Clapping wing air vehicles are inspired by the Weis-Fogh clap and fling mechanism used by certain insects, where opposing wings almost touch during part of the flap cycle, spawning vortex structures that increase thrust. Current vehicles cannot be scaled to Nano Air Vehicle (NAV) dimensions because they use electromagnetic motors, gears, and linkages that are difficult to fabricate and have poor efficiency at the sub-millimeter scale. This paper develops a novel NAV that uses piezoelectric T-beam actuators that are monolithically fabricated and exhibit unimorph behavior. A hinge and lever wing mechanism amplifies the small actuator displacements to produce large wing motions. A four wing, clapping NAV is designed, fabricated, and experimentally shown to provide a wing stroke angle of approximately 35° at 1 Hz.
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ASME 2009 Conference on Smart Materials, Adaptive Structures and Intelligent Systems
September 21–23, 2009
Oxnard, California, USA
Conference Sponsors:
- Aerospace Division
ISBN:
978-0-7918-4897-5
PROCEEDINGS PAPER
Clapping Wing Nano Air Vehicle Using Piezoelectric T-Beam Actuators
Kiron Mateti,
Kiron Mateti
The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA
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Hareesh K. R. Kommepalli,
Hareesh K. R. Kommepalli
The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA
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Srinivas A. Tadigadapa,
Srinivas A. Tadigadapa
The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA
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Christopher D. Rahn
Christopher D. Rahn
The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA
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Kiron Mateti
The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA
Hareesh K. R. Kommepalli
The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA
Srinivas A. Tadigadapa
The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA
Christopher D. Rahn
The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA
Paper No:
SMASIS2009-1317, pp. 631-637; 7 pages
Published Online:
February 16, 2010
Citation
Mateti, K, Kommepalli, HKR, Tadigadapa, SA, & Rahn, CD. "Clapping Wing Nano Air Vehicle Using Piezoelectric T-Beam Actuators." Proceedings of the ASME 2009 Conference on Smart Materials, Adaptive Structures and Intelligent Systems. Volume 2: Multifunctional Materials; Enabling Technologies and Integrated System Design; Structural Health Monitoring/NDE; Bio-Inspired Smart Materials and Structures. Oxnard, California, USA. September 21–23, 2009. pp. 631-637. ASME. https://doi.org/10.1115/SMASIS2009-1317
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