JPH10203495A - Extending mechanism - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an extending mechanism, which is simple, small in size, and light in weight, which can be surely extended. SOLUTION: When a lock of a shaft 6 is unlocked by a holding mechanism 7, a compression coil spring 4 is extended, a sleeve-shaped block 3 is pressed up along a guide pillar 2. Then, a right upper end of the block 3 presses the shaft 6 left hand rotated by 90 degree with a pin 5, mounted in the vicinity of an upper end of the guide pillar 2, serving as the center. The block 3 is lifted, when its left upper end part is brought into contact with a stopper 8 of the shaft 6, to lead to a condition after extension of an antenna (extending object) 9. In this condition, the block 3, by fitting to the shaft 6, maintains its standing position.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a deployment mechanism for rotatably supporting an antenna or a solar battery paddle mounted on an artificial satellite or the like.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art First, a deployment mechanism of an antenna mounted on a conventional artificial satellite is shown in FIG.

FIG. 3 shows a state before the antenna is deployed.
A rotary power transmission mechanism 13 to which power is transmitted from an electric motor 12 is installed above the support base 11. One end of a shaft 14 is fixed to the rotary power transmission mechanism 13, and an antenna (object to be developed) 15 is fixed to the other end of the shaft 14. When the electric motor 12 is started, the shaft 14 rotates 90 degrees counterclockwise in FIG. 3B via the rotary power transmission mechanism 13 and moves the antenna 15 to the deployed position.

Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 1-317899 discloses that a spacecraft and a deployable body which is deployed and rotated with respect to the spacecraft are hinged, and the deployable body is urged in a deployment direction by a spring. In a deployment mechanism comprising: A deployment mechanism for a spacecraft including an anchor for intermittently rotating an anchor gear and spring means for adjusting the anchor swing speed is described.

[0005]

The requirements for deploying mechanisms such as antennas and solar battery paddles mounted on artificial satellites and the like are small, light, lightweight, and have a simple structure and reliability. In addition, the deployment mechanism in an artificial satellite or the like is launched in a stored state due to the limitation of a mounting area, and is deployed after the launch is completed. Therefore, the deployment mechanism must be as simple as possible and have improved reliability so as to emphasize both the functions of deployment and maintenance after deployment.

However, the conventional deployment mechanism of the antenna mounted on the artificial satellite requires a control unit for an electric motor, a connection cable, and the like, and thus has a complicated structure.

In addition, the above-described conventional space vehicle deployment mechanism has a complicated structure because a gear train, an anchor gear, and an anchor are used for deployment control.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to improve the drawbacks of the conventional deployment mechanism, and to provide a deployment mechanism that is simple, small, lightweight, and can be deployed reliably.

[0009]

The present invention employs the following means to solve the above-mentioned problems.

(1) A guide post, a block that can move in engagement with the guide post, a spring that biases the block, and a rotatably attached to the guide post,
And a shaft rotated by the block;
A deployment mechanism including a holding mechanism that locks the shaft, and an object provided on the shaft.

(2) The unfolding mechanism according to (1), wherein the block is engaged with the shaft in a state after the unfolded object is unfolded.

(3) The deployment mechanism according to (1), wherein a stopper of the shaft abuts on the block in a state after the deployment object is deployed.

(4) The spring is a compression coil spring, and is wound around the guide post.
The deployment mechanism described.

[0014]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS One embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS.

FIG. 1 shows a state before the antenna is deployed.
A guide column 2 is fixed to a support 1, and a sleeve-shaped block 3 is fitted to the guide column 2 so as to be movable in the vertical direction of the guide column 2. A compression coil spring 4 wound around the guide column 2 and held between the support 1 and the block 3 presses the block 3 upward. Guide pillar 2
A shaft 6 is rotatably mounted by a pin 5 near the upper end of the shaft. The lower portion of the shaft 6 near its right end is locked by a holding mechanism 7, a stopper 8 is fixed to an upper portion near its left end, and an antenna (development object) 9 is fixed to its right end.

In the state of FIG. 1, when the holding mechanism 7 releases the lock of the shaft 6, the compression coil spring 4
Expands and pushes up block 3. Then, the upper right end of the block 3 pushes the shaft 6 and rotates the pin 5 by 90 degrees counterclockwise. When the block 3 rises and its upper left end contacts the stopper 8 of the shaft 6, FIG.
To the state after deployment of the antenna. In this state, the block 3 maintains the upright position of the shaft 6 by engaging with the shaft 6.

[0017]

As is apparent from the above description, according to the present invention, a simple, small, and lightweight deployment mechanism can be used.
The object can be reliably deployed.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIGS. 1A and 1B show a state before deployment of an embodiment of the present invention, wherein FIG. 1A is a plan view and FIG. 1B is a front view.

FIG. 2 is a front view showing a state after deployment of the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 shows a state before deployment of a conventional deployment mechanism, and FIG.
Is a plan view, and (b) is a front view.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Support stand 2 Guide pillar 3 Block 4 Compression coil spring 5 Pin 6 Shaft 7 Holding mechanism 8 Stopper 9 Antenna (development object)

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. A guide post, a block that can move in engagement with the guide post, a spring that urges the block, and is rotatably attached to the guide post and rotated by the block. A deployment mechanism comprising a shaft, a holding mechanism for locking the shaft, and an object provided on the shaft. 2. The unfolding mechanism according to claim 1, wherein the block engages with the shaft in a state after the unfolded object is unfolded. 3. The unfolding mechanism according to claim 1, wherein a stopper of the shaft contacts the block in a state after the unfolded object is unfolded. 4. The unfolding mechanism according to claim 1, wherein said spring is a compression coil spring and is wound around said guide post.