A Review of Bird-Inspired Flapping Wing Miniature Air Vehicle Designs

Physical and aerodynamic characteristics of a bird in flight offer benefits over typical propeller or rotor driven miniature air vehicle (MAV) locomotion designs in certain applications. A number of research groups and companies have developed flapping wing vehicles that attempt to harness these benefits. The purpose of this paper is to report different types of flapping wing miniature air vehicle designs and compare their salient characteristics. This paper is focused on mechanical design aspects of mechanisms and wings. The discussion presented will be limited to miniature-sized flapping wing air vehicles, defined as 10 to 100 g total weight. The discussion will be focused primarily on designs which have performed at least one successful test flight. This paper provides representative designs in each category, rather than providing a comprehensive listing of all existing designs. This paper will familiarize a newcomer to the field with existing designs and their distinguishing features. By studying existing designs, future designers will be able to adopt features from other successful designs. This paper also summarizes the design challenges associated with the further advancement of the field and deploying flapping wing vehicles in practice.

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A Review of Bird-Inspired Flapping Wing Miniature Air Vehicle Designs

Volume 2: 34th Annual Mechanisms and Robotics Conference, Parts A and B ◽

10.1115/detc2010-28513 ◽

2010 ◽

Cited By ~ 4

Author(s):

John W. Gerdes ◽

Satyandra K. Gupta ◽

Stephen A. Wilkerson

Keyword(s):

Aerodynamic Characteristics ◽

Flapping Wing ◽

Research Groups ◽

Advantages And Disadvantages ◽

Air Vehicle ◽

Different Types ◽

Comprehensive Listing ◽

Test Flight ◽

Distinguishing Features ◽

Design Challenges

Physical and aerodynamic characteristics of the bird in flight may offer benefits over typical propeller or rotor driven miniature air vehicle (MAV) locomotion designs in certain types of scenarios. A number of research groups and companies have developed flapping wing vehicles that attempt to harness these benefits. The purpose of this paper is to report different types of flapping wing designs and compare their salient characteristics. For each category, advantages and disadvantages will be discussed. The discussion presented will be limited to miniature-sized flapping wing air vehicles, defined as 10–100 grams total weight. The discussion will be focused primarily on ornithopters which have performed at least one successful test flight. Additionally, this paper is intended to provide a representation of the field of current technology, rather than providing a comprehensive listing of all possible designs. This paper will familiarize a newcomer to the field with existing designs and their distinguishing features. By studying existing designs, future designers will be able to adopt features from other successful designs. This paper also summarizes the design challenges associated with the further advancement of the field and deploying flapping wing vehicles in practice.

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Aerodynamic Characteristics of the Ventilated Design for Flapping Wing Micro Air Vehicle

The Scientific World JOURNAL ◽

10.1155/2014/410749 ◽

2014 ◽

Vol 2014 ◽

pp. 1-11

Author(s):

G. Q. Zhang ◽

S. C. M. Yu

Keyword(s):

Lift Force ◽

Aerodynamic Characteristics ◽

Flapping Wing ◽

Micro Air Vehicle ◽

Air Pressure ◽

Flight Performance ◽

Forward Flight ◽

Careful Control ◽

Air Vehicle

Inspired by superior flight performance of natural flight masters like birds and insects and based on the ventilating flaps that can be opened and closed by the changing air pressure around the wing, a new flapping wing type has been proposed. It is known that the net lift force generated by a solid wing in a flapping cycle is nearly zero. However, for the case of the ventilated wing, results for the net lift force are positive which is due to the effect created by the “ventilation” in reducing negative lift force during the upstroke. The presence of moving flaps can serve as the variable in which, through careful control of the areas, a correlation with the decrease in negative lift can be generated. The corresponding aerodynamic characteristics have been investigated numerically by using different flapping frequencies and forward flight speeds.

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Aerodynamical Improvement of Delta Wing and Flapping Wing

Volume 1A: Symposia, Part 2 ◽

10.1115/ajkfluids2015-13075 ◽

2015 ◽

Author(s):

Tadateru Ishide ◽

Kazuya Naganuma ◽

Shinsuke Seiji ◽

Hiroyuki Ishikawa ◽

Ryo Fujii ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Force Measurement ◽

Delta Wing ◽

Leading Edge ◽

Aerodynamic Characteristics ◽

Flapping Wing ◽

Fluid Force ◽

Unmanned Air Vehicle ◽

Wide Range ◽

Air Vehicle ◽

Piv Analysis

Recently, various studies of Micro Air Vehicle (MAV) and Unmanned Air Vehicle (UAV) have been reported from wide range points of view. The aim of this study are researching the aerodynamic improvement of delta wing and flapping wing in low Reynold’s number region to develop an applicative these air vehicle. Various configurations of Leading Edge Flap (LEF) are used to enhance the aerodynamic characteristics in the delta wing. The six kind of elliptical wings made of stainless steel are used in the flapping wing. The effects of flapping amplitude and wing configuration regarding the aerodynamic characteristics are investigated in detail. The fluid force measurement by six component load cell and PIV analysis are performed as the experimental method. In the flapping wing experiment, the simultaneous measuring of the fluid force measurement and PIV analysis is tried by using the trigger signal from the encoder attached to the flapping model. The relations between the aerodynamic superiority and the vortex behavior around the models are demonstrated.

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A Review of Research on the Mechanical Design of Hoverable Flapping Wing Micro-Air Vehicles

Journal of Bionic Engineering ◽

10.1007/s42235-021-00118-4 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Shengjie Xiao ◽

Kai Hu ◽

Binxiao Huang ◽

Huichao Deng ◽

Xilun Ding

Keyword(s):

Mechanical Design ◽

Micro Air Vehicles ◽

Flapping Wing ◽

Development Prospect ◽

Flight Performance ◽

Research Groups ◽

Hovering Flight ◽

Driving Mechanisms ◽

Passive Deformation ◽

Air Vehicles

AbstractMost insects and hummingbirds can generate lift during both upstroke and downstroke with a nearly horizontal flapping stroke plane, and perform precise hovering flight. Further, most birds can utilize tails and muscles in wings to actively control the flight performance, while insects control their flight with muscles based on wing root along with wing’s passive deformation. Based on the above flight principles of birds and insects, Flapping Wing Micro Air Vehicles (FWMAVs) are classified as either bird-inspired or insect-inspired FWMAVs. In this review, the research achievements on mechanisms of insect-inspired, hoverable FWMAVs over the last ten years (2011–2020) are provided. We also provide the definition, function, research status and development prospect of hoverable FWMAVs. Then discuss it from three aspects: bio-inspiration, motor-driving mechanisms and intelligent actuator-driving mechanisms. Following this, research groups involved in insect-inspired, hoverable FWMAV research and their major achievements are summarized and classified in tables. Problems, trends and challenges about the mechanism are compiled and presented. Finally, this paper presents conclusions about research on mechanical structure, and the future is discussed to enable further research interests.

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