Active Adjustment of Surface Accuracy for a Large Cable-Net Structure by Shape Memory Alloy

Abstract

The high surface accuracy design of a cable-net antenna structure under the disturbance of the extremely harsh space environment requires the antenna to have good in-orbit adjustment ability for surface accuracy. A shape memory cable-net (SMC) structure is proposed in this paper and believed to be able to improve the in-orbit surface accuracy of the cable-net antenna. Firstly, the incremental stiffness equation of a one-dimensional bar element of the shape memory alloy (SMA) to express the relationship between the force, temperature and deformation was effectively constructed. Secondly, the finite element model of the SMC antenna structure incorporated the incremental stiffness equation of a SMA was established. Thirdly, a shape active adjustment procedure of surface accuracy based on the optimization method was presented. Finally, a numerical example of the shape memory cable net structure applied to the parabolic reflectors of space antennas was analyzed.

Optimization design of surface accuracy of SMC structure driven by space thermal radiation

“…The active adjustment performance of SMC on cablenet structure had been verified in previous work (Jiang et al, 2019b). The above temperature field is brought into the antenna model of this work.…”

“…According to the above formulas, the deformation and the stress-strain relationship of each element of the SMC structure can be obtained finally. See Jiang et al (2019b) for detailed derivation process.…”

“…In this paper, the SME of SMA is used to drive the force and deformation of SMA wire under the action of temperature to adjust the surface accuracy of SMC structure. In order to realize the finite element modeling of one-dimensional rod element, the constitutive equation is expressed in incremental form (Jiang et al, 2019b). The stiffness equation of the rod element is solved to complete the finite element realization of constitutive modeling.…”

“…Liu et al (2020) established a thermodynamic constitutive model that can simulate the cyclic deformation behavior of SMA materials considering damage. Jiang et al (2019aJiang et al ( , 2019b studied the thermal ratcheting effect of SMA and proposed a method to improve the on-orbit stability of satellite antenna surface accuracy by introducing SMA into cable-net structure. It lays a foundation for improving the on-orbit performance of Spaceborne Antenna.…”

Active adjustment of space-borne cable-net antenna via a two-way shape memory alloy spring

“…A few studies have been conducted on the active control of cable-net-deployable antenna surfaces. Jiang et al [24] established a finite element model of a cable-net antenna containing SMA and proposed a cable-net antenna reflector adjustment scheme based on an optimization algorithm. The present study is limited to theoretical concepts and does not provide a specific implementation form; furthermore, only the oneway memory effect of the SMAs was considered, impeding the multiple adjustment of the antenna shape surface of the cable network.…”