This paper is concerned with the viscoelastic strain-energy hinge for solar array deployment. The original strain-energy hinge proposed by TRW for solar array deployment was made of strip measures. Due to its structural simplicity, the strain-energy hinge has been considered as an alternative to the torsional spring type deployment mechanism. However, theoretical modeling of the strain-energy hinge is extremely difficult because of its nonlinear pre-and post-buckling dynamic behavior. To investigate its dynamic characteristics, series of buckling and deployment tests on a single strain-energy hinge and a solar array structure equipped with strain-energy hinge have been conducted. The deployment test results show that there remain residual vibrations after deployment, which are resulted from the rapid deployment and the bending flexibility of the strain-energy hinge. We propose the use of viscoelastic material embedded between the layers of the strip measure to increase the passive damping. It results in less residual vibrations and smooth deployment. Experimental results show that viscoelastic strain-energy hinge is superior to the ordinary strain-energy hinge in deployments. Based on the experiments on the single strain-energy hinge, an equivalent 1D torsional spring model is proposed. Simulation results based on the equivalent model are fairly in good agreement with experimental results.
Viscoelastic strain-energy hinge for solar array deployment
1999
11 Seiten, 2 Quellen
Conference paper
English
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