Performance Improvement of Space Inflatable Structures by Imitating Inset-Wing/Leaf Veins Structures

2015 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 25630393
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Challenging Exploratory Research
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Research Field: Aerospace engineering
• Research Institution: Tokyo Metropolitan University
• Principal Investigator: Kojima Hirohisa 首都大学東京, システムデザイン研究科, 教授 (50322350)
• Project Period (FY): 2013-04-01 – 2016-03-31
• Keywords: インフレータブル構造物 / 昆虫翅 / 膜面 / 展開 / ミウラ折り

Outline of Final Research Achievements

The objective of this study is to develop secure and efficient inflatable space structures by clarifying the deployment characteristics of insect wings and imitating those characteristics. To this end, the influence of vein tube pattern parameters and folding schemes on the deployment characteristics is experimentally studied from viewpoints of deployment behavior, deployment force and so on. As the results of the experiments, the followings are revealed: 1) deployment time is inversely proportional to air flow rate. 2) the outside parts of membrane are not sufficiently deployed and slack in case of narrow veins. 3) deployment force is approximately proportional to the third power of vein width. 4) all part of membrane folded with the Miura-Ori is deployed simultaneously. 5) the time histories of air flow rate and internal pressure are not influenced by the folding schemes. 6) inflatable membranes which imitate the inset-wing vein network and folding pattern were successfully deployed.

Free Research Field

宇宙工学