Collapsible structure

Claim 1

A truss structure movable between a collapsed position and a deployed position, having: at least one frame unit, each frame unit comprised of four rigid, elongate batten, longeron, and diagonal members, and four folding batten members, the four rigid batten members being connected at their end points so as to form a quadrilateral, each longeron being pivotally connected at a first end to an associated rigid batten member at each corner of the quadrilateral such that each longeron pivots about an axis parallel to the longitudinal axis of the associated rigid batten member and such that, in the deployed position, each longeron is perpendicular to the plane defined by the quadrilateral, each diagonal being connected to the free ends of an associated longeron, and to the free end of the rigid batten member associated with said associated longeron, each diagonal being pivotally connected at the rigid batten member such that the diagonal rotates about the same axis as the longeron, and having two trough portions located opposite and adjacent to each other at approximately the midpoint of the diagonal; the folding batten elements being hinged at their midpoint about an axis perpendicular to the face of the quadrilateral and pivotally connected at their ends to the junction of a diagonal and longeron such that the folding batten elements pivot during the transition between collapsed and deployed positions of the truss structure.