Thermal Design Optimization Method of Mesh Reflector Antennas Considering Deformation Compatibility Conditions

Abstract

Cable-network structures are an important part of mesh reflector antennas. The performance of antennas depends greatly on the surface accuracy and tension distribution. However, there are periodic temperature changes in the space environment where the mesh antenna is located. The traditional form-finding and optimization design methods can only guarantee good performance at room temperature, while active adjustment technology is limited by on-orbit measurement technology and control technology. Therefore, it is critical to carefully design the cable-network configuration to reduce the influence of space thermal loads. In this study, a thermal design optimization method for mesh reflector antennas was proposed by considering the deformation compatibility conditions. The length variation of the cable element under thermal loads was analyzed accurately. With the combination of the force density sensitivity matrix and temperature deformation equation, the force density increment equation of the whole cable net was established. By constraining the reflector nodes to the paraboloid and selecting the quadratic sum of the node thermal deformation as the objective function, we obtained a cable-network configuration with better surface shape stability than traditional design methods. Finally, a numerical example is presented to illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed method.