Comparison of Power Requirements: Flapping vs. Fixed Wing Vehicles

Sachs, Gottfried

doi:10.3390/aerospace3040031

Cited by 16 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 19 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…low system complexity (43). All these design strategies lead to a drone with a ready-to-fly mass of 284 g with a flight time of 10 minutes.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Unlike the goshawk, which generates thrust by flapping its wings, we used a tractor propulsion system consisting of an electrical motor and a propeller. This design choice allowed us to focus the experimental characterization of our avian morphing strategy on the control of fewer degrees of freedom, while obtaining higher propulsive efficiency at comparatively lower system complexity (44,45).…”

Section: Avian-inspired Dronementioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Bioinspired wing and tail morphing extends drone flight capabilities

et al. 2020

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The aerodynamic designs of winged drones are optimized for specific flight regimes. Large lifting surfaces provide maneuverability and agility but result in larger power consumption, and thus lower range, when flying fast compared with small lifting surfaces. Birds like the northern goshawk meet these opposing aerodynamic requirements of aggressive flight in dense forests and fast cruising in the open terrain by adapting wing and tail areas. Here, we show that this morphing strategy and the synergy of the two morphing surfaces can notably improve the agility, maneuverability, stability, flight speed range, and required power of a drone in different flight regimes by means of an avian-inspired drone. We characterize the drone’s flight capabilities for different morphing configurations in wind tunnel tests, optimization studies, and outdoor flight tests. These results shed light on the avian use of wings and tails and offer an alternative design principle for drones with adaptive flight capabilities.

show abstract

“…low system complexity (43). All these design strategies lead to a drone with a ready-to-fly mass of 284 g with a flight time of 10 minutes.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Avian-inspired Dronementioning

confidence: 99%

Bioinspired wing and tail morphing extends drone flight capabilities

et al. 2020

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…In reality, due to the wing motion, this value should be gait dependent. However, the aforementioned assumption has been largely used in previous works 31 , 32 .…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

On the role of tail in stability and energetic cost of bird flapping flight

Ducci

Vitucci

Chatelain

et al. 2022

Sci Rep

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Migratory birds travel over impressively long distances. Consequently, they have to adopt flight regimes being both efficient—in order to spare their metabolic resources—and robust to perturbations. This paper investigates the relationship between both aspects, i.e., energetic performance and stability, in flapping flight of migratory birds. Relying on a poly-articulated wing morphing model and a tail-like surface, several families of steady flight regime have been identified and analysed. These families differ by their wing kinematics and tail opening. A systematic parametric search analysis has been carried out, in order to evaluate power consumption and cost of transport. A framework tailored for assessing limit cycles, namely Floquet theory, is used to numerically study flight stability. Our results show that under certain conditions, an inherent passive stability of steady and level flight can be achieved. In particular, we find that progressively opening the tail leads to passively stable flight regimes. Within these passively stable regimes, the tail can produce either upward or downward lift. However, these configurations entail an increase of cost of transport at high velocities penalizing fast forward flight regimes. Our model-based predictions suggest that long range flights require a furled tail configuration, as confirmed by field observations, and consequently need to rely on alternative mechanisms to stabilize the flight.

show abstract

“…The need for the study of a flapping-wing MAV is based on the argument that flapping-wing flight, at a small scale, is more efficient than a traditional fixed-wing and rotary flight (Rumi et al ., 2014). Flapping-wing vehicles show an advantage in power requirement in the case of the smaller-sized ones (Sachs, 2016). Its small size allows remote observation of hazardous environments, which would have been inaccessible to ground vehicles.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Aerodynamic and flight dynamic parametric studies of a flapping wing

Chetia

Rajaram

Sreejalekshmi

2022

IJIUS

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

PurposeFlapping-wing vehicles show various advantages as compared to fixed wing vehicles, making flapping-wing vehicles' study necessary in the current scenario. The present study aims to provide guidelines for fixing geometric parameters for an initial engineering design by a simple aerodynamic and flight dynamic parametric study.Design/methodology/approachA mathematical analysis was performed to understand the aerodynamics and flight dynamics of the micro-air vehicle (MAV). Only the forces due to the flapping wing were considered. The flapping motion was considered to be a combination of the pitching and plunging motion. The geometric parameters of the flapping wing were varied and the aerodynamic forces and power were observed. Attempts were then made to understand the flight stability envelope of the MAV in a forward horizontal motion in the vertical plane with similar parametric studies as those conducted in the case of aerodynamics.FindingsFrom the aerodynamic study, insights were obtained regarding the interaction of design parameters with the aerodynamics and feasible ranges of values for the parameters were identified. The flapping wing was found to have neutral static stability. The flight dynamic analysis revealed the presence of an unstable oscillatory mode, a stable fast subsidence mode and a neutral mode, in the forward flight of the MAV. The presence of unstable modes highlighted the need for active control to restore the MAV to equilibrium from its unstable state.Research limitations/implicationsThe study does not take into account the effects of control surfaces and tail on the aerodynamics and flight dynamics of the MAV. There is also a need to validate the results obtained in the study through experimental means which shall be taken up in the future.Practical implicationsThe parametric study helps us to understand the extent of the impact of the design parameters on the aerodynamics and stability of the MAV. The analysis of both aerodynamics and dynamic stability provides a holistic picture for the initial design. The study incorporates complex mathematical equations and simplifies such to understand the aerodynamics and flight stability of the MAV from an engineering perspective.Originality/valueThe study adds to already existing knowledge on the design procedures of a flapping wing.

show abstract

Comparison of Power Requirements: Flapping vs. Fixed Wing Vehicles

Cited by 16 publications

References 19 publications

Bioinspired wing and tail morphing extends drone flight capabilities

Bioinspired wing and tail morphing extends drone flight capabilities

On the role of tail in stability and energetic cost of bird flapping flight

Aerodynamic and flight dynamic parametric studies of a flapping wing

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About