Symmetrical Configuration Design and Experimental Study of a Repeatable Stowing Deployment Flexible Solar Array

Compared with the traditional rigid solar wings, flexible solar arrays are characterized by light weight and high stowing/deployment ratio, and the repeatable stowing/deployment flexible solar arrays have become one of the hotspots of solar arrays research in the aerospace field. As integrated rigid–flexible structures, flexible solar arrays face risks of repeatable stowing/deployment function failure due to the nonlinear force-heat coupling effects. This paper takes symmetry as the core design concept, and through the introduction of rotationally symmetric sector layout, material stacking, and the stowing/deployment mechanism, the thermal response of flexible solar arrays under extreme thermal environments was systematically investigated, which significantly improves thermal distribution uniformity of the flexible solar arrays and provides a new way of solving the problem of repeatable stowing/deployment of flexible solar arrays. Furthermore, we propose a high- and low-temperature unfolding test method for fan-shaped flexible solar arrays, which verifies the reliability of symmetric fan-shaped arrays in high and low temperatures during the working process of repeatable stowing/deployment and the safety of the stowing/deployment process, as well as providing a reference for the subsequent design and test of flexible solar arrays of other configurations.