DEPLOYABLE STRUCTURES: A NEW KIND OF SELF-LOCKING MECHANISM

摘要

Deployable structures have several properties that make them useful in various conditions: mainly we referrnto the possibility to quickly transform them from a closed and compact configuration to a predetermined,rnexpanded one.rnThe present study focuses on deployable structures of the self-stabilizing type, defined by the so calledrn"clickable geometry". This involves a careful definition of the sizes of the rods and the properties of thernconnections, so that, during deployment, geometric incompatibilities occur among the structure’s subelements.rnThose incompatibilities, under the action of external forces aiming at opening the structure, leadrnto the snap through phenomenon, that grants stiffness to the deployed configuration without the need ofrnadditional locking devices.rnThe disadvantage of this kind of structures is the fact that they require a complex design process, aimed atrnproviding a satisfactory trade-off between desired flexibility during deployment and desired stiffness in therndeployed configuration: in other words, fine-tuning the intensity of the snap-through effect is necessary, asrnit defines the action to be applied in order for the module to be opened, but it also affects its stiffness in thernfinal, open state.rnIn function of the analysis carried out we propose a system which grants the self-stabilization property forrnthe modules without implying the occurring of stresses throughout the deployment process, thusrneliminating the occurring of the snap through.