Abstract
In the process of deployment of an inflatable structure, when the stiffness of the structure increases rapidly, especially at the final moment of deployment, a large reaction force is generated around supporting points with the main body of a spacecraft. It is important to minimize the reaction force when deploying in order to decrease the influence on the satellite attitude and strength of supporting points as much as possible. The purpose of this study is to attain a method of optimal deployment control that minimizes the reaction force generated around supporting part. In order to achieve the goal, feedback control experiments using an electromagnetic valve to adjust the inner pressure was done during deployment of inflatable tube. In addition, the effectiveness of the proposed method was also examined when applying it to the structure of the different size. As a result, it is found that the suppression of the reaction force is attained by about 80% compared with the case where this control is not applied, and the effectiveness of the proposed feedback control method of inner pressure was confirmed. Moreover, considering the volume, it is able to apply this control method even with different scale structures.
