Conceptual Design of 3-DOF

Deployable Mechanism
Supervisor

Dimiter Zlatanov, University of Genoa

Sebastien Briot, Ecole Centrale de Nantes

By
Vishal Ramadoss

Index

Introduction

Motivation and Needs

Deployable Mechanism Units

Existing Models

Proposed Mechanism

Statics Analysis

Singularity Analysis

Simulation and Validation of Model

Conclusion

Bibliography

Motivations

Deployable : To arrange in a position and to move

strategically.

Mechanism : Rigid bodies connected by joints to

accomplish a motion.

Degree of Freedom(DOF):number of independent

parameters that define its configuration.

Conceptual Design: The very first phase of design in

which drawings and models are created.
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Deployable Mechanism Units

Deployable structures can change shape so as to

significantly change its size

Applications are for deploying solar panels/sails in

aircrafts , antennas , dome structures , portable shelters.

Example of Deployable Cube . Image courtesy : Universite Laval

Existing Models

The basic linkages are Bennett (Four Bar), Myard

(Five bar) , Bricard (Six Bar) , Scissor , Sarrus,
Hoekens and few more .

The

degree

of

freedom

of

the

deployable

mechanism must be greater than 1 and less than 4 ,

3-dof is a suitable choice .

Modeling

and

simulations

of

various

existing

linkages to familiarize the tools and mechanisms.

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Existing Models

A set of deployable mechanisms, which have two

degrees of freedom obtained by linking multiple
deployable units, each of which is composed of four
scissor and two Sarrus linkages.

Chain of Research Method to

Application
My work is the first step in the development chain and
conceptual design lays the foundation for an efficient
working mechanism .

Presentation

Report writing

Verify with
requirements

Validate Models

Motion Analysis

CAD Modeling

Internet
Research

Timeline

Planning

Scope Definition

Existing Models

Deployable
Mechanism

Identify Problem

Research Methodology

Prototyping

Conceptual Design

Original Effort

The original effort goes into drawing and modeling the

mechanism using 3D software (Creo/Solidworks) with
different

possibilities

of

linkages

to

design

new

mechanism.

Tiling up several set of linkages in triangular/ rectangular or

different patterns .

The mechanism should also be made to approximate

certain curves, e.g. an ellipse/a hyperbola or parabola. In
three dimensional surfaces , ellipsoid , hyperboloid and
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paraboloid

Development of Experiments and

Validation
Selection of basic unit for the mechanism .
The unit mechanism can be assembled to form the
desired shape while satisfying all geometric constraints
Position , Velocity, Statics and Singularity analysis .
Modeling in CAD software
Addition of new unit will not increase the degree of
freedom.

CAD models of 2-dof and 3-dof deployable mechanism with elliptical

And hyperbolic outline.

Challenges

The tiling up of several units is a major challenge as we do

not know whether the triangular / parallelogram pattern is
efficient . So we have to try out different choices and with

different basic linkages.

The Degree of freedom must be greater than1 for practical

applications as already extensive research has been done in
1-dof mechanisms and 2-dof mechanism.

The deployed form must approximate a surface .

Link interference poses a major challenge .
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The 2-dof Model

The device, with two decoupled dof, is able to control its
elliptical boundary by varying independently the two parameters
in the standard ellipse equation

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The 2-dof Model

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Proposed Model

Tiling up 2-dof mechanism with set of links in z- direction to

form an ellipsoid mechanism which has 3-dof.

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Proposed Model

Tiling up 2-dof mechanism with set of links in z- direction to

form an ellipsoid mechanism which has 3-dof.

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Proposed Model

Four view viewport

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Link interference

Four view viewport

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Link interference

Interference when the mechanism contracts .

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Work to be done

Adding different layers of ellipses with different sizes such that it

approximates an ellipsoid surface .

To be able to drive in 3

Decoupled directions.

Link interference has to be

eliminated .

Static analysis should be

performed.
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Bibliography

Chen, Y.: Design of structural mechanism. PhD Thesis,

University of Oxford, Oxofrd (2003).

Lu, S. N., Zlatanov, D., Ding, X. L., Molifino, R., and Zoppi, M.,
2013. A novel deployable mechanism with two decoupled
degrees of freedom. ASME IDETC/CIE 2013,p. 13187.
Lu, S. N., Zlatanov, D., Ding, X. L., Molifino, R., and Zoppi, M.,
2014. Approximation and control of curvilinear shapes via
deployable mechanisms with two degrees of freedomASME
IDETC/CIE 2014,p. 35411.
Lu, S. N., Zlatanov, D., Ding, X. L., Molifino, R., and Zoppi,
M.2014,Mechanisms with decoupled freedoms assembled from
spatial deployable units
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