• Journal of Aerospace System Engineering
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• v.17 no.2
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• pp.94-102
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• 2023

A nylon wire holding and release mechanism (HRM) has been widely used for deployable applications of CubeSat owing to its simplicity and low cost. In general, structural safety of solar panel with an HRM has been designed by performing structural analysis under a launch environment. However, previous studies have not performed thermal analysis for HRM in an on-orbit environment. In this study, Launch and Early Orbit Phase (LEOP) thermal analysis was performed to evaluate thermal stability of the mechanism in the orbital thermal environment of the pogo pin-based HRM applied to CubeSat. In addition, the effectiveness of the thermal design and performance of the pogo pin-based HRM were verified through a thermal vacuum test.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Aeronautical & Space Sciences
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• v.41 no.9
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• pp.720-725
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• 2013

Nylon wire cutting method by nichrome wire is generally applicable for cube satellite applications due to its advantages of simplicity. However, the system complexity is not avoidable to apply it on the cube satellite with multi-deployable structures. A lower constraint force of the mechanism is also one of the disadvantages of the mechanism. In this study, we proposed a preliminary structure design of cube satellite with the separation mechanism which is applicable for holding and release of the multi-deployable structures. The effectiveness of the mechanism design was verified through function test of EM mechanism. The structure analysis results showed that the structure design proposed in this study is feasible.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Aeronautical & Space Sciences
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• v.41 no.10
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• pp.827-832
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• 2013

Heating wire cutting type separation mechanism has been widely used for cube satellite applications due to its design constraints such as small size of $10cm{\times}10cm{\times}10cm$ and light weight of less than 1kg. In addition, usage of pyro technic device is not allowed for cube satellite application. The conventional methods have some disadvantages of relatively small mechanical constraint force and the system complexity for the multi-deployable systems. In this paper, a separation nut type non-explosive separation mechanism has been proposed and investigated. The effectiveness of the design has been verified through the qualification tests of the mechanism.

• Journal of Aerospace System Engineering
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• v.15 no.5
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• pp.81-88
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• 2021

In general, a non-explosive nylon wire cutting-based holding and release mechanism has been used to store and deploy deployable solar panels of CubeSat. However, with this method, accessing the solar panel's access port for charging the cube satellite's battery and electrical inspection and testing of the PCB and payloads while the solar panel is in storage is difficult. Additionally, the mechanism must have a reliable release function in an in-orbit environment, and reusability for stow and deploy of the solar panel, which is a hassle for the operator and difficult to maintain a consistent nylon wire fastening process. In this study, we proposed a pin-puller-based solar panel holding and release mechanism that can easily deploy a solar panel without cutting nylon wires by separating constraining pins. The proposed mechanism's release function and performance were verified through a solar panel deployment test and a maximum separation load measurement test. Through this, we also verified the design feasibility and effectiveness of the pin-puller-based separation device.

• Journal of Aerospace System Engineering
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• v.16 no.6
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• pp.123-128
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• 2022

This paper proposes a non-explosive separation device for the deployable SAR antenna. This device utilises a Ni-Cr wire to restrain the antenna's belt mechanism, and joule-heating is used to minimise the impact of deployment. After the Ni-Cr wire has been cut, the device is deployed through the preload of the belt mechanism. Considering the design load(99g) and preload conditions, FEM analysis for AL7050 and Ti was performed. This analysis revealed that the amount of deformation for AL7050 was 0.256 mm with a margin of +0.09. In addition, by performing orbital thermal analysis, the temperature distribution for AL7050 in the worst cold case is confirmed as -50 to +2℃ and -10 to +90℃ in the worst hot case. This analysis confirmed that the separation device would remain stable even in the worst environment.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Aeronautical & Space Sciences
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• v.42 no.6
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• pp.529-534
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• 2014

Pyrotechnic devices are widely used for space appendages. However, a cube satellite requirements do not permit the use of explosive pyrotechnic device. A nichrome burn wire release has typically been used for holding and release of deployable appendages of the cube satellite due to its simplicity and low cost. However, relatively low mechanical constraint force and system complexity for application of multi-deployable systems are disadvantages of the conventional mechanism. To overcome these drawbacks, we developed a hinge driving segmented nut type holding and release mechanism based on the nichrome burn wire release. The functional performance of the mechanism has been verified through release function test, static load test and shock level measurement test.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Aeronautical & Space Sciences
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• v.46 no.10
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• pp.867-875
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• 2018

Conventional nylon wire cutting-type holding and release mechanisms (HRMs) are limited to securely hold the solar panel under launch environment as the size of the panel increases because the nylon wire is tightened directly on the surface of the solar panel. In this study, we proposed a nylon wire cutting-type HRM for 6U CubeSat's solar panel applying elliptic-shaped bracket with a Ball & Socket interface. The proposed HRM has the advantage of higher holding capability along in-plane and out-of plane directions of solar panel and simplicity in tightening process of nylon wire. The design drivers of structural design of CubeSat's solar panel with the proposed HRM were defined by structural analysis under launch loads. In addition, The design effectiveness of the proposed HRM was verified through the functional tests according to the thickness of nylon wire and the number of wire winding under various temperature conditions.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Aeronautical & Space Sciences
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• v.44 no.3
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• pp.274-280
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• 2016

Hinge driving type holding and release mechanism based on the burn wire release for application of cubesat is main payload of STEP Cube Lab. (Cube Laboratory for Space Technology Experimental Project) to be launched at 2015. It has high constraint force, low shock level as well as surmounting drawbacks of conventional nichrome burn wire release method that has relatively low constraint force and system complexity for application of multi-deployable systems. In this paper, we have proposed a flight model of holding and release mechanism for the verification of the constraint force and deployment status signal acquisition. To validate the effectiveness of the flight model, launch and on-orbit environment verification test have been performed.

• Transactions of the Korean Society for Noise and Vibration Engineering
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• v.23 no.5
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• pp.401-406
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• 2013

Non-explosive shockless holding and release mechanism for a nano class small satellite application has been proposed and investigated. The great advantages of the mechanism are a much lower shock level and larger constraint force than the conventional mechanism using pyro and the heating wire cutting mechanism which has been generally applied to the cube satellite program. To investigate the effectiveness of the mechanism design, EM mechanism was developed and tested to verify the basic function of the mechanism. The test results indicate that the proposed mechanism is well functioning as the mechanism design intends.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Propulsion Engineers
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• v.20 no.2
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• pp.67-74
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• 2016

Explosive bolt is one of separation device that uses high explosive charge, and is separated by pressure formed by an explosion and the resulting shock waves. Explosive bolt having such a mechanism would have to be designed to minimize shock and debris formation generated during separation. In this study, separation tests were carried out with distance as variable for restraining the explosive bolt (Air Gap). Bolt release and its separating shape with variation of air gap is observed, and we used accelerometer to measure the shock wave transmitted through a bound object. In addition, separation behavior of explosive bolt is analyzed using ANSYS AUOTODYN program. By comparing the results of previously performed experiments and analysis, we could confirm the effects of air gap to the release behavior of explosive bolt, and decide optimum constraining environment for specific separation bolts.