Design and experimental study on a flapping wing micro air vehicle

Abstract

Flapping Wing Micro Air Vehicles (FWMAVs), which are inspired by nature’s flyers and mimic their flight, have numerous advantages compared with conventional fixed wing and rotating wing aircrafts at small scale and low Reynolds numbers, such as ability of hovering and anti-disturbance, high lift aerodynamic performance, good maneuverability. Due to the dimensional constrains and demands of compact design and low power consumption, suitable angles of attack and size of wings have to be tested to reach high aerodynamic efficiency. This paper presents results of experimental investigation of angle of attack (changed by a root deflection angle) and wingspan on the aerodynamics and power of a FWMAV. Based on the measured results, a quasi-steady model for lift and power estimation is suggested. The difference between the estimated and measured lifts and power is less than 10%, which reveals that the quasi-steady model is reasonable for a preliminary design. The results indicate that the wing with a root deflection angle around 15° shows the highest aerodynamic efficiency, and larger wings are preferred to reach a higher ratio of lift to power, implying that larger wing could give a higher lift under certain power input. Finally, we have obtained a best performance wing, which can generate about 40 g of lift at a power input of about 8 W when flapping at 22 Hz.