Abstract
In the recent studies on large space antennas, it is expected that they are made up of a metallic mesh or a membrane into a parabolic surface. Such a membrane surface, that has a curved boundary, forms a kind of hyperbolic paraboloid surface. From this result, the root mean square errors of the antenna between the best fit parabola (BFP) and the real surface are increased. The purpose of the present study is to determine the effects of tension on surface errors, and its contour configuration with a parabolic boundary. There are two methods to control the deformation of membrane type surface: a boundary segment geometry and a distribution of a tensile force. The modeling formulations of the general membrane surface, surface configurations and tolerances caused by the boundary segment configuration and tension ratio, are established.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.