Design and analysis of truss deployable antenna mechanism based on a novel symmetric hexagonal profile division method

Abstract

As the deployment, supporting, and stability mechanisms of satellite antennas, space-deployable mechanisms play a key role in the field of aerospace. In order to design truss deployable antenna supporting mechanisms with large folding rate, high accuracy, easy deployment and strong stability, aiming at the geometric division of the parabolic reflector, a novel method based on symmetric hexagonal division and its corresponding modular truss deployable antenna mechanism is proposed, and the original method based on asymmetric triangular division and its corresponding mechanisms are presented for comparative analysis. Then, the screw theory is employed to analyze the mobility of different mechanisms. Furthermore, the improved three-dimensional mesh method is used to divide the reflector surface of a large parabolic antenna designed by the two different methods, and the profile accuracy and the type of links are taken as the evaluation indexes to quantitatively analyze the division results. Finally, a three-dimensional model of the modular deployable mechanism based on the symmetric hexagonal design is developed, and the deployable mechanisms with different configurations based on the two design methods are compared and analyzed from the mechanical perspective. The research results provide a good theoretical reference for the design of deployable truss antenna mechanisms and their application in the aerospace field.