AN APPROACH TO DESIGNING ORIGAMI-ADAPTED AEROSPACE MECHANISMS

6/14/2016 Jessica Morgan, Spencer P. Magleby and Larry L. Howell
J. Mech. Des 138(5), 052301; doi: 10.1115/1.4032973

Engineers have taken an interest in origami and developing it further for applications. Characteristics of origami of particular interest to engineers include: (1) stowability, (2) portability, (3) deployability, (4) part number reduction, (5) manufacturability from a flat sheet of material, (6) a single manufacturing technique (folding), (7) reduced assembly, (8) ease of miniaturization, and (9) low material volume and mass. Several of these attributes are of particular value in aerospace applications and it is anticipated that many more aerospace mechanisms could be developed through the use of a design process that adapts origami characteristics for use in devices and products. The research presented in this paper has two main objectives: to demonstrate that a design framework can be created to more reliably use origami patterns and principles as the basis for aerospace mechanisms and provide examples that illustrate an approach to designing origami-adapted products. This paper presents the origami-adapted design process, which is then illustrated and tested using three examples of preliminary design: an origami bellows to protect the drill shafts of a Mars Rover, an expandable habitat for the International Space Station, and a deployable parabolic antenna for space and earth communication systems.

CONCEPTUALIZING STABLE STATES IN ORIGAMI-BASED DEVICES USING AN ENERGY VISUALIZATION APPROACH 7/20/2020 Jacob Greenwood, Alex Avila, Larry Howell, Spencer Magleby J. Mech. Des. Sep 2020, 142(9): 093302 Paper No: MD-19-1566 Origami can provide unique inspiration when designing engineered systems because it promotes multiple configurations, compact storage, and quick deployablility. However, origami-based products can be challenging to design because they often are mechanically unstable - folding when not desired or when under load. While there are some existing techniques for achieving stability in origami-based designs, determining which combination of techniques will achieve the desired results for a given application can be difficult. For example, how can you design an origami-based ballistic barrier to stay upright when you need it for protection, but also stay collapsed for storage? The motivation of this research was twofold: to (1) develop a method for designing origami-based devices with multiple stable fold states, and (2) help engineers identify which stability techniques would be best for their application. This paper presents the Origami Stability Integration Method (the OSIM), an 8-step design method to help engineers achieve single or multiple stable positions in origami-based products. The OSIM helps the designer visualize how the different existing loads affect the movement of the origami-based device. Existing stability techniques are categorized to help the designer select appropriate techniques for their specific application, and a number of origami-based design considerations and resources related to stability are also included. The categorization is partially derived from a study of 69 origami-based products that were evaluated to determine which techniques are being used in products and how often they are used. Case studies of an origami-based anti-buckling guide for a medical catheter and an origami-based ballistic barrier are presented. Picture Graphical representation of a methodology to design stable states for an origami-based folding system on the left and an example of its use for a deployable ballistic barrier on the right. For the full article please see ASME's Digital Collection. DISCOVERING SEQUENCED ORIGAMI FOLDING THROUGH NONLINEAR MECHANICS AND TOPOLOGY OPTIMIZATION 3/25/2019 Andrew S. Gillman; Kazuko Fuchi; Philip R. Buskohl J. Mech. Des. 141(4), 041401 (Jan 11, 2019) doi: 10.1115/1.4041782 Origami, the ancient art of paper folding, is finding numerous uses in scientific and engineering applications because of the combined advances in mathematics, computer science, and computational geometry. From deployment of solar arrays and antennas to design of robots and modeling of protein folding, origami provides an efficient means of compaction and coordinated motion. Many of the design and analysis tools for origami have relied on both rigid body mechanics and adaptation of well-known fold patterns for engineering applications. This work expands on these approaches through development of an automated design tool for fold pattern discovery, while accounting for non-rigid (deformable) facets through a novel nonlinear mechanics model. The nonlinearity presents challenges for finding the optimal design, and we employ an evolutionary algorithm for navigating this complex design space. With this framework, fold patterns satisfying targeted motions can be identified automatically and thus enables discovery of fold patterns designed specifically for engineering applications. Picture For the full article please see ASME's Digital Connection. AN APPROACH TO DESIGNING ORIGAMI-ADAPTED AEROSPACE MECHANISMS

For the Full Research Paper please visit ASME’s Digital Library.

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