Expanding Origami Solar Panel Structure

Unfold it and you ve got a structure 82 feet 25 meters across.

Expanding origami solar panel structure.

Brian trease at nasa s jet propulsion laboratory has been thinking about how it could be used in spacecraft. The exterior of the habitat will be covered in solar cells to maximize the energy generation. To date all kinematic modeling of rigid origami treats the paper as having zero thickness. One technique that has been used for an origami inspired solar array is called a miura fold.

The horus uses an expanding ring structure to unfold a solar membrane. Their 1 20th scale tabletop prototype expands to a deployed diameter of 4 1 feet 1 25 meters. Space is a great place for a solar panel because you don t have to worry about nighttime and there are no clouds and no weather he said. This type of origami has probably the greatest application potential in engineering structures 1 2 ranging from solar panels space mirrors and aircraft wings to robots because most materials used in these applications are relatively rigid.

We ll utilize the high albedo and reflectiveness of the snow. From digestible origami pills that could provide alternatives to invasive surgery to solar panels that could be tightly packed in an aircraft and deploy after launch at the heart of origami s. Origami the art of paper folding thus naturally provides inspirations for deployable structures. Howell said origami through compliant mechanisms is a perfect fit for space exploration.

Origami inspired engineering is rapidly finding applications in technology moving beyond space based solar panels and self assembled manufacturing components to commercial products including. This well known origami fold was invented by japanese astrophysicist koryo miura. Solar power origami style nasa. Because the habitat will have to be transported with a hercules plane and potentially later by a rocket there is very strict volume requirements.

It is low cost and the materials can handle harsh solar environments. Applying origami principles on rigid silicon solar panels a material considerably thicker than the paper used for the traditional japanese art the byu conceived solar array would unfold to.