Topology structure synthesis and analysis of spatial pyramid deployable truss structures for satellite SAR antenna

Abstract

Many attentions for structural synthesis are paid to planar linkages and parallel mechanisms, while design novel pyramid deployable truss structure(PDTS) of satellite SAR mainly depends on experience of designer. To design novel configuration of PDTS, a two-step topology structure synthesis and analysis approach is proposed. Firstly, a conceptual configuration of PDTS is synthesized. Weighted graph and weighted adjacency matrix are established to realize topological description for PDTS. Graph properties are then summarized to distinguish differentia between PDTS and other type structures. According to graph properties, a procedure for synthesis conceptual configuration of PDTS is presented. Secondly, join relationship of components in a PDTS is analyzed. Kinematic chain and corresponding incidence/adjacency matrix are employed to analyze join relationship of PDTS. Properties and simplified rules of kinematic chain are extracted to construct kinematic chain. A procedure for construction kinematic chain of PDTS is then established. Finally, with this two-step approach all 11 rectangular pyramid deployable structures whose folded state is planar are discovered and their kinematic chains are constructed. Based on synthesis results, a novel deployable support structure for satellite SAR is designed. The proposed research can be applied to obtain some novel PDTSs, which is of great importance to design some novel deployable support structures for satellite SAR antenna.