A standard modular drag sail device for deorbiting cubesats

Abstract

The present invention proposes a standard modular drag sail device for deorbiting a cubic satellite, including four groups of standard deployment units, a standard deployment unit bottom plate, a drive system, a sail box, a drag sail shell and an unlocking device; the standard deployment unit includes a deployment unit shaft, a support rod for propping up the drag sail, a deployment unit shaft protective shell and a deployment unit shell. Compared with the current single layout form of drag sail design, the present invention adopts standardized and modular standard deployment units and utilizes different installation methods of standard deployment units to conveniently realize drag sails of different layout forms, such as a planar radial deployment mode drag sail design, a drag sail design with aerodynamic self-stabilization characteristics, and a planar tangential deployment mode drag sail design. There is no need to design different deployment structures for different drag sail layouts, so as to better meet different task requirements, simplify the scheme design process, shorten the design cycle of cubic satellites, and promote the development of cubic satellite related supporting facilities in a more modular direction.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present invention relates to the field of aerospace technology, in particular to the field of cubic satellite deorbiting technology, and specifically to a standard modular space deployable drag sail device for cubic satellite deorbiting. Background Art

[0002] Cubic satellites have the advantages of small mass, simple structure, low cost, short R&D cycle and high functional density. They can be further networked to form a "virtual satellite" in a distributed constellation, which is mainly used for communication, earth remote sensing, scientific research, etc. With the development of modern science and technology, the use of cubic satellites will become more frequent. However, cubic satellites can carry less fuel and have a shorter working time. If they are not cleaned up in time after reaching the end of their working life, they will occupy precious space orbital resources and threaten the normal operation of other spacecraft in orbit.

[0003] In 2007, the Inter-Agency Space Debris Coordination Committee (IADC) published the "Guidelines for Space Debris Mitigation", which recommended that spacecraft should leave their orbits within 25 years after completing their missions or within 30 years after entering orbit. At the same time, my country's State Administration of Science, Technology and Industry for National Defense also issued documents such as the "Measures for the Management of Space Debris Mitigation and Protection", requiring low-orbit satellites to have the ability to actively deorbit. Drag sail technology is currently the most suitable method for CubeSat orbit reduction. Therefore, adhering to the concept of sustainable development, designing a space-deployable drag sail suitable for the rapid deorbiting of CubeSats has profound practical significance and plays an important role in maintaining the space environment, making better use of space for humans, and protecting space resources. For example, the drag sail device carried by the "Qingteng Star" independently developed by Tianyi Research Institute (Tianyi SPACETY. Tianyi Research Institute's sixth space mission was successfully launched [DB / OL]. [2019-05-01]. https: / / mp.weixin.qq.com / s / vocMkcY-LZb_s28AT9JkPw) has a deployment area of ​​0.7m 2 , which can allow the satellite to leave orbit within 6 to 12 months. Qingteng Star was launched into orbit in January 2019.

[0004] The most common drag sail designs are all designed for a specific deployment layout, examples are as follows:

[0005] Chinese patent application No. 201620485944.7 discloses a drag sail design, which is deployed in a planar radial layout. The advantages of this drag sail layout are that the overall structure is simple, and the tangential extension direction of the support rod is very consistent with the single central shaft structure, which can minimize the problem of the tape spring recurvature. However, its limitations are also obvious. First, after the drag sail design is deployed, it is located in the same plane and does not have aerodynamic self-stabilization characteristics, which places high demands on the satellite's attitude control system. Secondly, the tape spring is deployed quickly and uncontrolled, and is prone to expansion and jamming. Finally, from the perspective of the sail membrane, the tangential deployment method will cause uneven force on both sides of the sail membrane, resulting in asymmetric internal forces, which is prone to damage on one side of the sail membrane first. Therefore, this drag sail cannot be adapted to some low-cost cubic satellites with imperfect attitude control systems.

[0006] Chinese patent application number: 202010293058.5 discloses a drag sail design, which is a drag sail with an aerodynamic self-stabilization layout. Compared with the drag sail design described in the previous paragraph, this drag sail does not have the problem of asymmetric force on the sail membrane, and the existence of the aerodynamic self-stabilization design reduces the requirements for the cubic satellite. However, compared with the former, the sail membrane area of ​​the drag sail is smaller under the same conditions, and there are problems such as insufficient utilization of the base plate space and a more complicated transmission mechanism. At the same time, when the cubic satellite attitude control system is more complete, the aerodynamic self-stabilization design is no longer necessary, and it also becomes a limiting factor for the sail membrane area of ​​the drag sail.

[0007] Based on the above patents, it is not difficult to see that different cubic satellites are suitable for different deployment layouts. However, the current drag sail design has not achieved standard modularization in the deployment method. Different deployment layouts are suitable for different drag sail structures. After determining the deployment layout, designers have to design different drag sail structures for different cubic satellite schemes, which invisibly prolongs the design process and increases the design cycle. Summary of the invention

[0008] In view of the problems existing in the prior art, the present invention proposes a standard modular drag sail device for deorbiting a cubic satellite, which can be assembled into different deployment layouts using standard deployment units, and realize the conversion between the above-mentioned planar radial deployment layout and the aerodynamic self-stabilization layout, so as to adapt to the deorbit requirements of various cubic satellites, improve the modularization and standardization of the drag sail design, greatly improve its application scope, and save the time of designing different drag sail structures for different cubic satellite schemes.

[0009] The technical solution of the present invention is:

[0010] The standard modular drag sail device for deorbiting a cube satellite comprises four sets of standard deployment units, a standard deployment unit bottom plate, a drive system, a sail box, a drag sail shell and an unlocking device;

[0011] The standard deployment unit includes a deployment unit shaft, a support rod for propping up the resistance sail, a deployment unit shaft protection shell and a deployment unit shell;

[0012] The two ends of the unfolding unit shaft are mounted on the unfolding unit housing through bearings; the two ends of the unfolding unit shaft protection shell are fixedly mounted on the unfolding unit housing, and the unfolding unit shaft protection shell is provided with a support rod groove for the support rod to extend out, and the length direction of the support rod groove is parallel to the axial direction of the unfolding unit shaft; the support rod is wound around the unfolding unit shaft, and when the unfolding unit shaft rotates, the support rod can extend out of the support rod groove;

[0013] The shell of the deployment unit is provided with two sets of connection structures for fixing the standard deployment unit between the bottom plate of the standard deployment unit and the bottom plate of the sail box, so that the standard deployment unit can be used to realize a planar radial deployment layout and a pneumatic self-stabilizing layout;

[0014] When a planar radial deployment layout is adopted, the four groups of standard deployment units are respectively arranged at the four corners of the standard deployment unit bottom plate, and the deployment unit rotation axis of each group of standard deployment units is perpendicular to the plane of the standard deployment unit bottom plate; the center lines of the support rod grooves of the two diagonally arranged groups of standard deployment units are coplanar with a diagonal line of the standard deployment unit bottom plate, and the support rod grooves face outwards;

[0015] When the pneumatic self-stabilizing layout is adopted, the four groups of standard deployment units are respectively arranged in the middle of the four sides of the standard deployment unit bottom plate, and the deployment unit rotation axis of each group of standard deployment units is parallel to the corresponding side of the standard deployment unit bottom plate; in each group of standard deployment units, the plane formed by the center line of the support rod groove and the center axis of the deployment unit rotation axis has the same angle with the plane of the standard deployment unit bottom plate, and the support rod grooves are all facing the outside close to the side of the sail box;

[0016] The driving mechanism can drive the unfolding unit rotating shafts of the four groups of standard unfolding units to rotate synchronously, so that the support rods of the four groups of standard unfolding units extend synchronously from the corresponding support rod slots;

[0017] The sail box has a sail box bottom plate and a sail box partition; the sail box partition is cross-distributed and fixed on the upper side of the sail box bottom plate. When a planar radial deployment layout is adopted, the sail box partition coincides with two diagonals of a standard deployment unit bottom plate. When a pneumatic self-stabilization layout is adopted, the sail box partition is perpendicular to four sides of the standard deployment unit bottom plate.

[0018] The resistance sail shell covers the standard deployment unit bottom plate, the deployment unit, the driving system and the outside of the sail box, and can be opened under the action of the unlocking device to expose the sail box and the standard deployment unit.

[0019] Furthermore, the unfolding unit housing adopts a concave open structure consisting of a left side housing of the unfolding unit, a rear side housing of the unfolding unit and a right side housing of the unfolding unit;

[0020] A bearing hole is provided in the middle of the left side shell of the unfolding unit for installing a bearing and cooperating with one end of the rotating shaft of the unfolding unit;

[0021] A plurality of groups of jacks are also provided on the wall surface of the left outer shell of the unfolding unit, and the centers of all the jacks are on the same arc with the center of the bearing hole as the center; the jacks are used to cooperate with the latches on one side end surface of the unfolding unit shaft protection shell to connect the unfolding unit shaft protection shell with the left outer shell of the unfolding unit; there is a group of jacks, so that when the group of jacks cooperates with the latches, when the unfolding unit shell is installed on the standard unfolding unit bottom plate in a planar radial unfolding layout, the center lines of the support rod grooves of the two diagonally arranged groups of unfolding units are coplanar with a diagonal line of the standard unfolding unit bottom plate; and the remaining groups of jacks can ensure that when a certain group of jacks cooperates with the latches, when the unfolding unit shell is installed on the standard unfolding unit bottom plate in a pneumatic self-stabilizing layout, the sweep angle of the extended support rod meets the corresponding requirements;

[0022] The outer wall surface of the left side shell of the deployment unit also has a connection hole for connecting with the bottom plate of the standard deployment unit or the bottom plate of the sail box, and a connection hole for connecting with one side of the rear side shell of the deployment unit;

[0023] The right side shell of the unfolding unit and the left side shell of the unfolding unit are mirror-symmetrical structures, and are used to connect with the other end of the unfolding unit shaft, the other side end surface of the unfolding unit shaft protection shell, and the other side of the rear side shell of the unfolding unit;

[0024] A side of the left shell of the deployment unit or the right shell of the deployment unit has a T-shaped protrusion, which is used to cooperate with the slide groove on the bottom plate of the standard deployment unit, so that the deployment unit shell is installed on the bottom plate of the standard deployment unit in the form of a pneumatic self-stabilizing layout, and the length direction of the T-shaped protrusion is perpendicular to the plane of the rear shell of the deployment unit;

[0025] The top edge of the rear shell of the unfolding unit is provided with a connection hole connected with a standard unfolding unit bottom plate or a sail box bottom plate.

[0026] Furthermore, the connection holes in the left side shell of the unfolding unit, the right side shell of the unfolding unit and the rear side shell of the unfolding unit for connecting with the standard unfolding unit bottom plate or the sail box bottom plate are all realized by arranging cubic protrusions on the end faces of the shells and setting connection holes in the cubic protrusions.

[0027] Furthermore, the standard unfolding unit bottom plate is a square bottom plate, bearing holes are arranged at the four corners, and sliding grooves perpendicular to the corresponding edges are arranged on the four sides for cooperating with the T-shaped protrusions.

[0028] Furthermore, the driving system includes a reduction motor, a motor seat, a motor gear, four connecting shaft gears and four connecting shafts, and also includes four bevel gear sets; the reduction motor is installed at the center of the bottom plate of the standard unfolding unit through the motor seat, the motor gear and the four connecting shaft gears are arranged on the back of the bottom plate of the standard unfolding unit, and the four connecting shaft gears are arranged around the motor gear, and the motor gear is driven to rotate by the reduction motor, thereby driving the four connecting shaft gears to rotate synchronously; the connecting shaft gear is installed at one end of the connecting shaft, and the connecting shaft is matched with the bearing holes arranged at the four corners of the bottom plate of the standard unfolding unit through bearings;

[0029] When a planar radial deployment layout is adopted, the connecting shaft is coaxially fixedly connected to the deployment unit rotation shaft of a certain deployment unit, and the deployment unit rotation shaft can be driven to rotate synchronously through the connecting shaft;

[0030] When the pneumatic self-stabilizing layout is adopted, the top of the connecting shaft cooperates with the end of the unfolding unit rotating shaft of the corresponding unfolding unit through a set of bevel gear sets, thereby driving the unfolding unit rotating shaft to rotate synchronously through the connecting shaft.

[0031] Furthermore, the outer shell of the resistance sail is a cubic structure composed of four outer shell door panels, an outer shell bottom plate, an outer shell top plate, and outer shell door panel hinges, which together form the outer envelope of the entire device; the outer shell top plate is fixed to the upper side of the sail box partition; the outer shell bottom plate is connected to the lower side of the standard deployment unit bottom plate; the lower edges of the four outer shell door panels are connected to the four sides of the outer shell bottom plate through the outer shell door panel hinges, and the upper edges of the four outer shell door panels are provided with circular holes, which are connected to the outer shell top plate by binding wires passing through the circular holes; the unlocking device can cut off the binding wires to achieve unlocking of the resistance sail outer shell.

[0032] Furthermore, the unlocking device adopts a hot knife melting unlocking device.

[0033] Furthermore, the support rod is a bistable composite material support rod.

[0034] Beneficial Effects

[0035] The beneficial effects of the present invention are:

[0036] 1. Compared with the current single layout design of drag sails, the present invention adopts standardized and modular standard deployment units. By using different installation methods of standard deployment units, it is possible to conveniently realize drag sails with different layouts, adapt to more mission requirements, and be suitable for more cubic satellites with different configurations.

[0037] 2. The present invention can simplify the design process of the cubic satellite and shorten the design cycle of the cubic satellite by adopting standardized and modular standard deployment units.

[0038] 3. The present invention adopts standardized and modular standard deployment units, which makes it easy to achieve large-scale production and save the cost of cubic satellite launch.

[0039] Additional aspects and advantages of the present invention will be given in part in the following description and in part will be obvious from the following description, or will be learned through practice of the present invention. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0040] The above and / or additional aspects and advantages of the present invention will become apparent and easily understood from the description of the embodiments in conjunction with the following drawings, in which:

[0041] Figure 1 Schematic diagram of the three-dimensional structure of the standard unfolding unit 20 of the present invention

[0042] Figure 2 Exploded view of the standard unfolding unit 20 of the present invention

[0043] Figure 3 Schematic diagram of the assembly of the unfolding unit shaft protection shell 5 of the present invention

[0044] Figure 4 This is a schematic diagram of the base plate structure of the standard unfolding device of the present invention.

[0045] Figure 5 Schematic diagram of the transmission device of the present invention

[0046] Figure 6 This is a schematic diagram of the structure of the radial deployment arrangement of the present invention.

[0047] Figure 7 This is a schematic diagram of the structure of the self-stabilizing arrangement of the present invention.

[0048] Figure 8 Schematic diagram of the three-dimensional structure of the present invention in a self-stabilizing arrangement

[0049] Fig. 9 Schematic diagram of the three-dimensional structure of the present invention in a radially deployed manner

[0050] Fig.10 A schematic diagram of the three-dimensional structure of the present invention in a folded state

[0051] Fig.11 Schematic diagram of the radial deployment arrangement of the present invention

[0052] Fig.12 Schematic diagram of the self-stabilizing arrangement of the present invention

[0053] Among them: 1 is the left shell of the unfolding unit, 2 is the rear shell of the unfolding unit, 3 is the right shell of the unfolding unit, 4 is the unfolding unit shaft, 5 is the unfolding unit protective shell, 6 is the unfolding unit bearing, 7 is the reduction motor, 8 is the motor seat, 9 is the standard unfolding device bottom plate, 10 is the unfolding device bottom plate slide, 11 is the slide baffle, 12 is the unfolding device bottom plate bearing, 13 is the bearing pressure cover, 14 is the connecting shaft, 15 is the connecting shaft gear, 16 is the motor gear, 17 is the bevel gear set, 18 is the sail box bottom plate, 19 is the sail box partition, 20 is the standard unfolding unit, 21 is the shell door plate, 22 is the shell bottom plate, 23 is the shell top plate, and 24 is the shell door plate hinge. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0054] Embodiments of the present invention are described in detail below, examples of which are shown in the accompanying drawings, wherein the same or similar reference numerals throughout represent the same or similar elements or elements having the same or similar functions. The embodiments described below with reference to the accompanying drawings are exemplary and are intended to be used to explain the present invention, and should not be construed as limiting the present invention.

[0055] In the description of the present invention, it should be understood that the terms "center", "longitudinal", "lateral", "length", "width", "thickness", "up", "down", "front", "back", "left", "right", "vertical", "horizontal", "top", "bottom", "inside", "outside", "clockwise", "counterclockwise" and the like indicate orientations or positional relationships based on the orientations or positional relationships shown in the accompanying drawings, and are only for the convenience of describing the present invention and simplifying the description, rather than indicating or implying that the referred device or element must have a specific orientation, be constructed and operated in a specific orientation, and therefore should not be understood as limiting the present invention.

[0056] This embodiment proposes a highly standardized and highly modular drag sail that does not require additional design modification processes. By using a standard modular deployment device, it is able to achieve the conversion between a planar layout and an aerodynamic self-stabilizing layout, greatly improving its application range and saving time in designing different drag sail structures for different cubic satellite solutions.

[0057] The standard modular drag sail device for deorbiting a cube satellite includes four sets of standard deployment units, a standard deployment unit bottom plate, a drive system, a sail box, a drag sail shell and an unlocking device.

[0058] like Figure 1 to Figure 3As shown, the outer envelope of the standard deployment unit is generally a rectangular parallelepiped, including a deployment unit shaft, a bistable composite material support rod for deploying a resistance sail, a deployment unit shaft protection shell, and a deployment unit outer shell.

[0059] Both ends of the unfolding unit shaft are installed on the unfolding unit shell through bearings; both ends of the unfolding unit shaft protective shell are fixedly installed on the unfolding unit shell, and the unfolding unit shaft protective shell has a support rod groove for the support rod to extend out, and the length direction of the support rod groove is parallel to the axial direction of the unfolding unit shaft; the support rod is wound around the unfolding unit shaft, and when the unfolding unit shaft rotates, the support rod can extend out from the support rod groove.

[0060] The shell of the deployment unit is provided with two sets of connection structures for fixing the standard deployment unit between the bottom plate of the standard deployment unit and the bottom plate of the sail box, so that the standard deployment unit can be used to realize a planar radial deployment layout and a pneumatic self-stabilizing layout;

[0061] When a planar radial expansion layout is adopted, the four groups of expansion units are respectively arranged at the four corners of the standard expansion unit bottom plate, and the expansion unit rotation axis of each group of expansion units is perpendicular to the plane of the standard expansion unit bottom plate; the center lines of the support rod grooves of the two diagonally arranged groups of expansion units are coplanar with a diagonal line of the standard expansion unit bottom plate, and the support rod grooves face outward.

[0062] When a pneumatic self-stabilizing layout is adopted, the four groups of deployment units are respectively arranged in the middle positions of the four sides of the standard deployment unit bottom plate, and the deployment unit rotation axis of each group of deployment units is parallel to the corresponding side of the standard deployment unit bottom plate; in each group of deployment units, the plane formed by the center line of the support rod groove and the center axis of the deployment unit rotation axis has the same angle with the plane of the standard deployment unit bottom plate, and the support rod grooves are all facing the outside close to the side of the sail box.

[0063] In this embodiment, the unfolding unit housing adopts a concave open structure consisting of a left side housing of the unfolding unit, a rear side housing of the unfolding unit and a right side housing of the unfolding unit.

[0064] A bearing hole is provided in the middle of the left shell of the unfolding unit for installing the bearing of the unfolding unit and cooperating with one end of the rotating shaft of the unfolding unit.

[0065] Four groups of jacks are also provided on the left outer shell wall of the unfolding unit, and the centers of all the jacks are located on the same arc with the center of the bearing hole as the center; the jacks are used to cooperate with the pins on one end face of the unfolding unit shaft protection shell to connect the unfolding unit shaft protection shell with the left outer shell of the unfolding unit.

[0066] like Figure 3The group of sockets marked in black in the middle, when this group of sockets is matched with the pin, when the deployment unit shell is installed on the standard deployment unit bottom plate in a planar radial deployment layout, the center line of the support rod slot of each of the two diagonally arranged deployment units is coplanar with a diagonal line of the standard deployment unit bottom plate; and the remaining three groups of sockets are used to adjust the sweep angle of the drag sail, that is, when a certain group of sockets is matched with the pin, when the deployment unit shell is installed on the standard deployment unit bottom plate in a pneumatic self-stabilization layout, the sweep angle of the extended support rod meets the corresponding requirements.

[0067] The outer wall surface of the left side shell of the unfolding unit also has a connection hole for connecting with the standard unfolding unit bottom plate or the sail box bottom plate, and a connection hole for connecting with one side of the rear shell of the unfolding unit.

[0068] The right shell of the unfolding unit and the left shell of the unfolding unit are mirror-symmetrical structures, and are used to connect with the other end of the unfolding unit shaft, the other end surface of the unfolding unit shaft protection shell and the other side of the unfolding unit rear shell.

[0069] The top edge of the rear shell of the unfolding unit is provided with a connection hole connected with a standard unfolding unit bottom plate or a sail box bottom plate.

[0070] In this embodiment, the connection holes in the left side shell of the unfolding unit, the right side shell of the unfolding unit and the rear side shell of the unfolding unit for connecting with the standard unfolding unit bottom plate or the sail box bottom plate are all realized by arranging cubic protrusions on the end faces of the shells and setting connection holes in the cubic protrusions.

[0071] One side of the left side shell of the unfolding unit or the right side shell of the unfolding unit has a T-shaped protrusion, which is used to cooperate with the slide groove on the bottom plate of the standard unfolding unit, so that the unfolding unit shell is installed on the bottom plate of the standard unfolding unit in the form of a pneumatic self-stabilizing layout; and the length direction of the T-shaped protrusion is perpendicular to the plane of the rear side shell of the unfolding unit to ensure the installation orientation requirements.

[0072] like Figure 2 As shown in the figure, the assembly process of the standard deployment unit is as follows: first, the deployment unit bearing is assembled into the bearing hole located in the middle of the left and right shells of the deployment unit, then the deployment unit shaft is inserted into the deployment unit bearing, and at the same time, the rear shell of the deployment unit is matched with the left shell of the deployment unit to form a complete one-sided match. Figure 3 As shown, after achieving one-sided matching, install the deployment unit shaft protection shell, and insert the cylindrical plug on the side of the deployment unit shaft protection shell into one of the multiple groups of plugs on the left shell of the deployment unit, as described above: When it is necessary to achieve a planar radial deployment layout, choose to insert the cylindrical plug at the support rod groove of the deployment unit shaft protection shell (that is, Figure 3 The black protrusion in the middle) and the edgemost set of jacks (i.e. Figure 3 In this form, the center of the support rod slot will be coplanar with the diagonal of the standard deployment unit bottom plate, and the support rod will extend radially from the bottom plate to achieve planar radial deployment. When a pneumatic self-stabilizing deployment layout is required, the cylindrical pin (i.e. Figure 3 The black protrusion in the middle) is matched with a certain set of sockets. In this form, choosing different sockets will make the plane formed by the center line of the support rod groove and the center axis of the deployment unit shaft present different angles, so that the support rod can obtain an adjustable sweep angle to meet different task requirements. Finally, after the deployment unit shaft protection shell is matched with the standard deployment unit on one side, the right side shell of the deployment unit is assembled with the former to complete the assembly of the standard deployment unit. This process is only an exemplary process and can be reasonably adjusted and modified.

[0073] like Figure 4 As shown, the standard deployment unit bottom plate is a square bottom plate, and bearing holes for assembling the deployment device bottom plate bearings are set at the four corners. The bearing holes are lower than the upper surface of the bottom plate, and the bearing cover is above the deployment device bottom plate bearing to limit the position of the bearing. Slide grooves perpendicular to the corresponding edges are set on the four sides of the standard deployment unit bottom plate to cooperate with the T-shaped protrusions, and the movement of the standard deployment unit is limited by the slide grooves and the slide groove baffles. In the pneumatic self-stabilizing deployment layout, the slide groove of the deployment device bottom plate cooperates with the T-shaped protrusion at the lower part of the left shell of the deployment unit, and the slide groove of the deployment device bottom plate does not work in the plane radial deployment layout.

[0074] The driving mechanism can drive the unfolding unit rotating shafts of the four groups of standard unfolding units to rotate synchronously, so that the support rods of the four groups of standard unfolding units extend synchronously from the corresponding support rod slots.

[0075] like Figure 4 and Figure 5 As shown, in this embodiment, the driving system includes a reduction motor, a motor seat, a motor gear, four connecting shaft gears and four connecting shafts, and also includes four bevel gear sets. The reduction motor is installed at the center of the bottom plate of the standard unfolding unit through the motor seat, the motor gear and the four connecting shaft gears are arranged on the lower side of the bottom plate of the standard unfolding unit, and the four connecting shaft gears are arranged around the motor gear. The motor gear is driven to rotate by the reduction motor, thereby driving the four connecting shaft gears to rotate synchronously; the connecting shaft gear is installed at one end of the connecting shaft, and the connecting shaft is matched with the bearing holes arranged at the four corners of the bottom plate of the standard unfolding unit through bearings.

[0076] When a planar radial deployment layout is adopted, the connection shaft is coaxially fixedly connected to the deployment unit rotation shaft of a certain deployment unit, and the deployment unit rotation shaft can be driven to rotate synchronously through the connection shaft.

[0077] When the pneumatic self-stabilizing layout is adopted, the top of the connecting shaft cooperates with the end of the unfolding unit rotating shaft of the corresponding unfolding unit through a set of bevel gear sets, thereby driving the unfolding unit rotating shaft to rotate synchronously through the connecting shaft.

[0078] The sail box comprises a sail box bottom plate and a sail box partition; the sail box partition is cross-distributed and fixed on the upper side of the sail box bottom plate; when a planar radial deployment layout is adopted, the sail box partition coincides with two diagonals of a standard deployment unit bottom plate; when a pneumatic self-stabilizing layout is adopted, the sail box partition is perpendicular to four sides of the standard deployment unit bottom plate.

[0079] The resistance sail shell is coated on the outside of the standard unfolding unit bottom plate, the unfolding unit, the driving system and the sail box, and can be opened under the action of the unlocking device.

[0080] In this embodiment, the outer shell of the resistance sail is a cubic structure composed of four outer shell door panels, an outer shell bottom plate, an outer shell top plate, and an outer shell door panel hinge, which together form the outer envelope of the entire device; the outer shell top plate is fixed to the upper side of the sail box partition; the outer shell bottom plate is connected to the lower side of the standard deployment unit bottom plate, connected by a short shaft, and a space is formed at the lower part of the standard deployment device bottom plate for placing the motor gear and the connecting shaft gear; the lower edges of the four outer shell door panels are connected to the four sides of the outer shell bottom plate through the outer shell door panel hinge, and the upper edges of the four outer shell door panels are provided with round holes, which are connected to the outer shell top plate through the binding wire passing through the round holes; the unlocking device can cut the binding wire to achieve the unlocking of the resistance sail outer shell. In this embodiment, the unlocking device adopts a hot knife melting unlocking device, which is arranged on the outer shell top plate and is used to melt the binding wire connected to the outer shell door panel.

[0081] Figure 6 and Figure 7 The connection methods between the standard deployment unit and the standard deployment device base plate in the planar radial deployment layout and the pneumatic self-stabilizing deployment layout are respectively demonstrated.

[0082] For the planar radial expansion layout, the standard expansion unit is arranged as follows: after the standard expansion unit is assembled, the expansion unit shaft will extend beyond the outer plane of the right side outer shell of the expansion unit, and the portion of the shaft that extends beyond the outer shell will be inserted into the connecting shaft installed on the bottom plate of the standard expansion device, and the connecting shaft will be coaxially connected to the expansion unit shaft with screws, and the position of the standard expansion unit will be fixed with corresponding screw holes on the right side outer shell of the expansion unit and on the bottom plate of the standard expansion device. At this point, the rotation of the connecting shaft is driven by the rotation of the reduction motor, and then the rotation of the expansion unit shaft is driven.

[0083] For the pneumatic self-stabilizing deployment layout, the standard deployment unit is arranged as follows: first, the standard deployment unit is pushed to the very end of the deployment device bottom plate slide groove by using the cooperation between the deployment device bottom plate slide groove and the T-shaped protrusion on the lower part of the left side shell of the deployment unit, and then the slide groove baffle is placed and connected to the side groove of the standard deployment device bottom plate to limit the displacement of the standard deployment unit; the transmission process under this layout is designed as follows: the part of the deployment unit shaft that exceeds the outside of the right side shell of the deployment unit is connected to the bevel gear set, and the bevel gear set is also connected to the connecting shaft, and the bevel gears at both ends are meshed to realize the rotation of the deployment unit shaft driven by the connecting shaft, and thus the pneumatic self-stabilizing deployment layout is realized.

[0084] Figure 8 and Fig. 9 The overall structural diagram of the two layouts mainly illustrates the sail box layout. The two layouts require different angles of the sail box partitions, but they meet the same principle, that is, the partition direction of the sail box partition is the same as the extension direction of the support rod. In the two layouts, the position of the sail box bottom plate is the same, and it only needs to match the corresponding screw holes of the standard deployment unit.

[0085] like Fig.10 As shown, the resistance sail in this embodiment is in a folded state into a rectangular block of 102mm*102mm*75mm (this example is compatible with a 1U cube satellite, but the present invention is not limited to the size presented in the current example), and this shape is easy to assemble with the cube satellite and does not affect the overall shape of the cube satellite.

[0086] Fig.11 and Fig.12 Schematic diagrams of the two layouts, in which black straight lines are used to replace the support rod structure.

[0087] So far, the assembly process and principle of the present invention have been explained as clearly as possible, but it can be understood that the above descriptions are all exemplary and cannot be understood as limitations on the present invention. Those skilled in the art can modify, change, replace and modify the example based on the principle of the invention.

Claims

1. A standard modular drag sail device for deorbiting a CubeSat, characterized by: Includes four sets of standard deployment units, standard deployment unit bottom plate, drive system, sail box, drag sail housing and unlocking device; The standard deployment unit comprises a deployment unit shaft, a support rod for deploying a resistance sail, a deployment unit shaft protection shell and a deployment unit housing; The two ends of the unfolding unit shaft are mounted on the unfolding unit housing through bearings; the two ends of the unfolding unit shaft protection shell are fixedly mounted on the unfolding unit housing, and the unfolding unit shaft protection shell is provided with a support rod groove for the support rod to extend out, and the length direction of the support rod groove is parallel to the axial direction of the unfolding unit shaft; the support rod is wound around the unfolding unit shaft, and when the unfolding unit shaft rotates, the support rod can extend out of the support rod groove; The shell of the deployment unit has two sets of connection structures for fixing the standard deployment unit between the bottom plate of the standard deployment unit and the bottom plate of the sail box, so that the standard deployment unit can be used to realize a planar radial deployment layout and a pneumatic self-stabilization layout; When a planar radial deployment layout is adopted, the four groups of standard deployment units are respectively arranged at the four corners of the standard deployment unit bottom plate, and the deployment unit rotation axis of each group of standard deployment units is perpendicular to the plane of the standard deployment unit bottom plate; the center lines of the support rod grooves of the two diagonally arranged groups of standard deployment units are coplanar with a diagonal line of the standard deployment unit bottom plate, and the support rod grooves face outwards; When the pneumatic self-stabilizing layout is adopted, the four groups of standard deployment units are respectively arranged in the middle of the four sides of the standard deployment unit bottom plate, and the deployment unit rotation axis of each group of standard deployment units is parallel to the corresponding side of the standard deployment unit bottom plate; in each group of standard deployment units, the plane formed by the center line of the support rod groove and the center axis of the deployment unit rotation axis has the same angle with the plane of the standard deployment unit bottom plate, and the support rod grooves are all facing the outside close to the side of the sail box; The driving system can drive the unfolding unit rotating shafts of the four sets of standard unfolding units to rotate synchronously, so that the support rods of the four sets of standard unfolding units extend synchronously from the corresponding support rod slots; The sail box comprises a sail box bottom plate and a sail box partition; the sail box partition is cross-distributed and fixed on the upper side of the sail box bottom plate; when a planar radial deployment layout is adopted, the sail box partition coincides with two diagonals of a standard deployment unit bottom plate; when a pneumatic self-stabilizing layout is adopted, the sail box partition is perpendicular to four sides of the standard deployment unit bottom plate; the resistance sail shell covers the standard deployment unit bottom plate, the standard deployment unit, the drive system and the outside of the sail box, and can be opened under the action of an unlocking device to expose the sail box and the standard deployment unit.

2. A standard modular drag sail device for deorbiting a CubeSat according to claim 1, characterized in that: The unfolding unit housing adopts a concave open structure consisting of a left side housing of the unfolding unit, a rear side housing of the unfolding unit and a right side housing of the unfolding unit; A bearing hole is provided in the middle of the left side shell of the unfolding unit for installing a bearing and cooperating with one end of the rotating shaft of the unfolding unit; A plurality of groups of jacks are also provided on the wall surface of the left outer shell of the unfolding unit, and the centers of all the jacks are on the same arc with the center of the bearing hole as the center; the jacks are used to cooperate with the latches on one side end surface of the unfolding unit shaft protection shell to connect the unfolding unit shaft protection shell with the left outer shell of the unfolding unit; there is a group of jacks, so that when the group of jacks cooperates with the latches, when the unfolding unit shell is installed on the standard unfolding unit bottom plate in a planar radial unfolding layout, the center lines of the support rod grooves of the two diagonally arranged groups of standard unfolding units are respectively collinear with a diagonal line of the standard unfolding unit bottom plate; and the remaining groups of jacks can ensure that when a certain group of jacks cooperates with the latches, when the unfolding unit shell is installed on the standard unfolding unit bottom plate in a pneumatic self-stabilizing layout, the sweep angle of the extended support rod meets the corresponding requirements; The outer wall surface of the left side shell of the deployment unit also has a connection hole for connecting with the bottom plate of the standard deployment unit or the bottom plate of the sail box, and a connection hole for connecting with one side of the rear side shell of the deployment unit; The right side shell of the unfolding unit and the left side shell of the unfolding unit are mirror-symmetrical structures, and are used to connect with the other end of the unfolding unit shaft, the other side end surface of the unfolding unit shaft protection shell, and the other side of the rear side shell of the unfolding unit; A side of the left shell of the deployment unit or the right shell of the deployment unit has a T-shaped protrusion, which is used to cooperate with the slide groove on the bottom plate of the standard deployment unit, so that the deployment unit shell is installed on the bottom plate of the standard deployment unit in the form of a pneumatic self-stabilizing layout, and the length direction of the T-shaped protrusion is perpendicular to the plane of the rear shell of the deployment unit; The top edge of the rear shell of the unfolding unit is provided with a connection hole connected with the bottom plate of the sail box.

3. A standard modular drag sail device for deorbiting a CubeSat according to claim 2, characterized in that: The connection holes in the left side shell of the unfolding unit, the right side shell of the unfolding unit and the rear side shell of the unfolding unit for connecting with the standard unfolding unit bottom plate or the sail box bottom plate are all realized by arranging cubic protrusions on the end faces of the shells and setting connection holes in the cubic protrusions.

4. A standard modular drag sail device for deorbiting a cubesat according to claim 2 or 3, characterized in that: The standard unfolding unit bottom plate is a square bottom plate, with bearing holes arranged at the four corners, and sliding grooves perpendicular to the corresponding edges are arranged on the four sides for matching with the T-shaped protrusions.

5. A standard modular drag sail device for deorbiting a CubeSat according to claim 1, characterized in that: The driving system includes a reduction motor, a motor seat, a motor gear, four connecting shaft gears and four connecting shafts, and also includes four bevel gear sets; the reduction motor is installed at the center of the bottom plate of the standard unfolding unit through the motor seat, the motor gear and the four connecting shaft gears are arranged on the lower side of the bottom plate of the standard unfolding unit, and the four connecting shaft gears are arranged around the motor gear, and the motor gear is driven to rotate by the reduction motor, thereby driving the four connecting shaft gears to rotate synchronously; the connecting shaft gear is installed at one end of the connecting shaft, and the connecting shaft is matched with the bearing holes arranged at the four corners of the bottom plate of the standard unfolding unit through bearings; When a planar radial deployment layout is adopted, the connecting shaft is coaxially fixedly connected to the deployment unit rotation shaft of a certain standard deployment unit, and the deployment unit rotation shaft can be driven to rotate synchronously through the connecting shaft; When the pneumatic self-stabilizing layout is adopted, the top of the connecting shaft cooperates with the end of the unfolding unit shaft of the corresponding standard unfolding unit through a set of bevel gear sets, thereby driving the unfolding unit shaft to rotate synchronously through the connecting shaft.

6. A standard modular drag sail device for deorbiting a CubeSat according to claim 1, characterized in that: The outer shell of the resistance sail is a cubic structure composed of four outer shell door panels, an outer shell bottom plate, an outer shell top plate, and outer shell door panel hinges, which together form the outer envelope of the entire device; the outer shell top plate is fixed to the upper side of the sail box partition; the outer shell bottom plate is connected to the lower side of the standard deployment unit bottom plate; the lower edges of the four outer shell door panels are connected to the four sides of the outer shell bottom plate through the outer shell door panel hinges, and the upper edges of the four outer shell door panels are provided with circular holes, which are connected to the outer shell top plate by binding wires passing through the circular holes; the unlocking device can cut off the binding wires to achieve unlocking of the resistance sail outer shell.

7. A standard modular drag sail device for deorbiting a CubeSat according to claim 1, characterized in that: The unlocking device is melted by a hot knife.

8. A standard modular drag sail device for deorbiting a CubeSat according to claim 1, characterized in that: The support rod is a bistable composite material support rod.

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