JP3889384B2 - Deployment antenna - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a deployable antenna that can be mounted on an artificial satellite or the like in a folded or rolled and contracted state and deployed in space.

  When a deployment antenna mounted on an artificial satellite or the like is transported to outer space, a rocket such as a space shuttle is used as a transport means. However, since the rocket's cargo storage space is limited, when transporting a large deployment antenna, it is housed in the rocket in a small folded state, and this deployment after the rocket has reached space. A system is used in which the antenna is released into space.

  In general, such a deployable antenna is configured by combining a plurality of basic structures, and a large deployable antenna can be configured depending on the number of basic structures to be combined.

  FIG. 6 is a perspective view showing the basic structure of a conventional deployable antenna separately.

  As shown in FIG. 6, the basic structure of this deployment antenna has an antenna deployment structure 100 that functions as a reflecting mirror surface. The antenna deployment structure 100 is constituted by a surface cable, a metal mesh, a back cable, and a tie cable, and is supported on the deployment truss 101 by a plurality of standoffs.

  The deployment truss 101 is composed of six planar link mechanisms 102 formed in a rectangular shape. These flat link mechanisms 102 share the central shaft member 103 and are equally distributed radially around the central shaft member 103. By sliding the central shaft member 103 in the axial direction, the deployment truss 101 is stored. It can be expanded.

  A configuration in which six flat link mechanisms that can expand and contract in the longitudinal direction are radially arranged as a deployment truss is also known. In this configuration, the deployment truss is stored and deployed by driving the plurality of planar link mechanisms to extend and contract.

An annular cable disposed around the deploying truss is used for expansion and contraction driving of the planar link mechanism. This cable is movably connected to the tip of each planar link mechanism, and the planar link mechanism is expanded and contracted synchronously by adjusting the winding amount of the cable by the rotation of the motor (for example, (See Patent Document 1).
Proceedings of the 42nd Space Chemistry Technology Joint Lecture Meeting (October 28, 1998) (Pages 255 to 262, "Experiment on Module Coupling of Large Mesh Antenna")

  By the way, the above-described antenna deployment structure 100 is configured by a flexible cable having flexibility, and the shape as the antenna reflection surface cannot be maintained by its own force.

  Therefore, the upper surface of the unfolding truss 101 is formed in a parabolic surface shape, and the antenna unfolding structure 100 is pasted on the upper surface of the unfolding truss 101 so that the antenna unfolding structure 100 is maintained in the parabolic surface shape.

  However, when this method is used, the mirror surface accuracy of the antenna deployment structure 100 greatly depends on the shape of the deployment truss 101. Therefore, in order to give the antenna deployment structure 100 a predetermined mirror surface accuracy, it is necessary to design the deployment truss 101 with high accuracy and to have high rigidity so as not to be deformed in outer space.

An object of the present invention is to provide a deployable antenna that can obtain a high specular accuracy with a simple configuration and can maintain a reflecting mirror surface in a desired shape even when a tension is not always applied to the antenna deployable structure .

  In order to solve the above problems and achieve the object, the deployable antenna of the present invention is configured as follows.

By combining a plurality of cables in a lattice shape, the antenna deployment structure is configured to be deformable into a contracted state and a deployed state, and has a reflecting mirror surface on the surface ;
An expansion mechanism including a plurality of expansion members that are radially connected at equal intervals, each of which has a distal end portion connected to an outer peripheral end portion of the antenna deployment structure.
The expansion member of the expansion mechanism is formed of a rod-shaped sac that can expand at least in the axial direction, and the expansion member is radially expanded by supplying gas to the sac to expand the antenna deployment structure. As well as extending to the state,
The cable is formed of a thermosetting material, and the antenna deployment structure is maintained in an unfolded state by thermosetting the cable with heat of gas supplied to the sac bags .

Further, according to the deployable antenna of the present invention, the expansion mechanism is configured by a plurality of plane expansion bodies arranged radially at equal intervals, and each plane expansion body is rectangular by connecting the plurality of expansion members to each other. It is formed in a shape .

According to the present invention, it is possible to provide a deployable antenna having a high specular accuracy with a simple configuration. At the same time, the antenna unfolding structure can be maintained in the unfolded state by thermosetting the cable, so that the reflecting mirror surface can be maintained in a desired shape even when the antenna unfolding structure is not always tensioned by the expansion mechanism.

  A first embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS.

  FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing the configuration of the deployable antenna according to the first embodiment of the present invention separately.

  As shown in FIG. 1, this deployment antenna has a planar hexagonal cable network 1 (antenna deployment structure). The cable network 1 is configured in a lattice shape by sequentially connecting a plurality of cable bodies having high rigidity and difficult to extend, for example, a cable 2 by nodes 3 (coupling means), and the surface functions as a reflecting mirror surface. A radio wave reflecting film 10 is attached, and a first expansion mechanism 4 is provided on the back surface.

  2 is a perspective view showing a state where the first expansion mechanism 4 according to the embodiment is expanded, FIG. 3 is a perspective view showing a state where the inflatable tube 5 according to the embodiment is contracted, and FIG. It is a perspective view which shows the state which the inflatable tube 5 which concerns on the form of this expanded.

  As shown in FIGS. 2 to 4, the first expansion mechanism 4 includes a plurality of inflatable tubes 5 (expansion members) in the present embodiment. These inflatable tubes 5 are formed as sac bags that are inflatable in the axial direction, and the base end portions thereof are connected to the outer peripheral surface of the connecting body 7 through the connecting portion 6 at equal intervals.

  The connecting body 7 communicates the inflatable tubes 5 with each other, and is provided with a supply portion 8 for supplying gas to the inflatable tubes 5 at a predetermined portion. A gas supply device (not shown) is connected to the supply unit 8, and gas is supplied into the inflatable tube 5 through the coupling body 7, so that each inflatable tube 5 is axially, that is, the whole If it sees in, it can expand radially.

  The distal end portion 5a of the inflatable tube 5 is connected to the outer peripheral end portion (each vertex 1a) of the hexagonal cable network 1, and the inflatable tube 5 is expanded in the axial direction so that the cable network 1 extends in the outer peripheral direction. It can be expanded and expanded.

  When constructing the deployment antenna having the above configuration in space, the deployment antenna is contracted by folding or rolling the inflatable tube 5 so that the volume of the deployment antenna 5 is reduced. The contracted deployment antenna is stored in the rocket cargo storage space.

  When the rocket is launched and reaches the outer space, the deployment antenna is released from the rocket by a robot operation or the like, and gas is supplied to each inflatable tube 5 by the gas supply device. As a result, the inflatable tube 5 expands in the axial direction, and expands radially around the coupling body 7. Since the distal end portion of the inflatable tube 5 is connected to the outer peripheral end portion of the cable network 1, the cable network 1 expands greatly due to the axial expansion of the inflatable tube. And the attitude | position of a deployment antenna is adjusted by robot operation, and the direction of the reflective mirror surface of the cable network 1 is set correctly. This completes the construction of the deployable antenna.

  Note that, after the cable network 1 is deployed, it is necessary to continuously apply tension to the cable network 1 by always maintaining the gas pressure in the inflatable tube 5.

  According to the deploying antenna having the above-described configuration, the inflatable tube 5 that is expanded by the supply of gas is used as the deploying means for deploying the cable network 1. Therefore, the configuration of the deployable antenna can be simplified as compared with the case of using a deployable truss as in the prior art.

  In addition, the cable network 1 is deployed by applying tension to the cable network 1 using the expansion of the inflatable tube 5. Therefore, the cable network 1 can be formed in a desired shape simply by adjusting the length of each cable 2, so that high mirror accuracy can be obtained with a simple configuration.

  Next, a second embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG.

  FIG. 5 is a perspective view showing the configuration of the second expansion mechanism according to the second embodiment of the present invention.

  As shown in FIG. 5, the deployable antenna according to the present embodiment includes a second expansion mechanism 4A. The second expansion mechanism 4A is constituted by a plurality of planar expansion bodies 11 formed in a rectangular shape, in the present embodiment, six. These planar expansion bodies 11 share a central member 12 and are equally distributed radially around the center member 12.

  Each planar expansion body 11 includes the center member 12, the upper member 13, the lower member 14, the outer member 15, and the oblique member 16. Similar to the first embodiment, these members 12 to 16 are formed of inflatable inflatable tubes, and the members communicate with each other at a connecting portion.

  In other words, in the present embodiment, the six planar expansion bodies 11 constituting the second expansion mechanism 4A are planar structures, and these planar expansion bodies 11 are arranged radially around the central member 12 to obtain the second Since the expansion mechanism 4A has a three-dimensional structure, the rigidity in each direction in the three-dimensional space is improved.

  In each of the above embodiments, the material of the inflatable tube is not particularly limited. For example, if the material of the inflatable tube is a thermosetting material, each inflatable tube is supplied by supplying a high-temperature gas to the inflatable tube. The tube can be maintained in its expanded shape by thermosetting. Therefore, even if the tension is not always applied to the cable network 1 by the first and second expansion mechanisms 4 and 4A, the reflecting mirror surface can be maintained in a desired shape.

  Moreover, the same effect can be acquired even if the cable 2 which comprises the cable network 1 is formed with a thermosetting material. That is, if the cable 2 is formed of a thermosetting material, a part of the heat of the high-temperature gas supplied to the inflatable tube is transmitted to the cable 2, so that the cable network 1 is maintained in an unfolded state by the thermosetting of the cable 2. be able to. Therefore, even if the tension is not always applied to the cable network 1 by the first and second expansion mechanisms 4 and 4A, the reflecting mirror surface can be maintained in a desired shape.

  Note that the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment as it is, and can be embodied by modifying the constituent elements without departing from the scope of the invention in the implementation stage. In addition, various inventions can be formed by appropriately combining a plurality of constituent elements disclosed in the embodiment. For example, some components may be deleted from all the components shown in the embodiment. Furthermore, you may combine suitably the component covering different embodiment.

The perspective view which isolate | separates and shows the structure of the expansion | deployment antenna which concerns on the 1st Embodiment of this invention. The perspective view which shows the state which the 1st expansion mechanism which concerns on the same embodiment expanded. The perspective view which shows the state which the inflatable tube which concerns on the embodiment shrink | contracted. The perspective view which shows the state which the inflatable tube which concerns on the same embodiment expanded. The perspective view which shows the structure of the 2nd expansion mechanism which concerns on the 2nd Embodiment of this invention. The perspective view which isolate | separates and shows the structure of the basic structure of the conventional expansion | deployment antenna.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Antenna expansion | deployment structure (cable network), 2 ... Cable, 4 ... 1st expansion mechanism, 4A ... 2nd expansion mechanism, 5 ... Expansion member (inflatable tube), 10 ... Reflective mirror surface (radio wave reflection film).

Claims (2)

By combining a plurality of cables in a lattice shape, the antenna deployment structure is configured to be deformable into a contracted state and a deployed state, and has a reflecting mirror surface on the surface ;
An expansion mechanism configured by a plurality of expansion members that are radially connected at equal intervals, each having a distal end portion of the expansion member connected to an outer peripheral end portion of the antenna deployment structure,
The expansion member of the expansion mechanism is formed of a rod-shaped sac that can expand at least in the axial direction, and the expansion member is radially expanded by supplying gas to the sac to expand the antenna deployment structure. As well as extending to the state,
The cable is formed of a thermosetting material, and the antenna deployment structure is maintained in an unfolded state by thermosetting the cable with heat of gas supplied to each sac bag. antenna. The expansion mechanism is constituted by a plurality of planar expansion bodies arranged radially at equal intervals, and each planar expansion body is formed in a rectangular shape by connecting the plurality of expansion members to each other. The deployable antenna according to claim 1.

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