Design of Deployable Mast Mechanisms with High Deployment Ratio to be Used for Positioning Satellite Components

Project Summary

Development of domestic satellite technologies and reduction of foreign dependency are critical goals of our country. The aim of this project is designing and prototyping of a deployable mast mechanism that needs to be transported to the orbit within very limited cargo spaces of shuttles and when deployed at the orbit, position satellite components such as antennas and sensors at a certain distance to the main satellite body. In such mechanical structures, high deployment ratio, light-weight and low power requirement are important for transportation and manufacturing costs of satellites. The mast mechanism designed in this project is superior to the available equivalent designs in terms of high deployment ratio, so the system is named as Highly Deployable Articulated Mast (HiDAM).

As a case study of the developed design methodology, a single degree-of-freedom mechanism with 13 triangular platforms, 39 hubs and 36 limbs is designed and manufactured. Due to the motion characteristics of the mechanism, each platform has the same orientation with the platform that is next to its adjacent platform. The mechanism is actuated via a total number of 18 torsion springs located in between the hubs and limbs at the vertices of 6 of the platforms. When the mechanism is in compact form, it is pre-stressed with springs and locking cables and for deployment, the cables are cut by heating them via resistors.

The Project comprises design, production and test work packages. In the design studies, the goals are to obtain a deployable mast with at least 10 deployment ratio, at most 200 gr mass, which can fit in a cylinder of 90 mm diameter and 55 mm height and have a natural frequency higher than 150 Hz. The prototype of HiDAM has 52.4 mm height in its compact form, 850.2 mm deployed height, deployment ratio of 16.22, 176.8 gr mass and its lowest natural frequency is 207 Hz according to finite element analyses.

Deployment tests, measurements of linear and angular positioning repeatability, cutting tests of the locking cables of the system are performed and the design criteria are mostly met.

Publications

Kiper G, Demirel M, Cebeci Y (2019) Katlanabilir Direk Yapısı (Deployable Mast Structure), Patent no: TR 2019/22860 (pending)

Cebeci Y, Demirel M, Kiper G (2021) Katlanabilir mafsallı kafes direklerin katlanma oranlarını etkileyen faktörlerin incelenmesi ve yeni bir tasarım yönteminin araştırılması (Examining the factors affecting the packing ratio of deployable articulated truss masts and investigation of a new design method), UMTS 2021 – 20. Ulusal Makina Teorisi Sempozyumu Bildiriler Kitabı, 17-23 (Presentation video)

Cebeci Y, Demirel M, Kiper G (2023) A critical review of deployable truss masts and proposal of a new mast: HiDAM. In: Karakoc TH, Clainche SL, Chen X, Dalkiran A, Ercan AH (Ed), New Technologies and Developments in Unmanned Systems. ISUDEF 2022. Sustainable Aviation, Springer, 181-186

Thesis

MSc Thesis by Yunus Cebeci: Design of HiDAM: Highly Deployable Articulated Mast for Positioning of Satellite Components (Completed on October 2022 – Supervised by Dr. Kiper)

Patent Application

Kiper G, Demirel M, Cebeci Y (2019) Katlanabilir Direk Yapısı (Deployable Mast Structure), Patent no: TR 2019/22860