- 著者
- Yuta MURAYAMA Toshiyuki NAKATA Hao LIU
- 出版者
- The Japan Society of Mechanical Engineers
- 雑誌
- Journal of Biomechanical Science and Engineering (ISSN:18809863)
- 巻号頁・発行日
- vol.18, no.1, pp.22-00340, 2023 (Released:2023-01-16)
- 参考文献数
- 31
- 被引用文献数
- 2
Flying animals such as insects, bats, and birds have acquired the ability to achieve diverse and robust flight patterns in various natural environments. Their sophisticated morphologies, kinematics, and dynamics have motivated engineers to develop bioinspired flying robots. Particularly, the capabilities of morphing wing and tail controls in birds have received significant attention. Such controls are expected to introduce novel mechanisms to achieve flight stabilization while maintaining high maneuverability with a low energy cost. While the control of tail posture and motion is considered to exhibit a significant influence on flight performance, there have been few studies focusing on control with multiple degrees of freedom in small flying robots. In this study, we developed a bird-inspired morphing tail mechanism; a model was fabricated and investigated its aerodynamic performance through wind tunnel experiments. The results indicate that the tail attitude can be controlled effectively to enable the enhancement of aerodynamic performance in terms of mechanical efficiency and controllability. We also verified that controlling the tail attitude is redundant in the control of aerodynamic force and moment production, implying the potential capability to achieve stable flight control strategies in response to various disturbances. Therefore, our results indicate that tail-attitude-based aerodynamic control may be able to cope with the conflicting requirements of improving stability and maneuverability of flyers.
- 著者
- Sakito KOIZUMI Toshiyuki NAKATA Hao LIU
- 出版者
- The Japan Society of Mechanical Engineers
- 雑誌
- Journal of Biomechanical Science and Engineering (ISSN:18809863)
- 巻号頁・発行日
- vol.18, no.1, pp.22-00347, 2023 (Released:2023-01-16)
- 参考文献数
- 38
- 被引用文献数
- 2
Flying insects are capable of hovering and rapid maneuver under unpredictable environments. The principal wing-beat is generated by transmitting the rhythmical contractions of power muscles to the exoskeleton and wing-base articulation. Fine-tuning of the flapping wing kinematics is achieved by deforming the articulation with tiny steering muscles. This flapping mechanism of insect flight is distinct from that of conventional man-made aerial vehicles, enabling superior flight. In this study, we propose an insect-inspired flapping mechanism, which is comprised of two different types of actuators and a flexible wing-base structure. The flapping mechanism is driven by electric motors, which modulate wing kinematics by adjusting the flexible wing-base structure using electromagnetic actuators (EMAs). First, the EMA design was optimized based on analysis of the dynamic forces and displacements to enable deformations of the wing-base structure. A prototype flapping mechanism was then constructed, and its performance was evaluated experimentally by adjusting the actuation phase of the EMAs being synchronized with flapping motions of the wing. The results indicate that the wingbeat kinematics and aerodynamic performance are noticeably sensitive to the actuation timing of EMAs and can thus be controlled by tuning the EMA actuating timing and direction. The flapping mechanism can potentially be applied as a novel means for controlling body posture of flapping-wing micro air vehicles to achieve insect-inspired stable flights in natural environments.