US 12,228,114 B1
Large deployable panel with shape memory hinge and load elements
Christopher R. Shurilla, Palm Desert, CA (US); Zackary L. Endsley, Wailuku, HI (US); John C. Mooney, Makawao, HI (US); Steven Fulton Griffin, Kihei, HI (US); Alexander C. Klein, Bellevue, WA (US); and Frederick Theodore Calkins, Renton, WA (US)
Assigned to The Boeing Company, Arlington, VA (US)
Filed by The Boeing Company, Arlington, VA (US)
Filed on Sep. 19, 2023, as Appl. No. 18/469,599.
Claims priority of provisional application 63/519,470, filed on Aug. 14, 2023.
Int. Cl. F03G 7/06 (2006.01); B64G 1/44 (2006.01)
CPC F03G 7/06145 (2021.08) [B64G 1/443 (2013.01)] 15 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A deployable panel, comprising:
a plurality of subpanels;
a number of shape memory alloy hinges connecting the subpanels together in respective pairs of the subpanels, wherein each subpanel of the subpanels is part of at least one pair of the respective subpanels, and
in each of the respective pairs:
the number of shape memory alloy hinges enable the subpanels in each respective pair to move between a first position in which the subpanels of the respective pair are folded over each other and a second position in which the subpanels of the respective pair are coplanar in response to a first energy source that changes a shape of the number of shape memory alloy hinges;
a number of shape memory alloy coil springs connected to a first subpanel of the subpanels of each of the respective pairs; and
a number of respective tethers connecting the shape memory alloy springs to the second subpanel of the respective pair, wherein the shape memory alloy springs contract in response to a second energy source to pull the first subpanel and second subpanel together end-to-end via the tethers.