Design of deployable bistable structures for morphing skin and its structural optimization

The morphing skin is the surface of a deployable frame which can change its shape to present optimal performance in all stages of a task for an aerospace vehicle. This article proposes a deployable frame with low kinematic error and high stability. Mechanical design and optimization of the deployable mechanism are developed, and specifically the analysis model of the deployable mechanism is established by the use of extendable units. The genetic algorithm is employed to find the optimal geometric parameters of the foldable structure. Furthermore, the design method of a bistable compliant mechanism is investigated to achieve the bistability. An example of a morphing leading edge (MLE) is analysed using the proposed method. The results show that the position errors converge to the optimal solution which supplies the minimum value. Numerical analysis indicates that the mechanism can provide two bistable positions for the actual use of the MLE.