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Published on: October 1, 2019
Development and Feasibility Assessment of a Sequential Antenna Deployment System Based on Fiber-Reinforced Shape
Marylen T De la Cruz1, Riana Gabrielle P Gamboa1, Jon Dewitt E Dalisay1
1Department of Mechanical Engineering, College of Engineering, University of the Philippines Diliman, Quezon City 1101, Philippines.
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With the growing demand for reliable, low-impact deployment systems in small satellite missions, this work introduces an antenna deployment mechanism using fiber-reinforced shape memory polymer composites (SMPC). The mechanism utilized thermally activated SMPCs for stowage and release, configured with different glass transition temperatures (Tg), tuned through the addition of poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG-600), for sequential actuation. The deployment mechanism consisted of three SMPC components with varying PEG concentrations: SMPC-P (0 wt%), SMPC-5 (5 wt%), and SMPC-10 (10 wt%). For component design, three bending angle configurations (BAC) of 20°, 30°, and 40° were tested. The samples exhibited the highest fixity ratio (93.58%, 95.76%, and 96.52% for SMPC-P, SMPC-5, and SMPC-10, respectively) when conformed to the 20° BAC. All samples achieved full recovery within 2 min, with PEG-incorporated composites exhibiting more uniform behavior across cycles, while recovery rates varied by material and BAC. Deployment testing confirmed the antenna was released successfully across all BACs. The 20° BAC exhibited the fastest response, completing deployment 24 s and 30 s ahead of the 30° and 40° BACs, respectively. The proposed mechanism exhibits promising potential for integration in future CubeSat missions. However, further testing under simulated space conditions is necessary to comprehensively assess and validate its performance.
