Clapping wing nano air vehicle using piezoelectric T-beam actuators

Kiron Mateti, Hareesh K.R. Kommepalli, Srinivas A. Tadigadapa, Christopher D. Rahn

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference contribution

2 Scopus citations

Abstract

Clapping wing air vehicles are inspired by the Weis-Fogh clap and fling mechanism used by certain insects, where opposing wings almost touch during part of the flap cycle, spawning vortex structures that increase thrust. Current vehicles cannot be scaled to Nano Air Vehicle (NAV) dimensions because they use electromagnetic motors, gears, and linkages that are difficult to fabricate and have poor efficiency at the sub-millimeter scale. This paper develops a novel NAV that uses piezoelectric T-beam actuators that are monolithically fabricated and exhibit unimorph behavior. A hinge and lever wing mechanism amplifies the small actuator displacements to produce large wing motions. A four wing, clapping NAV is designed, fabricated, and experimentally shown to provide a wing stroke angle of approximately 35°at 1 Hz.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Title of host publicationProceedings of the ASME Conference on Smart Materials, Adaptive Structures and Intelligent Systems 2009, SMASIS2009
Pages631-637
Number of pages7
DOIs
StatePublished - 2009
Event2009 ASME Conference on Smart Materials, Adaptive Structures and Intelligent Systems, SMASIS2009 - Oxnard, CA, United States
Duration: Sep 21 2009Sep 23 2009

Publication series

NameProceedings of the ASME Conference on Smart Materials, Adaptive Structures and Intelligent Systems 2009, SMASIS2009
Volume2

Other

Other2009 ASME Conference on Smart Materials, Adaptive Structures and Intelligent Systems, SMASIS2009
Country/TerritoryUnited States
CityOxnard, CA
Period9/21/099/23/09

All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes

  • Computational Mechanics
  • Mechanics of Materials

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