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Space battery with SustaPEEK

Start-up develops microbattery for satellites

 

Satellites provide data for weather forecasts, monitor sea levels, send signals to our navigation systems and smartphones, or transmit television programs. They orbit the earth at different heights for years, powered by specially developed space batteries. A German start-up company is now using SustaPEEK plates for the prototype of the latest generation of microsatellite batteries. Microsatellites are a miniature version of normal satellites. The special properties of SustaPEEK make the material ideal for use in space and in microsatellites.

 

Space battery with Röchling material: weighs only 350 grams and is around 10 centimeters long

 

Microbattery supplies satellites with energy in the Earth's shadow. 

The space battery weighs around 350 grams and is less than 10 centimeters long, it was developed for nano- and microsatellites. If these satellites are in the area of the sun, they draw their energy from sunlight; if they enter the earth's shadow, the microbattery takes over the power supply. Despite its low weight, it supplies a satellite with full power for several years. According to the manufacturer, this amounts to almost 12.000 orbits around the earth in a low orbit. Here, the so-called MicroSats monitor the development of the Earth, among other things, and also provide important research data that predicts and tracks natural events and thus makes an important contribution to dealing with natural disasters. 

 

SustaPEEK components for a space battery: very good mechanical properties and excellent dimensional stability

 

Dimensionally stable material even in space

The special feature of the batteries is their small size, as conventional space batteries are large, heavy and expensive. The microbattery technology is based on lithium-ion car batteries, where the technology has developed considerably in recent years and the start-up company is using this knowledge to further develop its battery systems for space. The Röchling Industrial material SustaPEEK, which is ideally suited for use in space due to its excellent mechanical properties, is also used in the microbattery prototype. SustaPEEK absorbs hardly any moisture and has low outgassing, which means that only a small amount of gas escapes over a long period of time, which could potentially damage the battery's electronics. The start-up's technicians opted for SustaPEEK sheets with a thickness of 1.25 millimetres. SustaPEEK is calendered in order to produce the material in this low thickness. The result is a thermoplastic high-performance plastic with very good mechanical properties and excellent dimensional stability, which is also suitable for long-term use at temperatures from minus 60 °C to 250 °C. 

The calendered sheets made of SustaPEEK are used in the space battery as electrical insulators to protect battery cells and also as a mechanical fixation. The material has already proven itself in the first prototypes, so the technicians are using SustaPEEK again in the next stage of the prototype process.

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