Autonomous Deployment of a Solar Panel Using an Elastic Origami and Distributed Shape Memory Polymer Actuators

TL;DR

This paper presents an autonomous, self-deploying solar panel system using shape memory polymers and origami design, enabling rapid deployment triggered by temperature changes without traditional motors.

Contribution

It introduces a novel elastic origami structure embedded with shape memory polymers for autonomous deployment, optimizing for maximum expansion and solar panel capacity.

Findings

Achieved 1000% expansion ratio in under 40 seconds.

Demonstrated autonomous deployment triggered by temperature change.

Validated design through experiments matching simulations.

Abstract

Deployable mechanical systems such as space solar panels rely on the intricate stowage of passive modules, and sophisticated deployment using a network of motorized actuators. As a result, a significant portion of the stowed mass and volume are occupied by these support systems. An autonomous solar panel array deployed using the inherent material behavior remains elusive. In this work, we develop an autonomous self-deploying solar panel array that is programmed to activate in response to changes in the surrounding temperature. We study an elastic "flasher" origami sheet embedded in a circle of scissor mechanisms, both printed with shape memory polymers. The scissor mechanisms are optimized to provide the maximum expansion ratio while delivering the necessary force for deployment. The origami sheet is also optimized to carry the maximum number of solar panels given space constraints. We show how the folding of the "flasher" origami exhibits a bifurcation behavior resulting in either a cone or disk shape both numerically and in experiments. A folding strategy is devised to avoid the undesired cone shape. The resulting design is entirely 3D printed, achieves an expansion ratio of 1000% in under 40 seconds, and shows excellent agreement with simulation prediction both in the stowed and deployed configurations.