Stable vertical takeoff of an insect-mimicking flapping-wing system without guide implementing inherent pitching stability

Abstract

We briefly summarized how to design and fabricate an insect-mimicking flapping-wing system and demonstrate how to implement inherent pitching stability for stable vertical takeoff. The effect of relative locations of the Center of Gravity (CG) and the mean Aerodynamic Center (AC) on vertical flight was theoretically examined through static force balance consideration. We conducted a series of vertical takeoff tests in which the location of the mean AC was determined using an unsteady Blade Element Theory (BET) previously developed by the authors. Sequential images were captured during the takeoff tests using a high-speed camera. The results demonstrated that inherent pitching stability for vertical takeoff can be achieved by controlling the relative position between the CG and the mean AC of the flapping system.

Towards Improved Hybrid Actuation Mechanisms for Flapping Wing Micro Air Vehicles: Analytical and Experimental Investigations

“…In Figure 13 the position of the aerodynamic forces on every semi wing are presented. According to Figure 13 and considering the position of the aerodynamic center to the central point which is equal to 0.47·(0.5bw) [58] where bw is the wingspan, the linear velocity of the wing is expressed as:…”

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“…The wings are fabricated using a composite material manufacturing technique, similar to a previous study [22]. First, the wing mold is made out of paper with the vein pattern of an insect wing printed on.…”

Remotely controlled flight of an insect-like tailless Flapping-wing Micro Air Vehicle

“…To mimic real flight of an insect, we have been developing tailless Flapping-wing Micro Air Vehicle (FW-MAV) [1][2][3]. For this purpose, the flapping-wing mechanism was designed to transfer the rotational motion from the installed motor to large flapping wing motions through a combination of the slider-crank and pulley-string mechanisms.…”