Radially expandable ring-like structure with antiparallelogram loops

Abstract

As they constitute a substantial percent of deployable structures, scissor mechanisms are widely studied. This being so, new approaches to the design of scissor mechanisms still emerge. Usually design methods consider the scissor elements as modules. Alternatively, it is possible to consider the loops as modules. In this paper, loop assembly method is used such that antiparallelogram loops are placed along a circle, to construct a deployable structure. The research shows that it is possible to construct radially deployable structures with identical antiparallelogram loops with this method. Then kinematic and geometrical properties of the construction are analyzed. It is found out that the links of such a structure turn out to be similar generalised angulated elements. Furthermore, similar loops are used for the construction and deployable rings are obtained.