Mechanical Engineering and Material Engineering: Principles of Movement Structure and Deployable Mechanical Structure

Course 23: Mechanical Engineering and Material Engineering: Principles of Movement Structure and Deployable Mechanical Structure

I. Course Description

Movement structures are a novel and unique class of engineered structures that can be packaged and expanded at operation. They retain the function of conventional structures, but are also capable of performing large geometric transformations. In aerospace engineering they are known as unable structures, while in mechanical, medical and civil engineering they are called extensible, foldable and scalable structures. There are many motor structures present in our daily life. Knowledge of motion structure can be used in aerospace engineering, medical engineering, and civil engineering. This research has been in use, and they are still at the forefront of scientific research today. To solve engineering problems in various industries, motion structures are easily assembled, easy to use and easily stored.

According to the shape change process, the motor structures are usually divided into two categories. The first type is the deformable structure, which is characterized by the deformation of the structural parts in the process of geometric change. Typical examples include inflatable structures such as balloons and cardiovascular stents, a medical device placed by minimally invasive surgery for treating vascular blockages. The other category is basically the mechanical devices. Shape change is achieved by initiating one or more carefully designed internal mechanisms. Transformers, industrial robots, many solar panels and antennas on satellites or space stations, retractable roofs of sports facilities, origami, and toys such as Dango Mushi and Hoberman balls are in the second category. This course focuses on the second type of mechanical device motion structure, focusing on the basic understanding of the mathematical and physical principles of rigid-body combination motion structure design, and examples of structures developed using these principles. Once the students have mastered the knowledge involved in this course, they can apply this knowledge to design the motion structure to meet the specific applications of the selected field.

II. Professor Introduction

Zhong You – Tentenured Professor at Oxford University

Zhong You Professor has received his bachelors and masters degrees in engineering mechanics from Shanghai Jiao Tong University and Dalian University of Technology. He then joined the University of Cambridge and received a PhD in engineering to study unfolded structures in aerospace applications. After graduation, he continued as a researcher at Cambridge University, specializing in expanded structure.

Zhong has been an EPSRC Senior Fellow at the University of Cambridge until becoming Professor of Engineering Science at Oxford. He is also a Fellow of Magdalen College, Oxford University and associate editor of ASME Journal of Mechanisms and Robotics. He won the James Watt Medal in 2000 and was interviewed by Science magazine. His research has been reported in top journals such as Financial Times, Nature, Eurika, and his work has been selected for the Buckingham Palace Science Day exhibition organised by the Royal Society representing the highest level of research in Britain.

III. Syllabus

1. Structural mechanism
2. Motor structure
3. Planar motion structure
4. Application of plane motion structure: retractable roof
5. 3 D motion structures constructed from 2 D configurations
6. Application of 3 D motion structure
7. A 3 D deployable structure constructed by the 3 D configurations
8. Application of 3 D deployable structures
9. Origami-paper structure
10. Design and application of origami structure