- Byu student discovered the previously unknown “Blooming Flower” origami fold pattern.
- The new technology has an infinite number of variations that can expand in 3-D forms.
- The designs have potential applications in space systems, medical devices and architecture.
The Brigham Young University Student Kelvin (Zhongyuan) Wang's love for folding paper only led to a discovery that expanded a new chapter to a art form that can trace its roots after hundreds of years.
And it is a revelation that Wang's mentors say that they have the potential to solve design challenges in a variety of applications, including space systems, medical devices, ballproof shields, architecture, furniture and aerodynamic components for transport.
Wang is the main author of the discovery, which was recently published in Proceedings of the Royal Society. Co-authors include Byu professor Larry Howell, a global expert for compliant mechanisms (Jointless Structures such as origami), and Robert J. Lang, an origami artist and a leading theorist for origami mathematics.
“What Kelvin has developed is a completely new family of origami patterns, which he called Bloom pattern,” said Lang in a recorded interview. “It is a very great name because many of them bloom like a flower.”
Wang said he folded the first of his flower patterns years ago. But when the work saw the work, he noticed that he had never seen the pattern.
“I was speechless,” said Wang.
Endless possibilities
Lang said that the discovery had opened the door to a “countless infinity” of new types of patterns, the characteristics that make the technology extremely valuable in the world of engineering. The flowers can all be completely opened in a flat leaf. Can open partly to create a spherical, three -dimensional shape and, no matter how large the starting material is, can be collapsed into stacked layers over a flat hard drive.
BYU researchers said that one or two of these characteristics are common in origami, but it was rare to find all three properties in a single design. The combination offers both technical and economic advantages:
- The flat foldability is ideal for putting large arrays in compact rooms.
- Predictable systems require fold patterns that enable transformation without damaging the material.
- Repeating panels and rotation symmetry offer stability and lower manufacturing costs because it is more efficient to replicate identical panels than to generate different parts.
“This new pattern has great potential in space,” said Howell. “We can make it very compact at the start and use it in space.”
The design concept helps to tackle the opposing realities of spatial-based devices, in which limited load space and weight considerations prefer the compactness at the start, while instruments such as antennas, space telescopes and solar arrangements require large surfaces in order to carry out their work according to the extraterrestrial provision.
The old informs the modernity
And that is why concepts that are embodied in old paper folding techniques – Japanese origami, back into the 16th century – are examined and in research, including the BYU, in research and adapted where researchers are in the foreground over a decade to collect insights from the craft.
Another unique aspect of the flower pattern is, according to the research team, the intermediate form that arises between the flat and fully used forms.
“You can imagine using this intermediate state, this spherical shape, such as the desired finished condition,” said Lang. “For example, if you want a bowl or maybe a scale antenna, the flower pattern could deliver it.”
Wang said origami was a satisfactory outlet for personal creativity, and one that he learns can also become a transformative force in the real world.
“The discovery process requires a lot of repetition,” he said. “I feel incredibly peaceful when I fold and come into this condition of the river. I can sometimes fold for hours. It feels wonderful to do that, even if it is usually repeated. I create something out of paper with my hands and ideas that come to mind – about how to do it in a physical model.”
He added: “I love to make origami, but if I can use origami to create practical applications that can benefit the world, it will be a dream that will come.”
