CHAPTER 3
 DESIGN OF A DEPLOYABLE CLOSED LOOP MAST

 This chapter presents the description of construction, stages of deployment,

working principle and the mechanism design of the proposed deployable closed loop

mast along with a numerical example for better understanding.





















 Figure 3-1. Two level closed loop deployable mast

 3.1 Description of the Mast

 The deployable mast comprises of rectangular plates and spring loaded

compressible struts (Figure 3-1). A level is defined as a combination of six spring loaded

struts and six plate, where in the struts are connected to the plates with a hinge,

permitting only a single degree of freedom for the struts relative to the vertical members

it is attached to. The struts are constructed in the same fashion as described in chapter 2,

section 2.13. Each rectangular plate is welded to two other rectangular plates in two