Origami-Inspired Composite Springs with Bi-directional Translational-Rotational Functionalities

Many of the patterns seen in Origami are currently being explored as a platform for building functional engineering systems with versatile characteristics that cater to niche applications in various technological fields. One such pattern is the Kresling pattern, which offers unconventional mechanical properties with rich coupled translation and rotational kinematics. In this paper, we design and manufacture a composite spring inspired by the Kresling Origami pattern, which is capable of simultaneously behaving as an axial and torsional restoring element with bi-directional functionalities. We study, numerically and experimentally, the restoring behavior of this spring, its equilibria, and their bifurcations for different combination of the design parameters. We show that the fabricated springs can have fixed, quasi-zero, or variable stiffness, and can be customized to exhibit single- or multi-stable states (symmetric and asymmetric) as needed. The proposed spring demonstrates how combining additive manufacturing with Origami principles can offer a new pathway towards the design of new structural and machine elements with versatile functionalities.