Structure design and modelling of an origami-inspired pneumatic solar tracking system for NPU-PhoneSat

Various plants have the ability to follow the sun with their flowers or leaves via a mechanism known as heliotropism, which is characterized by pressure gradients between neighboring motor cells. By adapting this bio-inspired mechanism, in this paper, we present a novel origami-inspired pneumatic solar tracking system for NPU-PhoneSat, which is capable of achieving the omnidirectional tracking without altering the attitude of the NPU-PhoneSat. This paper gives an overview of the system design, as well as addressing the theoretical modeling problem of the origami-inspired pneumatic solar tracking system. In addition, this paper provides a set of systematic design rules which provide insight into the influence of geometrical parameters on the performance of the system. Such an understanding of soft solar trackers will allow their performance predicted, thus enabling their wide application in enhancing energy supply for small satellites.