The origami mechanisms possess numerous unique advantages, including folding, reconfigurability, and multi-stability. The presence of multi-stability introduces a novel concept for the design of constant force mechanisms (CFM). In this study, we present a CFM with multi-segment constant-force regions by leveraging the multi-stable characteristics of the origami mechanism. The design principle behind this CFM involves combining an accordion origami structure with positive stiffness and a Kresling origami structure with multi-segment negative stiffness regions. To achieve zero stiffness, the Kresling origami structure is aligned parallel to the accordion origami. To effectively utilize both the Kresling and accordion origamis, we have established a mechanical model that describes their respective stiffness characteristics to establish design rules for the constant-force mechanism. By carefully designing the parameters of these two origami structures, we evaluate how variations in the structural parameters of Kresling influence the constant force properties of our proposed multi-segment CFM. To illustrate its inherent property of providing constant force across multiple segments, we employ finite element analysis and experiments to obtain force-displacement curves for our mechanism. The results demonstrate the feasibility of our presented design method which paves the way for constructing a simple CFM.

中文翻译：

---

使用折纸设计恒力机构

折纸机构具有许多独特的优势，包括折叠、可重构性和多稳定性。多稳定性的出现为恒力机构（CFM）的设计引入了一个新颖的概念。在本研究中，我们利用折纸机构的多稳态特性提出了一种具有多段恒力区域的 CFM。该 CFM 背后的设计原理涉及将具有正刚度的手风琴折纸结构和具有多段负刚度区域的 Kresling 折纸结构相结合。为了实现零刚度，Kresling 折纸结构与手风琴折纸平行对齐。为了有效地利用 Kresling 和手风琴折纸，我们建立了一个机械模型来描述它们各自的刚度特性，以建立恒力机构的设计规则。通过仔细设计这两种折纸结构的参数，我们评估了 Kresling 结构参数的变化如何影响我们提出的多段 CFM 的恒力特性。为了说明其跨多个部分提供恒定力的固有特性，我们采用有限元分析和实验来获得我们机构的力-位移曲线。结果证明了我们提出的设计方法的可行性，为构建简单的 CFM 铺平了道路。