Design of a Bio-Inspired Spherical Four-Bar Mechanism for Flapping-Wing Micro Air-Vehicle Applications

2010 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Matt McDonald ◽  
Sunil K. Agrawal
Keyword(s):  
Three Dimensional ◽  
Micro Air Vehicles ◽  
Aerodynamic Performance ◽  
Flapping Wing ◽  
Micro Air Vehicle ◽  
Light Weight ◽  
Aerodynamic Forces ◽  
Wing Motion ◽  
Air Vehicle ◽  
Flapping Mechanism

The design of flapping-wing micro air-vehicles presents many engineering challenges. As observed by biologists, insects and birds exhibit complex three-dimensional wing motions. It is believed that these unique patterns of wing motion create favorable aerodynamic forces that enable these species to fly forward, hover, and execute complex motions. From the perspective of micro air-vehicle applications, extremely light-weight designs that accomplish these motions of the wing, using just a single or a few actuators, are preferable. This paper presents a method to design a spherical four-bar flapping mechanism that approximates a given spatial flapping motion of a wing, considered to have favorable aerodynamics. A spherical flapping mechanism was then constructed and its aerodynamic performance was compared to the original spatially moving wing using an instrumented robotic flapper with force sensors.

Design of a Bio-Inspired Spherical Four-Bar Mechanism for Flapping-Wing Micro Air-Vehicle Applications

2008 ◽  
Author(s):  
Matt McDonald ◽  
Sunil K. Agrawal
Keyword(s):  
Three Dimensional ◽  
Micro Air Vehicles ◽  
Aerodynamic Performance ◽  
Flapping Wing ◽  
Micro Air Vehicle ◽  
Aerodynamic Forces ◽  
Flapping Motion ◽  
Wing Motion ◽  
Air Vehicle ◽  
Flapping Mechanism

Design of flapping-wing micro air-vehicles presents many engineering challenges. As observed by biologists, insects and birds exhibit complex three-dimensional wing motions. It is believed that these unique patterns of wing motion create favorable aerodynamic forces that enable these species to fly forward, hover, and execute complex motions. From the perspective of micro air-vehicle applications, extremely lightweight designs that accomplish these motions of the wing, using just a single, or a few actuators, are preferable. This paper presents a method to design a spherical four-bar flapping mechanism that approximates a given spatial flapping motion of a wing, considered to have favorable aerodynamics. A spherical flapping mechanism was then constructed and its aerodynamic performance was compared to the original spatially moving wing using an instrumented robotic flapper with force sensors.

scholarly journals Development of a novel flapping wing micro aerial vehicle with elliptical wingtip trajectory

2019 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 355-362
Author(s):  
Qiang Liu ◽  
Qiang Li ◽  
Xiaoqin Zhou ◽  
Pengzi Xu ◽  
Luquan Ren ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Aerodynamic Force ◽  
Aerodynamic Performance ◽  
Flapping Wing ◽  
Micro Air Vehicle ◽  
Degree Of Freedom ◽  
Motion Trajectory ◽  
Micro Aerial Vehicle ◽  
Air Vehicle ◽  
Aerial Vehicle ◽  
Flapping Mechanism

Abstract. This paper describes a novel flapping wing micro air vehicle (FWMAV),which can achieve two active degree of freedom (DOF) movements of flapping and swing, as well as twisting passively. This aircraft has a special “0” figure wingtip motion trajectory with the 140∘ flapping stroke angle. With these characteristics integrated into the simple flapping mechanism, the aerodynamic force is somewhat improved. The model made a balance between the improved aerodynamic performance induced by complicated movements and the increased weight of the extra components in aircraft. In the driven design, Only one micro-motor is employed to drive the wing flapping and swing motion simultaneously forming the prescribed trajectory. The 23 g aircraft could reach the maximum flapping frequency of 11 Hz with the tip-to-tip wingspan of 29 cm.

scholarly journals Dove: A biomimetic flapping-wing micro air vehicle

2017 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 70-84 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wenqing Yang ◽  
Liguang Wang ◽  
Bifeng Song
Keyword(s):  
Mechanism Design ◽  
Flapping Wing ◽  
Micro Air Vehicle ◽  
Flexible Wing ◽  
The Past ◽  
Ground Station ◽  
Air Vehicle ◽  
Research Goal ◽  
Color Video ◽  
Flapping Mechanism

This paper describes the design and development of the Dove, a flapping-wing micro air vehicle (FWMAV), which was developed in Northwestern Polytechnical University. FWMAVs have attracted international attentions since the past two decades. Since some achievements have been obtained, such as the capability of supporting an air vehicle to fly, our research goal was to design an FWMAV that has the ability to accomplish a task. Main investigations were presented in this paper, including the flexible wing design, the flapping mechanism design, and the on-board avionics development. The current Dove has a mass of 220 g, a wingspan of 50 cm, and the ability of operating fully autonomously, flying lasts half an hour, and transmitting live stabilized color video to a ground station over 4 km away.

Effects of camber angle on aerodynamic performance of flapping-wing micro air vehicle

2020 ◽  
Vol 97 ◽  
pp. 103101
Author(s):  
Sang-Hoon Yoon ◽  
Haeseong Cho ◽  
Junhee Lee ◽  
Chongam Kim ◽  
Sang-Joon Shin
Keyword(s):  
Aerodynamic Performance ◽  
Flapping Wing ◽  
Micro Air Vehicle ◽  
Camber Angle ◽  
Air Vehicle

scholarly journals Effect of Wing Corrugation on the Aerodynamic Efficiency of Two-Dimensional Flapping Wings

2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (20) ◽  
pp. 7375
Author(s):  
Thanh Tien Dao ◽  
Thi Kim Loan Au ◽  
Soo Hyung Park ◽  
Hoon Cheol Park
Keyword(s):  
Three Dimensional ◽  
Leading Edge ◽  
Aerodynamic Performance ◽  
Flapping Wing ◽  
Flapping Wings ◽  
Two Dimensional ◽  
Aerodynamic Efficiency ◽  
Insect Wing ◽  
Wing Motion ◽  
Computational Fluid Dynamics Cfd

Many previous studies have shown that wing corrugation of an insect wing is only structurally beneficial in enhancing the wing’s bending stiffness and does not much help to improve the aerodynamic performance of flapping wings. This study uses two-dimensional computational fluid dynamics (CFD) in aiming to identify a proper wing corrugation that can enhance the aerodynamic performance of the KUBeetle, an insect-like flapping-wing micro air vehicle (MAV), which operates at a Reynolds number of less than 13,000. For this purpose, various two-dimensional corrugated wings were numerically investigated. The two-dimensional flapping wing motion was extracted from the measured three-dimensional wing kinematics of the KUBeetle at spanwise locations of r = (0.375 and 0.75)R. The CFD analysis showed that at both spanwise locations, the corrugations placed over the entire wing were not beneficial for improving aerodynamic efficiency. However, for the two-dimensional flapping wing at the spanwise location of r = 0.375R, where the wing experiences relatively high angles of attack, three specially designed wings with leading-edge corrugation showed higher aerodynamic performance than that of the non-corrugated smooth wing. The improvement is closely related to the flow patterns formed around the wings. Therefore, the proposed leading-edge corrugation is suggested for the inboard wing of the KUBeetle to enhance aerodynamic performance. The corrugation in the inboard wing may also be structurally beneficial.

scholarly journals Quad-thopter: Tailless flapping wing robot with four pairs of wings

2018 ◽  
Vol 10 (3) ◽  
pp. 244-253 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christophe De Wagter ◽  
Matěj Karásek ◽  
Guido de Croon
Keyword(s):  
Micro Air Vehicles ◽  
Flapping Wing ◽  
Micro Air Vehicle ◽  
Flapping Wings ◽  
Flight Tests ◽  
Wind Gusts ◽  
Air Vehicle ◽  
Differential Thrust ◽  
Yaw Moment ◽  
Novel Design

We present a novel design of a tailless flapping wing micro air vehicle, which uses four independently driven pairs of flapping wings in order to fly and perform agile maneuvers. The wing pairs are arranged such that differential thrust generates the desired roll and pitch moments, similar to a quadrotor. Moreover, two pairs of wings are tilted clockwise and two pairs of wings anti-clockwise. This allows the micro air vehicle to generate a yaw moment. We have constructed the design and performed multiple flight tests with it, both indoors and outdoors. These tests have shown the vehicle to be capable of agile maneuvers and able to cope with wind gusts. The main advantage is that the proposed design is relatively simple to produce, and yet has the capabilities expected of tailless flapping wing micro air vehicles.

scholarly journals Clap-and-fling mechanism in a hovering insect-like two-winged flapping-wing micro air vehicle

2016 ◽  
Vol 3 (12) ◽  
pp. 160746 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hoang Vu Phan ◽  
Thi Kim Loan Au ◽  
Hoon Cheol Park
Keyword(s):  
Drag Force ◽  
Cfd Simulation ◽  
Fluid Dynamic ◽  
Three Dimensional ◽  
Flapping Wing ◽  
Micro Air Vehicle ◽  
Force Generation ◽  
Vertical Force ◽  
Cfd Model ◽  
Air Vehicle

This study used numerical and experimental approaches to investigate the role played by the clap-and-fling mechanism in enhancing force generation in hovering insect-like two-winged flapping-wing micro air vehicle (FW-MAV). The flapping mechanism was designed to symmetrically flap wings at a high flapping amplitude of approximately 192°. The clap-and-fling mechanisms were thereby implemented at both dorsal and ventral stroke reversals. A computational fluid dynamic (CFD) model was constructed based on three-dimensional wing kinematics to estimate the force generation, which was validated by the measured forces using a 6-axis load cell. The computed forces proved that the CFD model provided reasonable estimation with differences less than 8%, when compared with the measured forces. The measurement indicated that the clap and flings at both the stroke reversals augmented the average vertical force by 16.2% when compared with the force without the clap-and-fling effect. In the CFD simulation, the clap and flings enhanced the vertical force by 11.5% and horizontal drag force by 18.4%. The observations indicated that both the fling and the clap contributed to the augmented vertical force by 62.6% and 37.4%, respectively, and to the augmented horizontal drag force by 71.7% and 28.3%, respectively. The flow structures suggested that a strong downwash was expelled from the opening gap between the trailing edges during the fling as well as the clap at each stroke reversal. In addition to the fling phases, the influx of air into the low-pressure region between the wings from the leading edges also significantly contributed to augmentation of the vertical force. The study conducted for high Reynolds numbers also confirmed that the effect of the clap and fling was insignificant when the minimum distance between the two wings exceeded 1.2c (c = wing chord). Thus, the clap and flings were successfully implemented in the FW-MAV, and there was a significant improvement in the vertical force.

Based on Pro/E on the Design and Simulation of Bionic Dragonfly Flapping Wing Aircraft

2011 ◽  
Vol 268-270 ◽  
pp. 960-965
Author(s):  
Yu Lan Zhou ◽  
Kun Wang ◽  
Jing Ping Chai
Keyword(s):  
Mechanism Design ◽  
Flapping Wing ◽  
Micro Air Vehicle ◽  
Light Weight ◽  
Flight Performance ◽  
Air Vehicle ◽  
Dragonfly Wings

In order to design an efficient, reliable, light weight, flapping wing mechanism,Improve the flight performance of the micro air vehicle and expand its application areas,this paper is concerned on the design and simulation of bionic dragonfly flapping wing aircraft .An mechanism design to simulate the movement of dragonfly wings isr presented in this paper.Then, simulation and analysis are made based on Pro/E.

Flapping Mechanism Design and Aerodynamic Analysis for the Flapping Wing Micro Air Vehicle

2011 ◽  
Vol 291-294 ◽  
pp. 1543-1546
Author(s):  
Yi Qin ◽  
Wei Ping Zhang ◽  
Wen Yuan Cheng ◽  
Wu Liu ◽  
Hong Yi Li ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Fluid Dynamics ◽  
Computational Fluid Dynamics ◽  
Mechanism Design ◽  
Insect Flight ◽  
Flapping Wing ◽  
Micro Air Vehicle ◽  
Air Vehicle ◽  
Computational Fluid Dynamics Cfd ◽  
The Right ◽  
Flapping Mechanism

This paper introduces a biological flapping micro air vehicle (FMAV) with four wings, instead of two wings, where wing clap-and-fling of real insects has been mimicked. The total weight is 2.236g. A spatial linkage is implemented in the flapping wing system, which is symmetry. This can prevent the flapping wing MAV from tilting toward the left or the right in the course of flight. By using the computational fluid dynamics (CFD), it has been confirmed that the flapping wing system can utilize the clap-and-fling mechanism, which is essential to enhance the lift and thrust in the insect flight.

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