RESEARCH ON MECHANICAL PROPERTIES OF CABLE-STRENGTHENED SCISSOR-HINGE MECHANISM

Scissor-hinge mechanism has a simple retraction process and is an important branch of deployable structures. When the scissor-hinge mechanism is deployed, the rotation characteristic of the scissor unit makes the scissor-hinge mechanism have low stiffness and show strong geometric nonlinearity under external forces. In order to enhance the stiffness of the scissor-hinge mechanism, the cable is applied. The formulas are derived for calculating the axial stiffness and bending stiffness of the regular cable-strengthened scissor unit. The relationship is revealed between the load-carrying capacity of the cable-strengthened scissor unit and its components. The analysis method is proposed for the cable-strengthened scissor-hinge mechanism under the frame of finite particle method, and the mechanical properties are analyzed for a typical arch composed of cable-strengthened scissor unit with and without continuous cable. The results show that the stiffness and load-carrying capacity of the scissor-hinge mechanism are improved by the cable while the retraction process of the scissor-hinge mechanism is not affected.