Document Type
Article
Publication Date
June 2018
Patent Number
10006196
CPC
E04B 1/32, E04B 1/3441, E04B 1/34384, E04B 1/02, E04B 1/09, D04H 13/00, D04H 3/04
Abstract
A shape-morphing space frame (SMSF) utilizing the linear bistable compliant crank-slider mechanism (LBCCSM). The frame's initial shape is constructed from a single-layer grid of flexures, rigid links and LBCCSMs. The grid is bent into the space frame's initial cylindrical shape, which can morph because of the inclusion of LBCCSMs in its structure. The design parameters include the frame's initial height, its tessellation pattern (including the unit cell bistable elements' placement), its initial diameter, and the resulting desired shape. The method used in placing the unit cell bistable elements considers the principle stress trajectories. Two different examples of shape-morphing space frames are presented herein, each starting from a cylindrical-shell space frame and morphing, one to a hyperbolic-shell space frame and the other to a spherical-shell space frame, both morphing by applying moments, which shear the cylindrical shell, and forces, which change the cylinder's radius using Poisson's effect.
Application Number
15/691110
Recommended Citation
Alqasimi, Ahmad and Lusk, Craig, "Shape-morphing space frame apparatus using linear bistable elements" (2018). USF Patents. 1048.
https://digitalcommons.usf.edu/usf_patents/1048
Assignees
University of South Florida
Filing Date
08/30/2017
