This paper describes an experimental and numerical investigation of a compact parabolic deployable mesh antenna with a hingeless deployment system of superelastic SMA ribs and composite tape springs. One of the key features of the proposed antenna is the primary reflector with SMA ribs. The SMA's superelasticity allows the stowed reflector to deploy without plastic deformation with high damping and fatigue resistance. Thus, the antenna can be folded compactly like lotus flowers. Furthermore, composite tape springs with inherent hysteresis make the mast structure folded. Due to these hingeless deployment mechanisms, high reliability is achieved with a moderate level of packaging efficiency, lightweight, and low deployment shock.

The effectiveness of the mechanism design was demonstrated by validation tests such as a basic characteristic test of superplastic SMA ribs, a deployment test of the antenna, and surface error measurement, as well as a deployment simulation with the aid of the finite element method.

本文描述了一种紧凑型抛物面可展开网状天线的实验和数值研究，该天线具有超弹性 SMA 肋和复合带弹簧的无铰展开系统。所提议天线的主要特征之一是带有 SMA 肋的主反射器。SMA 的超弹性允许收起的反射器在没有塑性变形的情况下展开，具有高阻尼和抗疲劳性。因此，天线可以像莲花一样紧凑地折叠起来。此外，具有固有滞后性的复合带弹簧使桅杆结构折叠。由于这些无铰链展开机制，以中等水平的封装效率、轻量级和低展开冲击实现了高可靠性。

通过超塑性SMA筋的基本特性试验、天线展开试验、表面误差测量等验证试验，以及借助有限元法的展开模拟，验证了机构设计的有效性。