US 12,296,948 B2
Variable morphing wing using surface actuated origami folds
Moneesh Upmanyu, Boston, MA (US); and Raman Vaidya, Boston, MA (US)
Assigned to Northeastern University, Boston, MA (US)
Filed by Northeastern University, Boston, MA (US)
Filed on Apr. 15, 2022, as Appl. No. 17/721,962.
Claims priority of provisional application 63/175,075, filed on Apr. 15, 2021.
Prior Publication US 2022/0332406 A1, Oct. 20, 2022
Int. Cl. B64C 3/48 (2006.01); B64C 3/14 (2006.01); B64C 3/26 (2006.01); B64C 23/06 (2006.01)
CPC B64C 3/48 (2013.01) [B64C 3/14 (2013.01); B64C 3/26 (2013.01); B64C 23/069 (2017.05); B64C 2003/142 (2013.01)] 21 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A morphable active corrugate structure comprising:
upper and lower skins; and
a sheet having;
a plurality of independently actuable hinge domains, each attached to one of the upper and lower skins and having a hinge domain through-thickness differential expansion coefficient (αH), and
a plurality of independently actuable facet domains, each adjacent to one of the hinge domains, not attached to the upper and lower skins, and having a facet domain through-thickness differential expansion coefficient (αF), wherein, for adjacent facet and hinge domains, αF<αH and a thickness of the facet domain (hF) is less than a thickness of the adjacent hinge domain (hH) in an unactuated state,
wherein the application of a domain-specific actuation force (ΔF) to one or more of the hinge and/or facet domains generates differential strains in the one or more of the hinge and/or facet domains, causing the sheet to locally expand or contract along a flexible direction of the sheet to create a local curvature (K) according to the relationship K=αΔF/h to produce a morphable shape of the active corrugate structure; and
wherein the applied ΔF is adjustable to change the differential strains in the one or more of the hinge and/or facet domains to produce a different morphable shape of the active corrugate structure.