A modified constant-torque spring hinge toward synchronous deployment

Spring hinges, due to their lightweight and energy-saving characteristics, have emerged as an imperative power source for deploying spacecraft appendages. In this paper, a modified constant-torque spring hinge (MCTSH) is proposed for aerospace applications. The conventional constant-torque hinge (CCTSH) is enhanced to bridge the gap toward new applications, resulting in a more compact structure with less friction and wide-range output torques. A novel torque control method is elaborated on for deployable, MCTSH-driven and multi-link mechanisms, thereby simplifying the design procedure via reducing the design variables by half. Given the intricate coupling effects of multi-link mechanisms, a synchronous deployment technique integrating the Newton-Euler dynamics, the design of experiments (DOE) method and the optimization is introduced, and its performance is verified by both simulations and experiments on multi-link grippers. The results demonstrate the high potential of the proposed method for deployable mechanisms toward aerospace applications, e.g., solar array panels and antennas.