3D Printed Living Hinges in Deployable Origami Structures

Origami-based geometries are often difficult to prototype and construct. Although methods exist for creating surrogate folds in many materials, doing so often requires multiple manufacturing steps. While engineers studying foldable models can use single-material additive manufacturing to construct living hinges in their models, current techniques are limited. We present an approach for generating living hinges in stowed, deployable mechanisms using single-material 3D printing. This approach enables new models to be constructed with accurate geometry and kinematics in a single print and with no further manufacturing necessary beyond an initial folding step. Additionally, by printing deployable structures in their stowed form, origami based models are able to take advantage of the 3D printer’s entire print volume, as opposed to only the area of the base plate. We present methods that achieve multiple living hinges in varying orientations and configurations within a single model. We explain how these methods can be applied to foldable origami based designs, and how to counteract the potential difficulties that arise from parametric design of foldable structures, as well as the practical constraints of additively manufactured living hinges. We demonstrate these methods by printing and unfolding a deployable stowed-form origami flasher model that fits within the volume of a CubeSat.