Bi-stable Reeled Composite
A Bi-stable Reeled Composite (BRC) is a unique and counter-intuitive approach to composite design.
Whereas the majority of modern composites are designed and manufactured to remain physically stable and in the same shape as they are manufactured, the Bi-stable Reeled Composite is deliberately designed to transform between two different formats when required – a rolled format and a deployed structural tube format.
BRC’s are completely stable in their reeled and deployed formats, and can be deployed thousands of times.
This technology offers design engineers a completely new set of solutions for deployable structural tubes, particularly in temporary applications where reducing packed volume and weight for transport is at a premium.
The BRC is constructed of multiple layers of reinforced composite materials, typically glass reinforced polypropylene, and the angles of the reinforcement in the various layers can be tuned to create the bi-stability characteristics.
Depending on the requirement of the application, the BRC is designed to create the right balance between size, weight, strength, rolling characteristics and cycle life.
Technically, BRC’s are a member of the Slit Tube Engineered Member (STEM) family, but it is their bi-stability that sets them apart from other STEMs.
Composite and metal STEMs have been in existence for a long time, but they are not stable when they are rolled. They are effectively a “wound up spring” needing to be physically constrained when in this rolled format, and have a desire to explosively deploy into the tube format. Historically, this high energy rolled state has severely limited the potential applications for STEM technology.
BRC’s solve this limitation, as they are completely stable when in the rolled format, completely stable when deployed as a tube, and they deploy in a calm and controlled manner. The BRC technology therefore unlocks the huge latent potential for the use of STEM technology as a design solution, and this is the commercial opportunity that Rolatube is currently exploiting.
Additionally, this low energy rolled format also allows the integration of components within the BRC composite, which would be impossible with normal composite STEMs.
Rolatube has taken advantage of this characteristic by developing a range of BRC’s that incorporate rollable electronic components such as RF antennas, electrical conductors and lighting arrays within the composite. For end users, the utility of these “integrated” versions of our BRC products is unsurpassed.
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