Traditional micro air vehicles (MAVs) are miniature versions of full-scale aircraft from which their design principles closely follow. The first step in aircraft design is the development of a conceptual design, where basic specifications and vehicle size are established. Conceptual design methods do not rely on specific knowledge of the propulsion system, vehicle layout and subsystems; these details are addressed later in the design process. Non-traditional MAV designs based on birds or insects are less common and without well-established conceptual design methods. This paper presents a conceptual design process for hovering flapping-wing vehicles. An energy-based accounting of propulsion and aerodynamics is combined with a one degree-of-freedom dynamic flapping model. Important results include simple analytical expressions for flight endurance and range, predictions for maximum feasible wing size and body mass, and critical design space restrictions resulting from finite wing inertia. A new figure-of-merit for wing structural-inertial efficiency is proposed and used to quantify the performance of real and artificial insect wings. The impact of these results on future flapping-wing MAV designs is discussed in detail.


    Access

    Access via TIB

    Check availability in my library

    Order at Subito €


    Export, share and cite



    Title :

    Conceptual design of flapping-wing micro air vehicles


    Contributors:
    Whitney, J.P. (author) / Wood, R.J. (author)

    Published in:

    Bioinspiration & Biomimetics (Online) ; 7 , 3 ; 036001/1-036001/10


    Publication date :

    2012


    Size :

    10 Seiten, 18 Quellen




    Type of media :

    Article (Journal)


    Type of material :

    Print


    Language :

    English




    Aerodynamics of Flapping-Wing Micro Air Vehicles

    Shkarayev, S. / Silin, D. / American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics | British Library Conference Proceedings | 2009



    Aerodynamics of Flapping-Wing Micro Air Vehicles

    Shkarayev, Sergey / Silin, Dmitro | AIAA | 2009


    The Aerodynamics of Flapping-Wing Micro-Aerial Vehicles

    North Atlantic Treaty Organization | British Library Conference Proceedings | 2005


    Toward Flapping Wing Control of Micro Air Vehicles

    Anderson, Michael L. / Cobb, Richard G. | AIAA | 2012