Mechanical behaviour of tape springs used in the deployment of reflectors around a solar panel

In order to increase the production of power on small satellites, solar panels are commonly deployed and, in some cases, reflectors are added to improve the concentration factor on solar cells. In this work, reflectors are deployed by the means of compliant mechanisms known as tape springs. Their attractive characteristics are, among others, their passive behaviour, their self-locking capacity, their elastic deformations and their robustness. However, their mechanical behaviour is highly nonlinear and requires thorough analyses in order to develop predictive numerical models. It is shown here through parametric studies that the nonlinear behaviour of a tape spring is mainly governed by its geometry. Thus, for each specific application, its dimensions can be determined in order to minimise two critical features: the maximum stress affecting the structure and the maximum motion amplitude during deployment. In this paper, an optimisation procedure is proposed to meet these requirements.