Scientists are exploring a new class of origami structures that could help design and build different shapes for use in space. These structures are expected to be even more compact and reliable.
Called bloom patterns, the new class of origami structures developed at Brigham Young University fold up flat and unfold like flower petals. Researchers expect such designs could be used in telescopes and solar arrays as well.
These structures are suitable for use in spacecraft as origami-based designs could help fold up for launch and then unfold or deploy to their full size when required in space.
Flat-foldable origami patterns
Published in the Proceedings of the Royal Society A: Mathematical,
Physical and Engineering Sciences, the research introduced a family of radially expansive, developable and flat-foldable origami patterns.
Researchers revealed that a standardized definition is developed based on the generalized definition to create a framework for constructing crease patterns. Bloom patterns are classified by their geometry, and a mathematical model is demonstrated for a type of pattern.
The research team also revealed that all the shapes unfolded reliably, which is crucial because a single misfold could cause an entire space mission to fail. They also constructed bloom patterns out of other materials, such as 3D printed plastics.
Mechanical behaviours of bloom patterns
“The conditions of helicity help validate possible bloom patterns. This work lays the foundation for future discovery and documentation of new origami bloom patterns, investigation of thickness accommodation and mechanical behaviours of bloom patterns, and their use as deployable systems in a variety of applications,” said researchers in the study.
The research teams also highlighted that bloom patterns could potentially be used to deploy rigid structures such as solar arrays, optical arrays, antennas or structures for architecture. For example, researchers have demonstrated a life-sized deployable cardboard dome based on the Yoshimura bloom pattern.
The rotational symmetry and roughly circular shape of bloom patterns may be advantageous to structural stability compared to patterns without these characteristics, such as Z-fold arrays. Bloom patterns with large height orders could potentially be used to deploy membranes, such as sun shields for space telescopes, as per the research work.
Researchers revealed that these structures could help improve how scientists design and deploy antennas, optical devices for satellites, and other space equipment, these new origami bloom conventions also have more down-to-earth applications. They could be used to create portable, stackable structures for temporary shelters, pop-up architecture, or even parts of robotics that need to expand or contract, reported Phys.org.
Researchers’ work includes images of crease pattern diagrams, digital models, and paper prototypes of bloom patterns, which are used throughout the paper to explain and demonstrate the content.
A catalogue of bloom patterns further demonstrates the diversity and characteristics of bloom patterns. This includes the abovementioned image types as well as video clips of the folding process of paper prototypes and simulated models. Furthermore, a computer program is written to generate the crease pattern of Yoshimura bloom patterns based on the corresponding mathematical model in the paper. The catalogue and the computer program constitute this electronic supplementary material, according to the study.