Piezoelectric Actuators as Control Surfaces for Morphing Vehicle

Mennu, M. M.; Tran, B.; Ifju, Peter

doi:10.1007/978-3-030-86741-6_14

Cited by 3 publications

(2 citation statements)

References 2 publications

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“…Existing approaches to implement bio-inspired morphing structures often use "smart materials" such as piezoelectrics 1 or shape-memory alloys. 2 With few exceptions, these smart material approaches rely on the energy transduction properties of the actuation technology.…”

Section: Motivationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Application of electrolaminates for the development of biomimetic morphing unmanned aerial vehicles

Kornbluh

Kirkwood

West

et al. 2023

Journal of Composite Materials

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Morphing aircraft offer the promise of performance that can be optimized for a range of flight profiles. But such capability places challenging demands on the morphing system that cannot easily be met with conventional actuators or smart materials. Electrolaminates use electrostatic forces controlled by the application of a voltage (typically high-voltage but extremely low-current) to controllably bond or unbond layers of a laminated composite structure together. Such on-demand bonding can be used to effectively change the stiffness of the structure or control elongation or twist of the structure. This technology has multiple benefits compared to other smart material or conventional actuator-driven approaches; it is thin and light, has very low energy requirements, and offers rapid response capabilities controlled by simple electronics. These capabilities can enable bio-inspired morphing with large numbers of degrees of freedom and high spatial resolution. We designed, fabricated, and tested a fully functional morphing-wing unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) with telescoping wings and a splaying, bird-like tail enabled by electrolaminates. Key features of the current UAV configuration include: a variable wingspan of 1.2–2.4 m with a corresponding change in the wing area of nearly a factor of four; no vertical tail; and a horizontal tail area variable by a factor of three. The ability to asymmetrically control the tail area allows for independent pitch and body circulation control. The tail area is changed by a separate electrolaminate clamping mechanism. The variable-area tail uses ‘feathers’ that can be overlapped or splayed as needed. The practical shape-changing is enabled by electrolaminate materials that can rapidly lock the orientation of the feathers. The electrolaminate clutches support more than 5 nm of torque and are sufficient to resist expected flight loads. We also designed, fabricated, and tested other morphing-wing designs enabled by electrolaminate technology to create a wing with smoothly sliding skin that is capable of changing chord and camber with a single linear actuator. Our results suggest that electrolaminates can practically enable bio-inspired, small (Group 1 and 2) morphing UAVs.

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Section: Motivationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Application of electrolaminates for the development of biomimetic morphing unmanned aerial vehicles

Kornbluh

Kirkwood

West

et al. 2023

Journal of Composite Materials

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“…Several examples can be drawn from the literature that elucidated the capability of MFCs as morphing actuators [6,7,[19][20][21][22]. Prior works have observed the bending and twisting behavior of actuated MFCs, or like actuators, on thin structures, with the extent and direction of deformation influenced by the surface geometry, substrate material, and orientation of the actuator [23][24][25][26][27][28][29]. However, these studies have neglected the crucial design aspects of substrates.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Screening significant properties of macro-fiber composite laminate substrate anisotropy with viscoelastic and thermal considerations at the quasi-static level

Tran,

Ifju

2023

Smart Mater. Struct.

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A macro-fiber composite (MFC) is a class of smart material actuator that employs piezoceramic fibers to extend or contract under an applied electric field. When embedded on a thin substrate, actuated MFCs induce surface pressure, resulting in out-of-plane motion. Design characteristics of the substrate, such as anisotropy, give rise to unique bend/twist behavior. Previous studies on MFC applications have focused on optimizing patch location in relation to the local design to achieve optimal bend/twist motion. However, the resolution to these approaches is restricted to the design space of the application, presenting an absence in piezoelectric laminate design intuition. This research aims to streamline the initial optimization process by analyzing the significant material properties associated with substrate design. To accomplish this, a viscoelastic piezoelectric plate theory model is developed to accurately capture the displacement behavior of the MFC laminate for any given substrate design. Experimental data is used to validate and refine the model, ensuring it closely represents real-world physics. A 2k fractional factorial design of experiments approach is used to identify significant substrate properties per MFC laminate configuration, assigning each material property a two-level coding system. Three configurations are observed, with each exhibiting distinct significant properties and effects compared to others. Furthermore, the study explores the impact of thermal factors on substrate behavior for these MFC laminates, highlighting how significant properties can be temperature dependent. The contributions to the kinematic response due to substrate property perturbation varies uniquely per material property and MFC laminate configuration. Statistical evidence supports the notion that the hysteretic behavior of a material is unaffected by thermal influences and is solely determined by the elastic constants of the substrate. The maximum remanent hysteretic response is shown to be proportional to the maximum actuation response at near room temperature.

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