Self-Supporting Membrane Structures with Curved Creases for Smooth Packaging and Deployment

Abstract

We present a design for a deployable multi-layered membrane structure that uses a curved crease pattern to enable smooth wrapping around a spool. The crease pattern is parameterized to enable a variety of designs, and a specific implementation was selected based on an existing patch antenna array design. We constructed a prototype structure based on this geometry, and conducted deployment tests to measure the deployment force profile required to unfold the structure and to unwrap it from a spool. We find that the deployment force for unwrapping is significantly higher than for unfolding. These force profiles are repeatable over multiple deployments and the global trends do not depend on deployment rates over the range tested, between 1 and 8 mm/s. However, the local dynamic behavior can depend on deployment rate.

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