Design and fabrication of 3D flapping mechanism

• Main Author: Choo, Hai Ying
• Other Authors: Wu Yanhua
• Format: Final Year Project
• Language: English
• Published: 2019
• Subjects: DRNTU::Engineering::Mechanical engineering
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10356/78437
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

Hovering was one of the flying method that was inspired by humming bird. The flying method has been described as figure of eight flapping movement from their downstroke and upstroke movement. It was a special flight mode that the wings were rotating and twisting during the downstroke and upstroke. To mimic the flying method, a mechanism has been designed and the process of designing has been documented in this report. This report consists of the study of the understanding of the animal’s wings function to excute certain kind of flight movement. In here, the hovering technique of humming bird would be discussed and realised with a numerical simulation followed by a physical moch-up showing the figure-of-eight flight movement. The idea of differential design with special gearing combination would be used to control the two axes of rotating movement. The mechanism has been modelled by using NX Unique Graphic and simulated using NX Motion Simulation to create the figure-of-eight movement. In addition, polyjet 3D printer was used to fabricate the parts that were responsible for the structure aspect, the gear systems and the wing. Although the mechanism was able to mimic the figure –of-eight movement, but there were rooms for improvement for the designed prototype.