Multiple Degree-of-Freedom Control of a Flapping-Wing Micro Air Vehicle with Power and Control Actuators

Throughout the last decade, there has been an increased demand for intricate flapping-wing drones with different capabilities than larger drones. The design of flapping-wing drones is focused on endurance and stability, as these are two of the main challenges of these systems. Researchers have recently been turning towards bioinspiration as a way to enhance aerodynamic performance. In this work, the propulsion system of a flapping-wing micro air vehicle is investigated to identify the limitations and drawbacks of specific designs. Each system has a tandem wing configuration inspired by a dragonfly, with wing shapes inspired by a bumblebee. For the design of this flapping-wing, a sizing process is carried out. A number of actuation mechanisms are considered, and two different mechanisms are designed and integrated into a flapping-wing system and compared to one another. The second system is tested using a thrust stand to investigate the impact of wing configurations on aerodynamic force production and the trend of force production from varying flapping frequency. Results present the optimal wing configuration of those tested and that an angle of attack of two degrees yields the greatest force production. A tethered flight test is conducted to examine the stability and aerodynamic capabilities of the drone, and challenges of flapping-wing systems and solutions that can lead to successful flight are presented. Key challenges to the successful design of these systems are weight management, force production, and stability and control.

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Withdrawal: Modeling and Control of a Flapping Wing Hawkmoth Micro Air Vehicle using Generalized Mixed Sensitivity Hierarchical Design Approach

AIAA Scitech 2019 Forum ◽

10.2514/6.2019-1418.c1 ◽

2019 ◽

Author(s):

Pragyan A. Pradhan ◽

Karan Puttannaiah ◽

Kaustav Mondal ◽

Armando A. Rodriguez ◽

Shiba Biswal

Keyword(s):

Flapping Wing ◽

Micro Air Vehicle ◽

Design Approach ◽

Hierarchical Design ◽

Modeling And Control ◽

Air Vehicle ◽

And Control

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Synthesis of a Flapping Wing Mechanism Using a Constrained Spatial RRR Serial Chain

Journal of Mechanisms and Robotics ◽

10.1115/1.4038529 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 10 (1) ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

Peter L. Wang ◽

Haithem E. Taha ◽

J. Michael McCarthy

Keyword(s):

Flapping Wing ◽

Micro Air Vehicle ◽

Degree Of Freedom ◽

Joint Angles ◽

Hovering Flight ◽

Wing Movement ◽

Serial Chain ◽

Air Vehicle

This paper designs a one degree-of-freedom (1DOF) spatial flapping wing mechanism for a hovering micro-air vehicle by constraining a spatial RRR serial chain using two SS dyads. The desired wing movement defines the dimensions and joint trajectories of the RRR spatial chain. Seven configurations of the chain are selected to define seven precision points that are used to compute SS chains that control the swing and pitch joint angles. The result is a spatial RRR-2SS flapping wing mechanism that transforms the actuator rotation into control of wing swing and pitch necessary for hovering flight of a micro-air vehicle.

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Active Bend-Twist PZT Actuator for Centimeter-Scale Flapping Wing Micro-Air Vehicle

ASME 2011 Conference on Smart Materials, Adaptive Structures and Intelligent Systems, Volume 1 ◽

10.1115/smasis2011-5085 ◽

2011 ◽

Author(s):

Asha J. Hall ◽

Jaret C. Riddick

Keyword(s):

Insect Flight ◽

Leading Edge ◽

Flapping Wing ◽

Micro Air Vehicle ◽

Degree Of Freedom ◽

Control Surface ◽

Simultaneous Excitation ◽

Flexural Response ◽

Air Vehicle ◽

Twist Actuation

The present study focuses on development of a flapping wing micro-air vehicle (FWMAV) that employs a piezoelectric actuator to drive the leading edge of the wing. An analysis of insect flight indicates that in addition to the bending excitation (flapping), simultaneous excitation of the twisting degree-of-freedom is required to adequately manipulate the control surface. A functionally-modified piezoelectric bimorph composed of Pb(Zr0.55Ti0.45)O3 (PZT) is being used to produce two degree-of-freedom motion, namely the flapping and twisting facilitated by an off-axis layer of piezoelectric segments affixed to the top surface of a traditional bimorph actuator. The modification of the top surface of a traditional PZT bimorph actuator introduces active bend-twist coupling to the flexural response of the resulting layered PZT. This paper presents analytical and experimental investigation of functionally-modified bimorph designs intended for active bend-twist actuation of cm-scale flapping wing devices.

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

Mechanical Sciences ◽

10.5194/ms-10-355-2019 ◽

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.

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