US 12,234,644 B2
Deployable curved lattice structures
Ciarán McHale, Limerick (IE); Paul Weaver, Limerick (IE); and Robert Telford, Limerick (IE)
Assigned to UNIVERSITY OF LIMERICK, Limerick (IE)
Appl. No. 17/753,029
Filed by UNIVERSITY OF LIMERICK, Limerick (IE)
PCT Filed Aug. 24, 2020, PCT No. PCT/EP2020/073609
§ 371(c)(1), (2) Date Feb. 15, 2022,
PCT Pub. No. WO2021/037787, PCT Pub. Date Mar. 4, 2021.
Claims priority of application No. 1912419 (GB), filed on Aug. 29, 2019.
Prior Publication US 2022/0333381 A1, Oct. 20, 2022
Int. Cl. B64G 1/22 (2006.01); E04B 1/19 (2006.01); E04B 1/343 (2006.01); E04C 3/00 (2006.01)
CPC E04C 3/005 (2013.01) [B64G 1/222 (2013.01); E04B 1/19 (2013.01); E04B 1/343 (2013.01)] 14 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A deployable structure comprising:
a lattice element arrangeable in a stowed configuration and a deployed configuration, the lattice element comprising:
a pre-stressed strip arranged in a clockwise helix;
a pre-stressed strip arranged in an anticlockwise helix, wherein the pre-stressed strips are pre-stressed by bending from a large radius on manufacture to a smaller radius when incorporated into the lattice element; and
a plurality of fasteners for rotatably coupling the strips to one another at a plurality of positions distributed along the length of the strips;
characterised in that the fasteners are provided at unequal spacings along the length of the strips such that on deployment the lattice element bends to a curved deployed configuration.