Shape control of multi-cellular inflatable panel

Multi-Cellular Inflatable structures are not only ultra-light but also robust against the damage of the membrane such as pin-holes caused by space debris. Because of the robustness, we can apply the inflatable structures supported by inner gas as space structures. We proposed the shape control with new mechanism, diaphragm mechanism, for the simple Multi-Cellular Inflatable panel. When the bending actuator in a center membrane bends, the inner pressures of sub-cells become different so that the diaphragm mechanism bends as a whole. Because there is no sliding part, this deformable system is reliable mechanism. In addition, this mechanism has higher rigidity than that of bending actuator used alone. In this paper, we investigate the feasibility of the diaphragm mechanism and its characteristics from some experiments and numerical results.