Design analysis of solar panel structure LAPAN-Constellation Satellite using finite element method

Satellite Technology Center (Pusteksat) of LAPAN currently develops a satellite constellation with communication mission. This satellite will implement a deployable solar array to perform its missions. The objective of this research is to find solar panel structure with natural frequency in accordance with the requirements of the launcher and have the minimum mass. This method starts by determining the requirement of solar panel structure and then designing the solar panel into three models as follow: solar panel structure with solid aluminium sheet model, isogrid and orthogrid model, and honeycomb model. The material used for solar panel structure for aluminium sheet and isogrid and orthogrid model is Al 7075-T6 because the material is light in weight and has a high stiffness to withstand loading conditions. Meanwhile, for solar panel structure honeycomb use aluminium alloy 5052 for both face and core follow the previous satellite. The next step is analyzing the natural frequency of three models solar panel structure with modal analysis. This study shows that solar panel with honeycomb model give the best option as a solar panel structure on a constellation satellite. From the result, it can also predict the modal shapes that can be used as a place to lay the accelerometer when testing and measuring natural frequency on vibration test machines.