where "delta M" is power Margin.

Examples

Create a NuclearPowerSystem and attach it to a Spacecraft.

          Create Spacecraft DefaultSC
DefaultSC.PowerSystem = NuclearPowerSystem1

Create NuclearPowerSystem NuclearPowerSystem1

BeginMissionSequence

        

For a complete descripton of how to configure all Resources required for electric propulsion modeling, see the Tutorial named Chapter 12, Electric Propulsion.