Compliant wing flappers activated by electrical motors

• Main Author: Goh, Joel Tian Wei.
• Other Authors: School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering
• Format: Final Year Project
• Language: English
• Published: 2012
• Subjects: DRNTU::Engineering::Aeronautical engineering
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10356/49587
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

Flying insects are intelligent biological machines capable of exquisite manoeuvres in various environments. Their capabilities are still unparalleled by any man made attempts and remain the object of inspiration for many research fronts. Understanding these biologically evolved systems advances our knowledge of flight control, sensor suites, and unsteady aerodynamics which pivotal to developing flapping winged micro air vehicles (MAVs). Inspired by the works or nature, this project seeks to experiment with different mechanisms driven by electrical and vibration motors to successfully mimic insect flapping wing flight. For the initial half of the project, vibrator actuated flapping mechanisms based on previous works, will be rigorously developed to find improvements for various aspects of flapping performance, such as flapping angle and frequency. An associated parametric study of system, wing stiffness and their effects on flapping performance will also be conducted. The later part of the project will focus on experimenting with the successful crank and slider mechanism to determine its viability in corporation with compliant joints. The project will also study the effects of driving the thorax close to its natural frequency on performance indicators such as flapping angle, power consumption and thrust generation.