A novel methodology for solar sail opening employing shape memory alloy elements

Abstract

Solar sails exploit the radiation pressure as propulsion system. Sunlight is used to propel space vehicles by reflecting solar photons from a large and lightweight material, so that no propellant is required for primary propulsion. Kapton seems to be the most suitable material for the sail production and in the space missions till now activated booms as deployment systems have always been used. In this work, an innovative self-deploying system based on NiTi shape memory wires has been designed and manufactured in a small-scale prototype. As kapton has always been employed with a thin Al coating on the surface of the sail, commercial pure Al thin sheets with thin adhesive kapton have been used in order to simulate the sail. The attention has been focused, in the deployment experiments performed in the laboratory, on the effect of different heating methods and different pressure conditions on the activation times. The folded configuration chosen has been deployed in atmospheric condition and in low pressure condition (0.05 bar) inside a oven connected to a rotary pump. For what concerns the heating methods, the attention has been focused on low-pressure oven ISCO NSV 9035 (1.3 kW) and on halogen lamp (1 kW) in order to obtain the self-deployment of the sail. Some comparisons between the two configurations in the different environmental conditions have been performed. In all cases, the full self-activation of the sail has been achieved.

Shape Memory Alloys for Aerospace, Recent Developments, and New Applications: A Short Review

“…In the first experiments, heating was performed by infrared lamps up to the activation of the shape memory elements. Successively, Costanza and Tata [46] focused their attention in the deployment experiments performed in the laboratory, on the analysis of different heating technique, and different pressure conditions on the activation times. By employing shape memory wires, a small solar sail prototype was self-deployed in laboratory in atmospheric conditions and in low pressure conditions (0.05 bar) just from the effect of a halogen lamp ( Figure 12).…”

On the design strategies for SMA-based morphing actuators: state of the art and common practices applied to a fascinating case study

“…Au-based biomedical [12][13][14][15] Ni-Ti-based medical instruments (medical implants, 16 stent, 17 orthodontics, 18 surgery, 19 rehabilitation devices 20 ), Aerospace devices (rotary actuators, 21 solar sail, 22 morphing wing 23 ) Cu-based 24 pipe couplings, 25 hydraulic fittings, 26 mechanical dampers, 27,28 energy dissipation devices, 29 textiles 30 Fe-based 31 fishplates for crane rails, 32 pipe couplings, 25 civil structures 33 (concrete reinforcement, 34 damping, 35 pre-stressing elements 36 ) aerodynamic devices. In particular, it can be noted that most of the devices are dealing with aircraft components, with specific regard to wings, and focusing on design, fabrication, testing and modeling aspects.…”

Deployment of Solar Sails by Joule Effect: Thermal Analysis and Experimental Results

“…In the proposed solution the active Ni-Ti SMA elements, in the form of ribbons applied on each folding, have the purpose to exert a sufficient force for the sail deployment. Many studies by the authors were already carried out involving a self-deploying system based on NiTi SMA self-activated by solar irradiation [17][18][19]. A deeper comprehension, of the SMA in general [20] and of the shape memory recovery in particular [21][22][23], can be found in previous works, some of them regarding solar sails [24][25][26].…”