scholarly journals Passive stability enhancement with sails of a hovering flapping twin-wing robot

2019 ◽  
Vol 11 ◽  
pp. 175682931984181 ◽  
Author(s):  
H Altartouri ◽  
A Roshanbin ◽  
G Andreolli ◽  
L Fazzi ◽  
M Karásek ◽  
...  

Hovering flapping wing flight is intrinsically unstable in most cases and requires active flight stabilization mechanisms. This paper explores the passive stability enhancement with the addition of top and bottom sails, and the capability to predict the stability from a very simple model decoupling the roll and pitch axes. The various parameters involved in the dynamical model are evaluated from experiments. One of the findings is that the damping coefficient of a bottom sail (located in the flow induced by the flapping wings) is significantly larger than that of a top sail. Flight experiments have been conducted on a flapping wing robot of the size of a hummingbird with sails of various sizes and the observations regarding the flight stability correlate quite well with the predictions of the dynamical model. Twelve out of 13 flight experiments are in agreement with stability predictions.

Energies ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (4) ◽  
pp. 1160
Author(s):  
Mohammad Ali Dashtaki ◽  
Hamed Nafisi ◽  
Amir Khorsandi ◽  
Mojgan Hojabri ◽  
Edris Pouresmaeil

In this paper, the virtual synchronous generator (VSG) concept is utilized in the controller of the grid-connected dual two-level voltage source inverter (DTL VSI). First, the topology of the VSG and the DTL VSI are presented. Then, the state-space equations of the DTL VSI and the grid-connected two-level voltage source inverter (TL VSI), regarding the presence of the phase-locked loop (PLL) and the VSG, are given. Next, the small-signal modeling of the DTL VSI and the TL VSI is realized. Eventually, the stability enhancement in the DTL VSI compared with the TL VSI is demonstrated. In the TL VSI, large values of virtual inertia could result in oscillations in the power system. However, the ability of the DTL VSI in damping oscillations is deduced. Furthermore, in the presence of nonlinear loads, the potentiality of the DTL VSI in reducing grid current Total Harmonic Distortion (THD) is evaluated. Finally, by using a proper reference current command signal, the abilities of the DTL VSI and the TL VSI in supplying nonlinear loads and providing virtual inertia are assessed simultaneously. The simulation results prove the advantages of the DTL VSI compared with the TL VSI in virtual inertia emulation and oscillation damping, which are realized by small-signal analysis.


2015 ◽  
Vol 178 (8) ◽  
pp. 1481-1487 ◽  
Author(s):  
Weifeng Sun ◽  
Longbao Zhu ◽  
Xianggui Chen ◽  
Lunjie Wu ◽  
Zhemin Zhou ◽  
...  

2017 ◽  
Vol 818 ◽  
pp. 1-4 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jun Zhang

Birds have to flap their wings to generate the needed thrust force, which powers them through the air. But how exactly do flapping wings create such force, and at what amplitude and frequency should they operate? These questions have been asked by many researchers. It turns out that much of the secret is hidden in the wake left behind the flapping wing. Exemplified by the study of Andersen et al. (J. Fluid Mech., vol. 812, 2017, R4), close examination of the flow pattern behind a flapping wing will inform us whether the wing is towed by an external force or able to generate a net thrust force by itself. Such studies are much like looking at the footprints of terrestrial animals as we infer their size and weight, figuring out their walking and running gaits. A map that displays the collection of flow patterns after a flapping wing, using flapping frequency and amplitude as the coordinates, offers a full picture of its flying ‘gaits’.


Author(s):  
Yasmin Khakpour ◽  
Miad Yazdani

In this work, numerical simulation is used to study the stability enhancement of high speed supercavitating hydrofoils. Although supercavitation is known as one of the most effective methods for drag reduction, producing the cavity, either by ventilation or by cavitator at front of the body, may cause some instabilities on cavity surface and thus on the projectile’s motion. Therefore removing these instabilities comes as an important point of discussion. First of all, we calculate the sources of instabilities and measure respective forces and then present some approaches that significantly reduce these instabilities. One of these methods that could produce more stable supercavities is injecting of the air into the cavity unsteadily which varies through the projectile’s surface. This approach is provided by arrays of slots distributed on the projectile’s surface and unsteady injection is modeled over the surface. Furthermore, the position of ventilation, dramatically affects the stability like those in aerodynamics. In all approaches it is assumed that the supercavity covers the whole of the body, however the forces caused by the wakes, formed behind the body are taken into account. The calculation is performed at three cavitation numbers with respective velocities of 40 m/s, 50 m/s, 60 m/s.


2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tadeg Quillien

Why would people hide positive information about themselves? Evolutionary game theorists have recently developed the signal-burying game as a simple model to shed light on this puzzle; they have shown that the game has an equilibrium where some agents are better off deliberately reducing the visibility of the signal by which they broadcast their positive traits. However, their explanation falls short of explaining all modesty norms, since this equilibrium also features individuals who openly brag. This leaves modesty norms that everyone adheres to in want of an explanation. Here we show that the signal-burying framework actually affords such an explanation: the game contains an equilibrium where all agents who send a signal voluntarily reduce its conspicuousness. Surprisingly, the stability of the two kinds of equilibria rely on very different principles. The equilibrium where some agents brag is stable because of costly signaling dynamics. By contrast, the universal modesty equilibrium exists because buried signals contain probabilistic information about a sender's type, and receivers make optimal use of this information. In the latter equilibrium, burying a signal can be understood as a handicap which makes the signal more honest, but honesty is not achieved through standard costly signaling dynamics.


Symmetry ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 10 (7) ◽  
pp. 291 ◽  
Author(s):  
Endrowednes Kuantama ◽  
Ioan Tarca ◽  
Simona Dzitac ◽  
Ioan Dzitac ◽  
Radu Tarca

Quadcopter flight stability is achieved when all of the rotors–propellers generate equal thrust in hover and throttle mode. It requires a control system algorithm for rotor speed adjustment, which is related with the translational vector and rotational angle. Even with an identical propeller and speed, the thrusts generated are not necessarily equal on all rotors–propellers. Therefore, this study focuses on developing a data logger to measure thrust and to assist in flight control on a symmetrically-structured quadcopter. It is developed with a four load cells sensor with two-axis characterizations and is able to perform real-time signal processing. The process includes speed adjustment for each rotor, trim calibration, and a proportional integral derivative (PID) control tuning system. In the data retrieval process, a quadcopter was attached with data logger system in a parallel axis position. Various speeds between 1200 rpm to 4080 rpm in throttle mode were analyzed to determine the stability of the resulting thrust. Adjustment result showed that the thrust differences between the rotors were less than 0.5 N. The data logger showed the consistency of the thrust value and was proved by repeated experiments with 118 s of sampling time for the same quadcopter control condition. Finally, the quadcopter flight stability as the result of tuning process by the thrust data logger was validated by the flight controller data.


2019 ◽  
Vol 42 (4) ◽  
pp. 917-923
Author(s):  
Jiss Paul ◽  
Jacob Philip

A modified inter-digital capacitive (IDC) transducer for relative humidity (RH) measurement is fabricated by coating a thick film of polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) on the structure. The effective capacitance of the sensor, measured at 1MHz, increases with RH at room temperature. The RH sensing characteristics of PVA coated IDC transducer are analysed in terms of its sensitivity, dynamic range, frequency response, repeatability and recovery time. It is found that the stability of such a PVA based RH transducer improves remarkably by diffusing nanoparticles of CoFe2O4 in the PVA layer. A standard deviation of ± 0.05 and ± 0.01 for a sensitive layer with pure PVA and PVA-CoFe2O4 combination respectively results in a measurement error of ± 0.005 and ± 0.003.


Author(s):  
Naeem Haider ◽  
Aamer Shahzad ◽  
Muhammad Nafees Mumtaz Qadri ◽  
Syed Irtiza Ali Shah

Micro aerial vehicles using flapping wings are under investigation, as an alternative to fixed-wing and rotary-wing micro aerial vehicles. Such flapping-wing vehicles promise key potential advantages of high thrust, agility, and maneuverability, and have a wide range of applications. These applications include both military and commercial domains such as communication relay, search and rescue, visual reconnaissance, and field search. With the advancement in the computational sciences, developments in flapping-wing micro aerial vehicles have progressed exponentially. Such developments require a careful aerodynamic and aeroelastic design of the flapping wing. Therefore, aerodynamic tools are required to study such designs and configurations. In this paper, the role of several parameters is investigated, including the types of flapping wings, the effect of the kinematics and wing geometry (shape, configuration, and structural flexibility) on performance variables such as lift, drag, thrust, and efficiency in various modes of flight. Kinematic variables have a significant effect on the performance of the flapping wing. For instance, a high flap amplitude and pitch rotation, which supports the generation of the strong leading-edge vortex, generates higher thrust. Likewise, wing shape, configuration, and structural flexibility are shown to have a large impact on the performance of the flapping wing. The wing with optimum flexibility maximizes thrust where highly flexible wings lead to performance degradation due to change in the effective angle of attack. This study shows that the development of the flexible flapping wing with performance capabilities similar to those of natural fliers has not yet been achieved. Finally, opportunities for additional research in this field are recommended.


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