Li Zhi, Yu Chengguo, Qi Luqiao, Xing Shichao, Shi Yan, Gao Cunfa
State Key Laboratory of Mechanics and Control of Mechanical Structures, Nanjing University of Aeronautics & Astronautics, Nanjing 210016, China.
Xi'an Research Institute of High Technology, Xi'an 710025, China.
Micromachines (Basel). 2022 May 2;13(5):732. doi: 10.3390/mi13050732.
The importance of flexibility has been widely noticed and concerned in the design and application of space solar arrays. Inspired by origami structures, we introduce an approach to realizing stretchable and bendable solar arrays via horseshoe-shaped substrate design. The structure has the ability to combine rigid solar cells and soft substrates skillfully, which can prevent damage during deformations. The finite deformation theory is adapted to find the analytic model of the horseshoe-shaped structure via simplified beam theory. In order to solve the mechanical model, the shooting method, a numerical method to solve ordinary differential equation (ODE) is employed. Finite element analyses (FEA) are also performed to verify the developed theoretical model. The influences of the geometric parameters on deformations and forces are analyzed to achieve the optimal design of the structures. The stretching tests of horseshoe-shaped samples manufactured by three-dimensional (3D) printing are implemented, whose results shows a good agreement with those from theoretical predictions. The developed models can serve as the guidelines for the design of flexible solar arrays in spacecraft.
在空间太阳能电池阵列的设计与应用中，柔韧性的重要性已得到广泛关注。受折纸结构启发，我们引入一种通过马蹄形基板设计来实现可拉伸、可弯曲太阳能电池阵列的方法。该结构能够巧妙地将刚性太阳能电池与柔性基板相结合，从而在变形过程中防止损坏。采用有限变形理论，通过简化梁理论来建立马蹄形结构的解析模型。为求解该力学模型，采用了一种求解常微分方程（ODE）的数值方法——打靶法。还进行了有限元分析（FEA）以验证所建立的理论模型。分析了几何参数对变形和力的影响，以实现结构的优化设计。对通过三维（3D）打印制造的马蹄形样品进行了拉伸测试，测试结果与理论预测结果吻合良好。所建立的模型可为航天器中柔性太阳能电池阵列的设计提供指导。
