The Flapping Wing Aircraft
(Ornithopter)
Introduction
In nature,
many types of living species flap their wings to fly. It may be considered one
of the most graceful and efficient kinds of locomotion. The normal fixed wing
aircraft simply cannot pit against them in terms of their excellent
maneuverability and short takeoff capabilities.
Current Progress
Our
research team has been investigating on flapping flight and we have built a
60cm wingspan flapping wing aircraft (ornithopter). With a pair of membrane
wings, it can fly theoretically for around 8 minutes by calculating its current
consumption.
A new type
of wing design known as the spring wing has also been invented. This new type
of wing is able to bend and change its wingspan during flight, similar to the
biomechanics of the bird¡¯s wing during flight. It is hoped that the spring wing
design will capitalize on the energy storage aspect of natural flapping flight,
thereby leading to a more efficient ornithopter.
The spring wing ornithopter and a close-up view of its wing
Flight
tests show that the spring wing EPO can also achieve sustained flight and has
similar payload compared to a normal ornithopter, at a lower flight speed.
Video Clips
1. Video of an early test
flight
2. Video of
ornithopter in flight
3. Slow motion video
of the spring wing
4. Video of the
spring wing ornithopter in flight
Please right-click
to save the mpg files to your local computer.
Future Directions
Our current research focuses on
writing our own simulation program to predict the lift and thrust for any type
of aircraft. This is because it is able to calculate the unsteady aerodynamic
forces generated by the wings moving in an arbitrary manner. It is based on the
vortex
lattice method and hence requires relatively low computational costs. The
figure below shows the wake due to a pair of flapping wing.
The wake due to a pair of flapping wing
Copyright © 2005 [NUS]. All rights reserved.
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