Miura-ori Pattern

thingiverse

The Miura fold is a unique method of folding flat surfaces into smaller areas, invented by Japanese astrophysicist Koryo Miura. The crease patterns of the Miura fold create a tessellation of the surface with parallelograms, where one direction features straight lines and mirror reflections across each crease, while the other direction has zigzagging creases that alternate between mountain and valley folds. Each zigzag path consists entirely of either mountains or valleys, switching from one to the next, while the straight paths alternate between mountain and valley folds. As a rigid origami method, the Miura fold allows for continuous motion without folding in half, making it suitable for folding surfaces made of stiff materials. For instance, large solar panel arrays used in space satellites have been folded using this technique before launch, then spreading out in space. A folded Miura shape can be compactly packed with a thickness equal to the material's own thickness. When unpacked by pulling on opposite ends or folded by pushing two ends together, it returns to its original form, making it ideal for reducing weight and complexity in applications like solar array deployment.