Abstract
Circular UltraFlex solar array has characteristics of rigid-flexible coupling, difficulty in dynamics modeling, large overall movement of thin membrane without gravity and high deployment precision. In response, a numerical dynamics model of a typical UltraFlex structure is established in this paper to analyze the well-ordered deployment dynamics features by the driving of the torsion spring and the rope. An absolute coordinate-based method is used to model the flexible components and thin membrane in the structure. A two-step detection method is employed to deal with the complex contact-collision problem between thin membrane. UltraFlex is driven by using the gradually released torsion spring and rope. The trajectory of the pivot panel is planned and tracked by designing the changing rate of the rope length to improve the deployment positioning accuracy. The above driving strategy is then applied to an UltraFlex numerical model based on the NASA prototype. The numerical simulations have demonstrated that the UltraFlex structure can be well-ordered and accurately deployed; the rope is always in tension and provides 62.5 N maximal tension during the deployment; tension/rebound of the thin membrane occurs repeatedly and eventually the whole structure stabilizes.
Translated title of the contribution | Modeling and Analysis of Deployment Dynamics for UltraFlex Solar Array |
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Original language | Chinese (Traditional) |
Pages (from-to) | 262-269 |
Number of pages | 8 |
Journal | Yuhang Xuebao/Journal of Astronautics |
Volume | 41 |
Issue number | 3 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 30 Mar 2020 |