Tape Spring Hinge With Shape Memory Alloy Damping Plate
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing tape spring hinges experience deployment shocks and overshooting motions, which can reduce durability and require additional actuators for speed adjustment, posing challenges in reliable and efficient deployment.
Innovation Solution
A shock reducing tape spring hinge is designed with a shell-shaped damping plate made of shape memory alloy, integrated with fixing members and tape springs, which undergoes phase transformations to absorb deployment shocks and adjust speed without a secondary heater, utilizing temperature-dependent properties to enhance stiffness and alignment.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Speed
If a tape spring hinge is deployed using elastic moment, then deployment speed is increased, but deployment shock and overshooting motion occur
Solution Approach 1:
A damping plate is pre-installed between the tape spring and the hinge mechanism to absorb deployment shocks before they propagate through the system. The damping plate is positioned in advance to cushion the impact during deployment, reducing shock and preventing overshooting motion while maintaining deployment speed.
Solution Approach 2:
A damping plate is introduced as an intermediary element between the tape spring and the hinge mechanism. This mediator absorbs and dissipates the deployment shock energy, preventing direct transmission of harmful forces while allowing the tape spring to maintain its deployment speed and elastic moment functionality.
2Speed
If a secondary deployment actuator such as a heater is added to adjust deployment speed, then deployment speed control is improved, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The damping plate is designed to automatically adjust deployment speed through its inherent damping characteristics without requiring external control systems. The plate's material properties and geometric configuration enable it to self-regulate the deployment process, eliminating the need for secondary actuators or heating elements while maintaining precise speed control.
Solution Approach 2:
The damping plate's parameters (material composition, thickness, geometry) are optimized to provide the desired deployment speed control through passive damping. By changing the physical parameters of the damping plate rather than adding active control mechanisms, the system achieves speed regulation without increasing device complexity.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The solution effectively reduces deployment shocks, improves durability, and adjusts deployment speed by leveraging the damping plate's temperature-dependent properties, ensuring reliable and efficient operation without the need for additional actuators.
Implementation Method 1
the damping plate may be configured to be deformed by performing a martensite phase transformation or an austenite phase transformation based on a temperature
Implementation Method 2
A shape memory alloy is an alloy that remembers its original shape although deformed by a force exerted thereto, and returns to the original shape when heated
Implementation Method 3
The damping plate may have a shape, stiffness, and strength that change according to a temperature
Data Source
AI summary
Provided is a shock reducing tape spring hinge including fixing members fixed to at least two objects, respectively, a thin shell type tape spring having both end portions that are fastened to the fixing members, respectively, and a shell-shaped damping plate aligned with the tape spring, the damping plate having both end portions that are fastened to the fixing members, respectively. The damping plate and the tape spring may be configured to connect the at least two objects being spaced through the fixing members, and the damping plate may be configured to reduce a deployment shock occurring when the tape spring is deployed.