Development of Morphing Skin

Parallel mechanisms/robots have been developed for numerous applications. At Ryerson University, it has been implemented in morphing wing mechanism design. However, an ideal morphing skin is required to create a functional morphing wing. In addition to morphing wings, other applications may require parallel robots to be covered due to environment requirements, for example, medical, industrial, and nuclear robots. These coverings can be classified as flexible and rigid. Flexible covers are stretchable materials. Though easily manufactured, they have problems, such as sagging, ripples, and require extra force for stretching. Rigid covers are made of a series of rigid sliding panels, no sagging and no ripple with negligible actuation force, good for applications where structural strength is required, such as morphing winglet. This background motivates the research of a rigid morphing skin design. The overall outcome of the research will incorporate numerical formulation, methodology validation, and study of other possible applications.

Faculty Supervisor:

Fengfeng Xi

Student:

Aaron Yu

Partner:

Discipline:

Aerospace studies

Sector:

University:

Ryerson University

Program:

Globalink Research Award