Design tools for adaptive origami devices

Philip R. Buskohl; Kazuko Fuchi; Greg W. Reich; James J. Joo; Richard A. Vaia

doi:10.1117/12.2178659

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10 June 2015 Design tools for adaptive origami devices

Philip R. Buskohl, Kazuko Fuchi, Greg W. Reich, James J. Joo, Richard A. Vaia

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Proceedings Volume 9467, Micro- and Nanotechnology Sensors, Systems, and Applications VII; 946719 (2015) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2178659
Event: SPIE Defense + Security, 2015, Baltimore, Maryland, United States

Abstract

Origami structures morph between 2D and 3D conformations along predetermined fold lines that efficiently program the form, function and mobility of the structure. The transfer of origami concepts to engineering design shows potential for many applications including solar array packaging, tunable antennae, and deployable sensing platforms. However, the enormity of the design space and the complex relationship between origami-based geometries and engineering metrics places a severe limitation on design strategies based on intuition. This motivates the development of design tools based on optimization to identify optimal fold patterns for geometric and functional objectives. The present work proposes a topology optimization method using mechanical analysis to distribute fold line properties within a reference crease pattern to achieve a target actuation. By increasing the fold stiffness, unnecessary folds are effectively removed from the design solution, which allows fundamental topologies for actuation to be identified. A series of increasingly refined reference grids were analyzed and several actuating mechanisms were predicted. The fold stiffness optimization was then followed by a node position optimization, which determined that only two of the predicted topologies were fundamental and the solutions from higher density grids were variants or networks of these building blocks. This two-step optimization approach provides a valuable check of the grid dependency of the design and offers an important step toward systematic incorporation of origami design concepts into new, novel and reconfigurable engineering devices.

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Philip R. Buskohl, Kazuko Fuchi, Greg W. Reich, James J. Joo, and Richard A. Vaia "Design tools for adaptive origami devices", Proc. SPIE 9467, Micro- and Nanotechnology Sensors, Systems, and Applications VII, 946719 (10 June 2015); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2178659

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