Passive regulation of flapping wings' rotation

• Main Author: Yap, Vee Lee
• Other Authors: Lau Gih Keong
• Format: Final Year Project
• Language: English
• Published: 2016
• Subjects: DRNTU::Engineering
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10356/67570
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

An experimental study was conducted to assess the functionality of limiters in passive wing rotation mechanism of Flapping Wing Micro-Aerial Vehicle (FWMAV). During insect flight, the wings are moved in a stroke plane and the wing chord rotates about the leading edge. The wing chord rotates passively due to the interaction between wing inertia, aerodynamic and elastic torques acting on the wing structure. Passive wing rotation in MAV has been subjected to over rotation leading to inefficiency. Thus, in this study, we propose a simple limiter to solve this problem. Any pitch angle larger than the limiting angle of the limiter will be prohibited during flapping. Thus, with different limiters, the pitch angle at the wing root chord will be different which results in different thrust generation. Three limiters of 0°, 30° and 45° were designed to show the effect of different limits in wing rotation angle. The wing kinematic results showed that the limiter limits the wing rotation to their respective limiting pitch angle at the root chord only due to the flexible wing. The average thrust generation of the 0° limiter outperforms the 30° and 45° limiters. However, its efficiency is lower because of the larger drag force induced.