CN111941446B

CN111941446B - Folding and unfolding device based on changeable cell paper folding structure

Info

Publication number: CN111941446B
Application number: CN202010576880.2A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 黄海林; 王森; 夏俊; 李兵; 刘荣强
Original assignee: Shenzhen Graduate School Harbin Institute of Technology
Current assignee: Shenzhen Graduate School Harbin Institute of Technology
Priority date: 2020-06-22
Filing date: 2020-06-22
Publication date: 2022-02-22
Anticipated expiration: 2040-06-22
Also published as: CN111941446A

Abstract

The invention provides a folding and unfolding device which comprises a base and a plurality of folding and unfolding branches, wherein each folding and unfolding branch comprises a driving module and N (N is more than or equal to 2) folding and unfolding modules which are sequentially connected, each folding and unfolding module comprises a support plate forming two equal waist edges and two folding plates forming the other bottom edge, the adjacent support plates and the folding plates are hinged through four parallel first rotating shafts, the two matching folding plates in the adjacent folding and unfolding modules are connected through a second rotating shaft, the second rotating shaft is perpendicular to the first rotating shaft, and the driving modules respectively act on the first rotating shaft and the second rotating shaft to drive the plurality of folding and unfolding modules to be switched among a gathering form, a folding form, an unfolding form and a bending form. The folding and unfolding device can fully utilize the transportation space after being folded, the folding and unfolding ratio can be increased along with the increase of the number of folding and unfolding modules, the folding and unfolding ratio can be changed, the folding and unfolding device can fold, unfold and support large-scale plane and curved membrane surfaces in space, and meanwhile, the folding and unfolding device can be used for the design of space capture manipulators.

Description

Folding and unfolding device based on changeable cell paper folding structure

Technical Field

The invention belongs to the technical field of space foldable and unfoldable mechanisms, and particularly relates to a foldable and unfoldable device based on a changeable cell paper folding structure.

Background

With the development of aerospace industry, the demand of large deployable mechanisms in aerospace engineering is increasing, and the deployable mechanisms are required to be deployed and supported by the large deployable mechanisms, such as a space solar cell panel, a solar sail of a long-range aircraft and the like; meanwhile, when capturing a space non-cooperative target, compared with the traditional series mechanical arm, the truss type folding and unfolding mechanism is used for enveloping and capturing, and has the advantages of stable capturing, high rigidity, convenience in transportation and the like.

At present, most of the existing folding and unfolding mechanisms are of modular structures, for example, chinese patent document 201410056414.6 discloses an expandable under-actuated cable bar truss type mechanical gripper, which relates to a modular mechanical gripper that can be used for gripping targets of different shapes in space, and solves the problems of large weight, complex structure, poor shape adaptability to the gripped target object, small gripping force and difficult expansion of the traditional under-actuated mechanism and the SARAH gripper, and comprises a front end connecting device, an inter-rod corner limiting mechanism, a tail end cable bar truss, a rope, a plurality of positioning columns and a plurality of expandable modular cable bar trusses; the front end connecting device comprises a connecting plate, two rope shafts, two limiting columns, two mounting plates, two transition plates and four support plates, the two support plates positioned on the same side in the vertical direction are penetrated with the rope shafts, and the output shaft of the motor is vertically arranged and connected with the corresponding rope shafts; each of the expandable modular cable-strut trusses includes two cable-wound axles, twelve friction damping metal plates, and six connecting rods. The manipulator in the prior art does not have the folding and unfolding functions, so that the manipulator occupies a large amount of space, and the transportation difficulty is improved; the stability of the parallelogram structure is poor, and the rigidity is difficult to control; the driving part is complex in control and heavy in structure due to the use of a servo motor, and the arrangement of the servo motor needs to be designed in an independent structure; and the technology does not consider the light weight design to cause the catching force of the mechanical arm to be not large, and the operation control on a large-mass target is difficult to carry out.

The folding-unfolding ratio in the prior art is limited and constant, and the folded and folded carrier cannot be tightly wrapped around the carrier, so that the space is greatly wasted; meanwhile, most of the folding and unfolding mechanisms can only carry out plane unfolding and cannot unfold and support a curved film surface.

Based on these problems, it is necessary to design a foldable device that can fully utilize the transportation space when folded.

Disclosure of Invention

Aiming at the defects of the prior art, the invention provides a folding and unfolding device based on a changeable cell paper folding structure, which can fully utilize the transportation space after being folded, the folding and unfolding ratio can be increased along with the increase of the number of branch joints, the folding and unfolding ratio is changeable, the folding and unfolding device can fold, unfold and support large-scale planes and curved membrane surfaces in space, and can be used for designing a space capture manipulator and has good application value.

In order to achieve the purpose, the invention provides a folding and unfolding device based on a variable cell folding paper structure, which comprises a base and a plurality of folding and unfolding branches arranged on the base, wherein the folding and unfolding branches are arranged on the base in a circumferential array or oppositely arranged manner, each folding and unfolding branch comprises a driving module and N (N is more than or equal to 2) folding and unfolding modules which are sequentially connected, each folding and unfolding module is in an isosceles triangle closed-loop structure and comprises a support plate forming two equal waist edges and two folding plates forming the other bottom edge, the adjacent support plates and the folding plates are hinged through four parallel first rotating shafts, the two folding plates matched in the adjacent folding and unfolding modules are connected through a second rotating shaft, the second rotating shaft is vertical to the first rotating shaft, the driving modules respectively act on the first rotating shaft and the second rotating shaft, and the folding and unfolding modules are driven to be folded in a gathering manner, The folded, unfolded and bent states are switched.

In the technical scheme of the invention, the folding and unfolding module adopts a variable triangular closed loop structure, one side of the folding and unfolding module is equally divided, and then the two folding plates are driven to rotate around the hinge shafts (first rotating shafts) of the two folding plates, so that the folding and unfolding module is unfolded or folded to form the conversion between a plane structure and a space structure.

Specifically, the folding and unfolding modules are rotatably connected through a second rotating shaft, and at the moment, the driving device controls each folding and unfolding module to rotate around the second rotating shaft so as to gather or bend the whole foldable and unfoldable branch.

According to another embodiment of the invention, the drive module acts on the first pivot between the two folding plates to drive the two folding plates to switch between the mutually stacked configuration and the mutually flush configuration.

According to another specific embodiment of the present invention, two folding plates in the nth folding module are respectively hinged to two folding plates in the (N-1) th folding module through a first hinge point and a second hinge point, wherein in the folded state, the unfolded state and the bent state, the axes of the first hinge point and the second hinge point are collinear.

According to another embodiment of the present invention, the driving module includes a first motor, a lead screw, and a driving nut engaged with the lead screw, the first motor is disposed on the base, the lead screw is disposed on the base and is in driving connection with an output end of the first motor, and the driving nut is connected with at least one folding plate through a connecting shaft, wherein the connecting shaft coincides with a first rotation axis between the two folding plates.

According to another specific embodiment of the invention, the driving device further comprises a guide rod and a transmission slide block, the guide rod is arranged on the base, the guide rod is parallel to the screw rod, the transmission slide block is arranged on the guide rod in a sliding manner, and the transmission slide block is fixedly connected with the driving nut and the connecting shaft rod.

In the mode, a single first motor can be adopted to carry out the synchronous driving process of a plurality of transmission sliding blocks, so that the synchronous driving process of a plurality of foldable branches can be completed.

According to another embodiment of the invention, at least one of the folding plates is provided with a stop structure for keeping the two folding plates in a mutually flush configuration, so as to limit the maximum unfolded position of the folding plates.

According to another embodiment of the present invention, the driving device includes a second motor acting on the second rotating shaft, and the second motor drives the folding plates in the adjacent folding and unfolding modules to rotate around the second rotating shaft so as to switch between the folding and unfolding configurations and between the unfolding and bending configurations.

According to another embodiment of the invention, the length of the support plates in the different folding and unfolding modules is the same and/or different, wherein the length of the support plates is the length capable of catching in the unfolded state, and the length of the support plates depends on the length limited by the complete folding in the folded state.

When the folding and unfolding module is unfolded, the folding and unfolding module is controlled by a second motor to rotate around a second rotating shaft until reaching an unfolded state, and at the moment, the folding and unfolding module is in a first metamorphic position; then, the screw rod is driven to rotate under the control of the first motor, and the transmission slide block is controlled to slide and rise along the guide rod, so that the plurality of foldable branches are controlled to be synchronously unfolded, the unfolding and supporting functions of the plane film surface are realized, and the plane film surface reaches a second metamorphic position; then controlling the folding and unfolding modules of each foldable and unfoldable branch to rotate around the unfolded second rotating shaft again, so that the folding and unfolding modules form a curved shape, and performing curved surface membrane surface unfolding and supporting; when the foldable and unfoldable branch is used for capturing a non-cooperative target, the target object can be enveloped by controlling the rotation angle between the foldable and unfoldable modules according to the surface shape of the target object.

The invention has the following beneficial effects:

the invention has large folding-unfolding ratio, large working space when unfolded, and the folding-unfolding ratio is increased along with the increase of the number of joints in the branches, and the volume of the occupied space is small when loading and transporting, thus being convenient for transportation and carrying;

in addition, the invention can be used for unfolding and supporting large-scale plane membrane surfaces and curved surface membrane surfaces at the same time, and can also grab objects with irregular shapes so as to better grab space target objects;

in addition, the invention has two metamorphic positions, the driving device controls the mechanism to move in an underactuated mode, and the switching among various forms can be carried out only through the rotating process, so that the structure is more compact, the operability is stronger, and the cost is lower.

The present invention will be described in further detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

Drawings

FIG. 1 is a schematic structural view of the folding and unfolding apparatus of the present invention, shown in an unfolded configuration;

FIG. 2 is a schematic structural view of a single collapsible branch of the present invention;

FIG. 3 is a schematic structural view of a single folding and unfolding module of the present invention;

FIG. 4 is a schematic view of the connection between two folding and unfolding modules of the present invention;

FIG. 5 is a schematic view of the construction of the base of the present invention;

FIG. 6 is a schematic view of the connection between the base and the collapsible branches of the present invention;

FIG. 7 is a schematic view of the folded configuration of the present invention;

FIG. 8 is a schematic view of the folded configuration of the folding and unfolding apparatus of the present invention;

FIG. 9 is a schematic view of a curved configuration of the present invention when used on a curved film surface support;

figure 10 is a schematic view of a capture (curved) configuration of the folding and unfolding apparatus of the invention for spatial target capture.

Detailed Description

A folding and unfolding apparatus, as shown in FIGS. 1-10, includes a base 100 and three foldable and unfoldable legs 200, the three foldable and unfoldable legs 200 being mounted in a circumferential array on the periphery of the base 100.

The three foldable and expandable branches 200 are the same, each foldable and expandable branch 200 comprises a driving module and five foldable and expandable modules 210 which are sequentially connected, each foldable and expandable module 210 is a foldable and expandable module 210a, a foldable and expandable module 210b, a foldable and expandable module 210c, a foldable and expandable module 210d and a foldable and expandable module 210e, and the driving module is used for switching the foldable and expandable modules 210 between a gathering form, a folding form, an expanding form and a bending form.

The folding and unfolding modules 210 in the invention adopt a variable cell folding paper configuration, and are specifically arranged in an isosceles triangle closed loop structure, wherein the shape and size of the five folding and unfolding modules 210 can be the same or different, and in order to be suitable for catching a target object, the example shows the situation that the shape and size of the five folding and unfolding modules 210 are sequentially increased.

Referring to fig. 3, a specific structure of the folding and unfolding module 210a is described as follows: the folding device comprises a first support plate 211 and a second support plate 212 which form two equal waist edges, and a first folding plate 213 and a second folding plate 214 which form the other bottom edge, wherein the first support plate 211 is hinged with the second support plate 212 through a first rotating shaft L1, the first support plate 211 is hinged with the first folding plate 213 through a first rotating shaft L2, the second support plate 212 is hinged with the second folding plate 214 through a first rotating shaft L3, the first folding plate 213 is hinged with the second folding plate 214 through a first rotating shaft L4, and the first rotating shaft L1, the first rotating shaft L2, the first rotating shaft L3 and the first rotating shaft L4 are parallel to each other.

Under the action of the driving device, the first folding plate 213 and the second folding plate 214 can be driven to fold along the direction indicated by the arrow in the figure, so as to hide the first folding plate 213 and the second folding plate 214 into the space between the first rack plate 211 and the second rack plate 212.

In order to maintain the stable engagement position of the first folding plate 213 and the second folding plate 214 after being completely unfolded, a limiting plate 215 (limiting structure) may be further disposed on the first folding plate 213 to limit the first folding plate 213 and the second folding plate 214 from continuing to rotate, so as to maintain the first folding plate 213 and the second folding plate 214 at the flush maximum unfolding position.

Referring to fig. 4, in the adjacent folding and unfolding modules 210, the two first folding plates 213 coupled to each other are hinged to each other through a second rotating shaft L5 (a first hinge point), and the two second folding plates 214 coupled to each other are hinged to each other through a second rotating shaft L6 (a second hinge point), wherein the second rotating shaft L5 and the second rotating shaft L6 are collinear in the non-unfolding process (i.e., in the folded, unfolded, and bent states), and the second rotating shaft L5 and the second rotating shaft L6 are perpendicular to the first rotating shaft L1, the first rotating shaft L2, the first rotating shaft L3, and the first rotating shaft L4 at each metamorphic position.

Referring again to fig. 4, the driving module includes a second motor (not shown) for driving the second rotating shaft L5 and/or the second rotating shaft L6 to perform a relative rotation between the two folding modules 210 for performing a gathering or catching operation of the foldable branches 200.

The present example further simplifies the specific structure of the driving device on the basis of realizing the simultaneous driving of the three foldable and unfoldable branches 200 to unfold, and designs the structure of the base 100, referring to fig. 5 and 6, the driving device includes a first motor (not shown in the figure), a lead screw 221, a driving nut 222, a connecting shaft 223, three guide rods 224, and a transmission slider 225 disposed on the guide rods 224, the first motor is disposed on the base 100, the lead screw 221 is disposed on the base 100 and drivingly connected with the output end of the first motor, the driving nut 222 is rotatably disposed on the lead screw 221, the three guide rods 224 are fixed on the base 100 and distributed on the periphery of the lead screw 221, wherein the guide rods 224 are parallel to the lead screw 221, the transmission slider 225 is fixedly connected with the driving nut 222, one end of the connecting 223 coincides with the first rotating shaft L4 between the first folding shaft 213 and the second folding 214, the other end of the connecting shaft 223 is fixed to the driving slider 225.

In this example, a baffle 110 is also provided at the outer periphery of the base 100 to receive the collapsible arms 200 in the collapsed condition.

In this example, only one first motor drives the screw rod 221 to rotate, so that the three transmission sliding blocks 225 can be synchronously driven to slide on the guide rod 224, and further the position of the connecting shaft rod 223 is changed, so as to realize the rotation process between the first folding plate 213 and the second folding plate 214 around the first rotating shaft L4, and complete the switching of the folding and unfolding module 210 between the folding state and the unfolding state.

The folded configuration of the folding and unfolding apparatus in this example is shown in fig. 7, the folded configuration is shown in fig. 8, the unfolded configuration is shown in fig. 1, and the capture configurations of two different objects are shown in fig. 9 and 10.

In the present example, five foldable modules 210 are in the folded and gathered configuration and three foldable branches 200 surround the base 100 for transportation, as shown in fig. 7;

when the membrane surface support or the capture of the target object is required, the folding and unfolding modules 210 of each foldable and unfoldable branch 200 are controlled by the second motor to rotate around the second rotating shaft until reaching the straightened state, as shown in fig. 8, and are at the first metamorphic position; then, the screw rod 221 is driven to rotate under the control of the first motor, the transmission slide block 225 is controlled to slide and rise along the guide rod 224, so that the plurality of foldable branches 200 are controlled to be unfolded synchronously, the planar membrane surface unfolding and supporting functions are realized, and the planar membrane surface unfolding and supporting function is shown in fig. 1 and reaches a second metamorphic position at the moment; then, the folding and unfolding modules 210 of the foldable and unfoldable branches 200 are controlled to rotate around the unfolded second rotating shaft again, so that the folding and unfolding modules 210 form a curved shape, and the curved-surface membrane surface is unfolded and supported, as shown in fig. 9 or 10;

when the foldable and unfoldable branches are used for capturing non-cooperative targets, the foldable and unfoldable branches 200 can envelop the target object by controlling the rotation angle between the foldable and unfoldable modules 210 according to the surface shape of the target object.

Although the present invention has been described with reference to the preferred embodiments, it is not intended to limit the scope of the invention. It will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that variations may be made without departing from the scope of the invention, and equivalents may be resorted to without departing from the scope of the invention.

Claims

1. A folding and unfolding device based on a changeable cell folding paper structure comprises a base (100) and a plurality of folding and unfolding branches (200) arranged on the base (100), wherein the folding and unfolding branches (200) are arranged on the base (100) in a circumferential array or in an opposite mode, the folding and unfolding device is characterized in that the folding and unfolding branches (200) comprise a driving module and N (N is more than or equal to 2) folding and unfolding modules (210) which are sequentially connected, the folding and unfolding modules (210) are arranged in an isosceles triangle closed loop structure and comprise support plates (211 and 212) forming two equal waist edges and two folding plates (213 and 214) forming the other bottom edge, the adjacent support plates (211 and 212) and the folding plates (213 and 214) are hinged through four parallel first rotating shafts (L1, L2, L3 and L4), wherein the two folding plates (213 and the folding plates (213) matched in the adjacent folding and unfolding modules (210) are hinged, 214) The folding and unfolding module is connected with the first rotating shaft (L1, L2, L3 and L4) through a second rotating shaft (L5 and L6), the second rotating shaft (L5 and L6) is perpendicular to the first rotating shaft (L1, L2, L3 and L4), and the driving module acts on the first rotating shaft (L1, L2, L3 and L4) and the second rotating shaft (L5 and L6) respectively to drive the folding and unfolding module (210) to be switched among a folding state, an unfolding state and a bending state.

2. The folding and unfolding apparatus based on the changeable cell folding paper configuration as claimed in claim 1, wherein said driving module acts on a first rotating shaft (L4) between two said folding plates (213, 214) to drive the two said folding plates (213, 214) to switch between the mutually stacked configuration and the mutually flush configuration.

3. The folding and unfolding device based on the changeable cell folding paper configuration as claimed in claim 2, wherein two folding plates (213, 214) of the N-th folding and unfolding module (210) are respectively hinged with two folding plates (213, 214) of the (N-1) -th folding and unfolding module (210) through a first hinge point and a second hinge point, wherein the first hinge point and the second hinge point are collinear in axis in the gathered configuration, the folded configuration, the unfolded configuration and the bent configuration.

4. The folding and unfolding apparatus based on the changeable cell folding paper configuration as claimed in claim 2, wherein the driving module comprises a first motor, a lead screw (221), and a driving nut (222) engaged with the lead screw (221), the first motor is disposed on the base (100), the lead screw (221) is disposed on the base (100) and is in driving connection with an output end of the first motor, the driving nut (222) is connected with at least one of the folding plates (213, 214) through a connecting shaft (223), and wherein the connecting shaft (223) coincides with a first rotating shaft (L4) between two of the folding plates (213, 214).

5. The folding and unfolding apparatus based on changeable cell folding paper configuration as claimed in claim 4, wherein said driving module further comprises a guiding rod (224) and a transmission slider (225), said guiding rod (224) is disposed on said base (100), said guiding rod (224) is parallel to said lead screw (221), said transmission slider (225) is slidably disposed on said guiding rod (224), and said transmission slider (225) is fixedly connected with said driving nut (222) and said connecting shaft (223).

6. Folding and unfolding apparatus based on a variable cell folded paper configuration, according to claim 2, characterised in that at least one of said folding plates (213, 214) is provided with a stop structure (215) for keeping both said folding plates (213, 214) in a mutually flush configuration.

7. The folding and unfolding device based on the changeable cell folding paper configuration as claimed in claim 1, wherein the driving module comprises a second motor acting on the second rotating shaft (L5, L6), and the second motor drives the folding plates (213, 214) in the adjacent folding and unfolding modules (210) to rotate around the second rotating shaft (L5, L6) so as to switch between the gathering configuration and the unfolding configuration, and the unfolding configuration and the bending configuration.

8. The folding and unfolding apparatus based on the variable cell folding paper configuration as claimed in claim 1, characterized in that the length of the support plates (211, 212) in different folding and unfolding modules (210) is the same or different.