DEPLOYMENT CHARACTERISTICS OF RIGIDIZABLE SPACE INFLATABLE STRUCTURES

摘要

Deployment stability is the most important characteristic of space inflatable structures. A simple deployment control method is required for lightweight and easily foldable inflatable structures. This paper introduces the uniform deployment methods using the folding crease patterns. The deployment methods of two types of rigidizable membranes are examined experimentally and analytically. One type of rigidizable membrane consists of the one-layer triaxial woven fabric, and the other type of rigidizable membrane consists of the thermally plasticizing co-woven fabric. Also, the two folding crease patterns, which use the tetragonal folding and the hexagonal folding for the inflatable tubes, are evaluated experimentally by deploying them. Uniform deployments are confirmed by their experimental results using 2-m-long inflatable tubes. The deployment characteristics of the inflatable tube using the thermally plasticizing co-woven fabric as the rigidizing layer are also evaluated analytically. The deployment simulation using MSC/DYTRAN shows the stable deployment of the inflatable tube using the tetragonal folding because the folding crease patterns contribute to the deployment stability.