Folding Panels of Uniform Thickness into Customised Shapes

Abstract

Thick-panel spatial linkages have emerged as an alternative class of origami mechanisms for thick materials that aim to provide the same compact folding qualities as origami of zero-thickness sheets, but with improved engineering properties and consideration of material thickness.

Two new, distinct thick-panel mechanisms are presented in this report, both of which contain a degree of design flexibility that allows their folding form to be customised. The two mechanisms both maintain a uniform panel thickness and deploy with a single degree of freedom. Individually, both mechanisms generate new deployable structures with potential industrial applications. However, when combined, a more generalisable design scheme is found for customising the folded design of a flat-folding thick-panel array. This work brings the scope of thick-panel engineering design closer to the level of the well-established generalised zero-thickness origami design and is shown to be kinematically analogous to known origami mechanisms. Finally, the Appendix introduces a thick-panel, plane tiling, monohedral linkage that folds from a uniform-thickness sheet into a compact and regular folded state, with a single degree of freedom.