Title: Research on a new type mechanism to lock and unlock space borne appendages

Authors: Zong Quan Deng, Bing Hui Wu, Xiang Wu, Hui Fang Zhang

Addresses: School of Mechatronics Engineering, Harbin Institution of Technology, No. 92, West Da-Zhi Street, Harbin 150001, China. ' School of Mechatronics Engineering, Harbin Institution of Technology, No. 92, West Da-Zhi Street, Harbin 150001, China. ' School of Mechatronics Engineering, Harbin Institution of Technology, No. 92, West Da-Zhi Street, Harbin 150001, China. ' School of Mechatronics Engineering, Harbin Institution of Technology, No. 92, West Da-Zhi Street, Harbin 150001, China

Abstract: According to the characteristics of a planer spiral spring that can store much more energy in a small space, a new type mechanism to lock and unlock space borne flexible appendages of various shapes has been developed. This mechanism avoids producing any space waste and has less influence on the position and attitude of the satellite when unlock happens. These flexible appendages should bear the launching condition of impact, over-loading and stochastic vibration, the Finite Element Analysis (FEA) has been employed to analyse the dynamic properties and dynamic response of this mechanism. The core part of this mechanism is optimised based on the natural frequencies and modes which are calculated by the FEA. The experimental results obtained reveal that this device achieves the design objectives.

Keywords: spiral springs; lock-unlock mechanism; Euler theorem; FEA; finite element analysis; space borne appendages; flexible appendages; space waste; satellite position; satellite attitude; dynamic properties; dynamic response; space technologies; satellite technology; space borne mechanisms.

DOI: 10.1504/IJMTM.2009.023934

International Journal of Manufacturing Technology and Management, 2009 Vol.17 No.3, pp.274 - 288

Published online: 21 Mar 2009 *

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