Type synthesis and structure screening of deployable cellular mechanisms based on the graphical method and motion-force interaction performance

Abstract

With the increasing magnitude and complexity of space missions, coupled with higher energy collection and stronger signal transmission demands, support trusses of solar panels and antennas are evolving towards larger scales. Similar to assembling elements, the cellular mechanisms are crucial for achieving large-scale space structures. Following this concept, this paper focuses on type synthesis and structure screening of deployable cellular mechanisms. Considering the heightened reliability of revolute joints, the target mechanism exclusively incorporates such joints. First, a graphical-type synthesis method is introduced to synthesize deployable cellular mechanisms. Serialized deployable cellular mechanisms are designed utilizing the 2Pa (Pa: parallelogram mechanism) and 4R (R: revolute joint) kinematic chains as backbone mechanisms. Subsequently, structure screening of deployable cellular mechanisms is carried out by motion-force interaction performance analysis with the power coefficient as a criterion. Then workspaces with different motion-force interaction performances are identified for the selected deployable cellular mechanisms. Prototype construction and test show that the proposed mechanisms achieve one-degree-of-freedom deployable movement. The proposed deployable cellular mechanisms are expected to play significant roles in constructing deployable modules.