Origami- and kirigami-adapted thick-panel folding
This dissertation is concerned with folding rigid panels of uniform thickness into a compact volume and deploying it back to a continuous and flat surface in a predictable manner afterwards. This was achieved by either forming an assembly with a single degree-of-freedom (DoF) through special geometr...
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| Format: | Thesis |
| Language: | English |
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2022
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| _version_ | 1826309335785930752 |
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| author | Yang, J |
| author_facet | Yang, J |
| author_sort | Yang, J |
| collection | OXFORD |
| description | This dissertation is concerned with folding rigid panels of uniform thickness into a compact volume and deploying it back to a continuous and flat surface in a predictable manner afterwards. This was achieved by either forming an assembly with a single degree-of-freedom (DoF) through special geometric designs of thick-panel kirigami or ensuring a collision-free deployment of a multiple-DoFs system through dynamics simulations. Four major findings of this dissertation were as follows.
First, kirigami patterns were investigated to enable the folding of a chessboard-like array with identical panels into two stacks without any voids. Revolute joints (also known as hinges or rotational joints) and slits are placed to connect or disconnect panels according to a Hamiltonian circuit (HC) (Hamilton, 1856) that was drawn over the array. If multiple HCs were found, a method was proposed to select the ones that could be folded into two stacks. Physical prototypes were made to validate the designs.
Secondly, simple spring-loaded hinges were used to synchronise the deployment of a multiple-DoF assembly resulting from the HC approach. An optimisation method was proposed to select the stiffness of hinges to ensure a collision-free deployment. Dynamic simulation of the deployment and collision detection method were incorporated into the optimisation process. By this approach, the trajectories of panels were sequenced to avoid collisions during the deployment, and the array was always deployed to a flat surface from packaged stacks, which were further validated by experiments.
Thirdly, through special geometric designs, interlinked regular flat rigid panels of uniform thickness were folded into compact stacks with a single DoF. Kinematically the deployable structure is an assembly of several 8R closed chains. Although such a chain with eight rigid bodies and eight revolute joints would have two DoFs in general, a single-DoF assembly was created by combining them in a particular way. The bi-directional folding concept can be extended to fold an assembly consisting of an infinite number of panels. Not only can this work be directly applied to the design of future flat arrays, but is also important in the theory of mechanisms as the proposed assemblies are rare examples where a kinematic loop consisting of linkages of multiple DoFs possesses single mobility.
Finally, a modular approach was proposed to fold arrays composing squares or the combination of squares and half-square triangles into a compact volume that is conforming to the shape of a CubeSat. The obtained arrays could possess a single DoF or a small number of DoFs. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-07T07:32:40Z |
| format | Thesis |
| id | oxford-uuid:eec8835a-6868-442a-b8f8-4c9a240e50c6 |
| institution | University of Oxford |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-07T07:32:40Z |
| publishDate | 2022 |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | oxford-uuid:eec8835a-6868-442a-b8f8-4c9a240e50c62023-02-02T15:08:39ZOrigami- and kirigami-adapted thick-panel foldingThesishttp://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_db06uuid:eec8835a-6868-442a-b8f8-4c9a240e50c6Aerospace engineeringDeployable structuresEnglishHyrax Deposit2022Yang, JThis dissertation is concerned with folding rigid panels of uniform thickness into a compact volume and deploying it back to a continuous and flat surface in a predictable manner afterwards. This was achieved by either forming an assembly with a single degree-of-freedom (DoF) through special geometric designs of thick-panel kirigami or ensuring a collision-free deployment of a multiple-DoFs system through dynamics simulations. Four major findings of this dissertation were as follows. First, kirigami patterns were investigated to enable the folding of a chessboard-like array with identical panels into two stacks without any voids. Revolute joints (also known as hinges or rotational joints) and slits are placed to connect or disconnect panels according to a Hamiltonian circuit (HC) (Hamilton, 1856) that was drawn over the array. If multiple HCs were found, a method was proposed to select the ones that could be folded into two stacks. Physical prototypes were made to validate the designs. Secondly, simple spring-loaded hinges were used to synchronise the deployment of a multiple-DoF assembly resulting from the HC approach. An optimisation method was proposed to select the stiffness of hinges to ensure a collision-free deployment. Dynamic simulation of the deployment and collision detection method were incorporated into the optimisation process. By this approach, the trajectories of panels were sequenced to avoid collisions during the deployment, and the array was always deployed to a flat surface from packaged stacks, which were further validated by experiments. Thirdly, through special geometric designs, interlinked regular flat rigid panels of uniform thickness were folded into compact stacks with a single DoF. Kinematically the deployable structure is an assembly of several 8R closed chains. Although such a chain with eight rigid bodies and eight revolute joints would have two DoFs in general, a single-DoF assembly was created by combining them in a particular way. The bi-directional folding concept can be extended to fold an assembly consisting of an infinite number of panels. Not only can this work be directly applied to the design of future flat arrays, but is also important in the theory of mechanisms as the proposed assemblies are rare examples where a kinematic loop consisting of linkages of multiple DoFs possesses single mobility. Finally, a modular approach was proposed to fold arrays composing squares or the combination of squares and half-square triangles into a compact volume that is conforming to the shape of a CubeSat. The obtained arrays could possess a single DoF or a small number of DoFs. |
| spellingShingle | Aerospace engineering Deployable structures Yang, J Origami- and kirigami-adapted thick-panel folding |
| title | Origami- and kirigami-adapted thick-panel folding |
| title_full | Origami- and kirigami-adapted thick-panel folding |
| title_fullStr | Origami- and kirigami-adapted thick-panel folding |
| title_full_unstemmed | Origami- and kirigami-adapted thick-panel folding |
| title_short | Origami- and kirigami-adapted thick-panel folding |
| title_sort | origami and kirigami adapted thick panel folding |
| topic | Aerospace engineering Deployable structures |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT yangj origamiandkirigamiadaptedthickpanelfolding |