Power System Monitor
Power Generation and Distribution Health Monitoring System
The power generation and distribution health monitoring system is an instrumentation network of Hall effect current sensors, precision voltage dividers, and platinum RTD temperature sensors distributed across generation sources, power electronics, cables, and load connections. It measures real-time voltage, current, temperature, and power quality—including ripple, transients, and harmonics—to provide trended health data for autonomous control. Lunar environmental factors complicate long-term instrumentation, as cumulative radiation damage degrades analog sensor accuracy and induces calibration drift over decades. To maintain measurement fidelity, the system incorporates self-calibration capabilities and intelligent data compression to differentiate baseline aging trends from anomalous degradation across 100 years of continuous operation.
Comprehensive monitoring of all power system parameters for health assessment and control
Purpose
Provide real-time and trended data on power system performance for autonomous management
Context
Child of L2-PWR-MGMT within the Lunar Ark power generation system
Principles
- ▸Current and voltage sensors at each generation source and load connection point
- ▸Temperature monitoring of power electronics, cables, and connection points
- ▸Power quality monitoring (ripple, transients, harmonics) ensures clean power delivery
- ▸Trending and anomaly detection identifies degradation before failure
Typical implementations
- ▸ISS power system telemetry monitoring heritage
- ▸Yokogawa/Hioki power analyzers (concept adapted for autonomous space operation)
- ▸Analog Devices precision current sense amplifiers (AD8217, AD8418 space-grade)
Lunar considerations
- ▸Sensor calibration drift over decades requires self-calibration capability
- ▸Radiation damage to analog sensors affects measurement accuracy
- ▸Must distinguish normal aging trends from anomalous degradation
- ▸100-year continuous monitoring generates massive data requiring intelligent compression
Specifications
Functional
| primary function | Comprehensive monitoring of all power system parameters for health assessment and control |
Physical
| materials | Hall effect current sensors, Precision voltage dividers, Pt RTD temperature sensors |
Interfaces
Provides
- Real-time power system telemetry for autonomous control
- Power system data for diagnostics and trending
Requires
- Reactor power output and temperature telemetry
- Solar array string voltages and currents
Cite this entry
Lunar Ark Codex. "Power System Monitor" (L3-PWR-MGMT-MON). Retrieved 10 September 2026, from https://lunarark.com/entry/L3-PWR-MGMT-MON
Licensed CC-BY-SA 4.0. You may reuse and adapt this entry with attribution, under the same licence.