Automatic Load Shedding
Priority-Based Load Shedding Controller
The priority-based load shedding controller is a one-kilogram, two-watt power management device that automatically disconnects electrical loads when supply drops below settlement demand. Built with hardware comparators and radiation-hardened NOR flash memory, the unit responds in 100 milliseconds to bus-voltage drops, shedding loads across four progressive tiers from optional and supporting equipment to essential and critical systems. Across a 100-year lunar mission subject to radiation and severe supply-side failure modes, the controller preserves grid stability through autonomous multi-stage shedding and rate-limited reconnection.
Hardware-supervised automatic load shedding that progressively disconnects lower-priority loads when source power drops below demand.
Purpose
Hardware-supervised automatic load shedding that progressively disconnects lower-priority loads when source power drops below demand.
Context
Child of L2-PDM-LOAD within the Lunar Ark system
Principles
- ▸Priority list: critical > essential > supporting > optional
- ▸Hardware-supervised (hardware comparators trigger shed)
- ▸Multi-stage shedding (drop one tier at a time)
- ▸Bus-voltage trigger threshold + frequency analysis
- ▸Reconnection sequence with current-limiting
Typical implementations
- ▸ISS Load Shedding heritage
- ▸Industrial energy management systems (terrestrial)
- ▸Submarine load-shed under battery operation
Lunar considerations
- ▸100-year mission has many failure modes — load shedding key resilience tool
- ▸Reconnection automated but rate-limited to avoid oscillation
- ▸Coordination with L3-ESS-MGMT-DISP dispatch
Specifications
Functional
| primary function | Hardware-supervised automatic load shedding that progressively disconnects lower-priority loads when source power drops below demand. |
| shed response time ms | 100 |
| priority tiers | 4 |
Physical
| mass kg | 1 |
| materials | Code on rad-hard NOR flash + hardware comparators |
| vacuum compatibility | True |
Operational
| power consumption w | 2 |
| thermal range c | -40, 70 |
| lifetime years | 100 |
| mtbf hours | 500000 |
Interfaces
Provides
- Shed/reconnect commands
- Load shed events to operator
Requires
- Bus voltage triggers
- Priority list and reconnect orders
Cite this entry
Lunar Ark Codex. "Automatic Load Shedding" (L3-PDM-LOAD-SHED). Retrieved 10 September 2026, from https://lunarark.com/entry/L3-PDM-LOAD-SHED
Licensed CC-BY-SA 4.0. You may reuse and adapt this entry with attribution, under the same licence.