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Modeling and Analysis of a Simple Flexible Wing—Thorax System in Flapping-Wing Insects

Small-scale flapping-wing micro air vehicles (FWMAVs) are an emerging robotic technology with many applications in areas including infrastructure monitoring and remote sensing. However, challenges such as inefficient energetics and decreased payload capacity preclude the useful implementation of FWM...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Cote, Braden, Weston, Samuel, Jankauski, Mark
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2022
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9680408/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/36412735
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/biomimetics7040207
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author Cote, Braden
Weston, Samuel
Jankauski, Mark
author_facet Cote, Braden
Weston, Samuel
Jankauski, Mark
author_sort Cote, Braden
collection PubMed
description Small-scale flapping-wing micro air vehicles (FWMAVs) are an emerging robotic technology with many applications in areas including infrastructure monitoring and remote sensing. However, challenges such as inefficient energetics and decreased payload capacity preclude the useful implementation of FWMAVs. Insects serve as inspiration to FWMAV design owing to their energy efficiency, maneuverability, and capacity to hover. Still, the biomechanics of insects remain challenging to model, thereby limiting the translational design insights we can gather from their flight. In particular, it is not well-understood how wing flexibility impacts the energy requirements of flapping flight. In this work, we developed a simple model of an insect drive train consisting of a compliant thorax coupled to a flexible wing flapping with single-degree-of-freedom rotation in a fluid environment. We applied this model to quantify the energy required to actuate a flapping wing system with parameters based off a hawkmoth Manduca sexta. Despite its simplifications, the model predicts thorax displacement, wingtip deflection and peak aerodynamic force in proximity to what has been measured experimentally in flying moths. We found a flapping system with flexible wings requires 20% less energy than a flapping system with rigid wings while maintaining similar aerodynamic performance. Passive wing deformation increases the effective angle of rotation of the flexible wing, thereby reducing the maximum rotation angle at the base of the wing. We investigated the sensitivity of these results to parameter deviations and found that the energetic savings conferred by the flexible wing are robust over a wide range of parameters.
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spelling pubmed-96804082022-11-23 Modeling and Analysis of a Simple Flexible Wing—Thorax System in Flapping-Wing Insects Cote, Braden Weston, Samuel Jankauski, Mark Biomimetics (Basel) Article Small-scale flapping-wing micro air vehicles (FWMAVs) are an emerging robotic technology with many applications in areas including infrastructure monitoring and remote sensing. However, challenges such as inefficient energetics and decreased payload capacity preclude the useful implementation of FWMAVs. Insects serve as inspiration to FWMAV design owing to their energy efficiency, maneuverability, and capacity to hover. Still, the biomechanics of insects remain challenging to model, thereby limiting the translational design insights we can gather from their flight. In particular, it is not well-understood how wing flexibility impacts the energy requirements of flapping flight. In this work, we developed a simple model of an insect drive train consisting of a compliant thorax coupled to a flexible wing flapping with single-degree-of-freedom rotation in a fluid environment. We applied this model to quantify the energy required to actuate a flapping wing system with parameters based off a hawkmoth Manduca sexta. Despite its simplifications, the model predicts thorax displacement, wingtip deflection and peak aerodynamic force in proximity to what has been measured experimentally in flying moths. We found a flapping system with flexible wings requires 20% less energy than a flapping system with rigid wings while maintaining similar aerodynamic performance. Passive wing deformation increases the effective angle of rotation of the flexible wing, thereby reducing the maximum rotation angle at the base of the wing. We investigated the sensitivity of these results to parameter deviations and found that the energetic savings conferred by the flexible wing are robust over a wide range of parameters. MDPI 2022-11-21 /pmc/articles/PMC9680408/ /pubmed/36412735 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/biomimetics7040207 Text en © 2022 by the authors. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Article
Cote, Braden
Weston, Samuel
Jankauski, Mark
Modeling and Analysis of a Simple Flexible Wing—Thorax System in Flapping-Wing Insects
title Modeling and Analysis of a Simple Flexible Wing—Thorax System in Flapping-Wing Insects
title_full Modeling and Analysis of a Simple Flexible Wing—Thorax System in Flapping-Wing Insects
title_fullStr Modeling and Analysis of a Simple Flexible Wing—Thorax System in Flapping-Wing Insects
title_full_unstemmed Modeling and Analysis of a Simple Flexible Wing—Thorax System in Flapping-Wing Insects
title_short Modeling and Analysis of a Simple Flexible Wing—Thorax System in Flapping-Wing Insects
title_sort modeling and analysis of a simple flexible wing—thorax system in flapping-wing insects
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9680408/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/36412735
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/biomimetics7040207
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