Design and analysis of the link mechanism for the flapping wing MAV using flexible multi-body dynamic analysis

Abstract

Recently, there has been an increase in the research on flapping wing vehicles which mimic biological motions. One result has been the flapping wing micro-aerial vehicle. In this paper, the design requirements for flapping wing micro-aerial vehicles were established through an analysis with the unsteady blade element theory. Then, based on the flapping wing micro-aerial vehicle design requirements, a flapping wing mechanism using a pair of six-bar linkage was devised. Moreover, several candidates for the present mechanism were analyzed using a flexible multi-body dynamic analysis to ensure the structural appropriateness of the mechanism. By completing such procedures, the performance of the present mechanism could be evaluated. A detailed design was then conducted. The structural analysis of the present mechanism was conducted regarding its flapping operation in a vacuum. The resulting von Mises stresses in the linkage were targeted to be smaller than the yield stresses of the chosen material. Next, additional details of the design and an experiment on the present flapping wing micro-aerial vehicle were conducted to validate its performance.