{"title":"The Coupled Wing Morphing of Ornithopters Improves Attitude Control and Agile Flight","authors":"Yu Cai, Guangfa Su, Jiannan Zhao, Shuang Feng","doi":"10.3390/machines12070486","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"Bird wings are exquisite mechanisms integrated with multiple morphological deformation joints. The larger avian species are particularly adept at utilizing their wings’ flapping, folding, and twisting motions to control the wing angle and area. These motions mainly involve different types of spanwise folding and chordwise twisting. It is wondered whether the agile maneuverability of birds is based on the complex coupling of these wing morphing changes. To investigate this issue, we designed a two-section wing structure ornithopter capable of simultaneously controlling both spanwise folding and chordwise twisting and applied it to research on heading control. The experimental data collected from outdoor flights describe the differing flight capabilities between the conventional and two-section active twist wing states, indicating that incorporating an active twist structure enhances the agility and maneuverability of this novel flapping aircraft. In the experiments on yaw control, we observed some peculiar phenomena: although the twisting motion of the active twist ornithopter wings resembles that of a fixed-wing aileron control, due to the intricate coupling of the wing flapping and folding, the ornithopter, under the control of active twist structures, exhibited a yaw direction opposite to the expected direction (directly applying the logic assumed by the fixed-wing aileron control). Addressing this specific phenomenon, we provide a plausible model explanation. In summary, our study with active twist mechanisms on ornithopters corroborates the positive impact of active deformation on their attitude agility, which is beneficial for the design of similar bio-inspired aircraft in the future.","PeriodicalId":2,"journal":{"name":"ACS Applied Bio Materials","volume":"102 17","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":4.6000,"publicationDate":"2024-07-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"ACS Applied Bio Materials","FirstCategoryId":"5","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.3390/machines12070486","RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":null,"ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q2","JCRName":"MATERIALS SCIENCE, BIOMATERIALS","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Bird wings are exquisite mechanisms integrated with multiple morphological deformation joints. The larger avian species are particularly adept at utilizing their wings’ flapping, folding, and twisting motions to control the wing angle and area. These motions mainly involve different types of spanwise folding and chordwise twisting. It is wondered whether the agile maneuverability of birds is based on the complex coupling of these wing morphing changes. To investigate this issue, we designed a two-section wing structure ornithopter capable of simultaneously controlling both spanwise folding and chordwise twisting and applied it to research on heading control. The experimental data collected from outdoor flights describe the differing flight capabilities between the conventional and two-section active twist wing states, indicating that incorporating an active twist structure enhances the agility and maneuverability of this novel flapping aircraft. In the experiments on yaw control, we observed some peculiar phenomena: although the twisting motion of the active twist ornithopter wings resembles that of a fixed-wing aileron control, due to the intricate coupling of the wing flapping and folding, the ornithopter, under the control of active twist structures, exhibited a yaw direction opposite to the expected direction (directly applying the logic assumed by the fixed-wing aileron control). Addressing this specific phenomenon, we provide a plausible model explanation. In summary, our study with active twist mechanisms on ornithopters corroborates the positive impact of active deformation on their attitude agility, which is beneficial for the design of similar bio-inspired aircraft in the future.
期刊介绍:
ACS Applied Bio Materials is an interdisciplinary journal publishing original research covering all aspects of biomaterials and biointerfaces including and beyond the traditional biosensing, biomedical and therapeutic applications.
The journal is devoted to reports of new and original experimental and theoretical research of an applied nature that integrates knowledge in the areas of materials, engineering, physics, bioscience, and chemistry into important bio applications. The journal is specifically interested in work that addresses the relationship between structure and function and assesses the stability and degradation of materials under relevant environmental and biological conditions.