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Vishwakarma Institute of Technology: Flying Wing Mechanism
Vishwakarma Institute of Technology: Flying Wing Mechanism
Mini Project
On
Prof. G. N. Kotwal
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VISHWAKARMA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY
PUNE-411 037
CERTIFICATE
This is to certify that the Mini Project titled Flying Wing Mechanism has been completed in the
academic year 2013 2014, by Harshal Patil (Gr. No. 111675), Pooja Patil (Gr. No. 111229), Vijay
Patil (Gr. No. 111355) and Priyanka Salve (Gr. No. 111291) in partial fulfillment of Bachelors Degree
in Mechanical Engineering as prescribed by University of Pune.
________________
Examiner
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
Words are inadequate and out of place at times particularly in the context of
expressing sincere feelings in the contribution of this work, is no more than a mere
ritual. It is our privilege to acknowledge with respect & gratitude, the keen valuable
and ever-available guidance rendered to us by Prof. G. N. Kotwal without the wise
counsel and able guidance, it would have been impossible to complete the mini
project in this manner.
Finally, we are indebted to our family and friends and for their ever available
help in accomplishing this task successfully. We will be forever grateful to our friend
Mayuresh Marhadkar for his precious advice and for letting us do our project in The
Robocon Arena.
Above all we are thankful to the almighty god for giving strength to carry out
the present work.
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ABSTRACT
It is no surprise that humanitys first attempts at flight were in the form of birdlike,
human-powered ornithopters. The great artist and engineer Leonardo da Vinci is
often credited as the first to propose a reasonable flying machine in 1490: a giant
bat-shaped craft that uses both the pilots arms and legs to power the wings. Though
the aircraft was never built, and we now know that it would not have flown, it was a
remarkable achievement considering the knowledge of the day. At the turn of the
20th century, focus shifted both in the method of thrust production, from flapping
wings to the propeller, and the method of power generation, from the human body to
the internal combustion engine. With the aerodynamic problem greatly simplified, the
impossibility of human flight was disproved by the Wright brothers flight in 1903 and
the stage was set for the boom of aircraft developments in the decades to come.
Though work on human-powered aircraft was still carried on from time to time by
several groups in various countries, it would be three-quarters of a century before
anyone mastered the art of human-powered flight.
The problem of flapping-wing flight has been tackled by countless engineers and
craftsmen, but until recently only moderate success had been achieved. The
Subsonic Aerodynamics laboratory under Professor James de Laurier at the
University of Toronto has been a prolific contemporary contributor to the body of
knowledge concerning flapping-wing flight, with successes in remote-controlled
ornithopters, flapping-wing micro air vehicles, and even a full-scale human-piloted
engine powered ornithopter. In 1991 the Professor De Laurier and UTIAS were
awarded the Diplme dHonneur by the FAI for having flown the worlds first
engine-powered remotely-piloted ornithopter. Theoretical and experimental research
intensified in subsequent years, culminating in the successful flight of a full-scale
piloted ornithopter on July 8th, 2006. A patented wing-twisting mechanism and
extensive research in aero elastic tailoring has kept the University of Toronto at the
forefront of ornithopter innovation for the last 20 years.
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Contents
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT ............................................................................................................................. 3
ABSTRACT................................................................................................................................................ 4
INTRODUCTION ....................................................................................................................................... 6
Flying on Flapping Wings .................................................................................................................... 6
Wing Design ........................................................................................................................................ 6
LITERATURE REVIEW ............................................................................................................................... 7
Manned flight...................................................................................................................................... 9
Projects Worldwide........................................................................................................................... 10
DelFly............................................................................................................................................. 10
Robotic Insect................................................................................................................................ 11
Flapping Wings at ETH .................................................................................................................. 12
Aerodynamics of Flapping Wings .......................................................................................................... 13
Lift ..................................................................................................................................................... 13
PRESENT WORK..................................................................................................................................... 14
ABOUT OUR PROJECT........................................................................................................................ 14
DIMENSIONS ..................................................................................................................................... 14
Components used ............................................................................................................................. 15
Advantages............................................................................................................................................ 16
APPLICATION ......................................................................................................................................... 17
Applications for unmanned ornithopters ......................................................................................... 17
Ornithopters as a hobby ................................................................................................................... 19
Conclusion ............................................................................................................................................. 21
REFERENCES .......................................................................................................................................... 22
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INTRODUCTION
Flying on Flapping Wings
What is ornithopter?
An ornithopter (from Greek ornithos "bird" and pteron "wing") is an aircraft that flies
by flapping its wings. Designers seek to imitate the flapping-wing flight of birds, bats,
and insects. Though machines may differ in form, they are usually built on the
same scale as these flying creatures. Manned ornithopters have also been built, and
some have been successful. The machines are of two general types: those with
engines and those powered by the muscles of the pilot.
The research on Micro Aerial Vehicles (MAV) is comparably young, which has
emerged over the past few years. The ongoing miniaturization of electric
components such as electric motors and the improvements in microelectronics made
it possible to build miniature planes and helicopters at relatively low costs. This
development also made it possible to start imitating insect and bird flight, which
needs a sophisticated miniaturized actuation chain for their flapping wing motion.
The goal of this research is to come up with small aerial vehicles that can operate
independently from ground stations, performing certain operations such as
surveillance or measurement, especially in environments that are hardly accessible
or even dangerous for people.
Wing Design
Ornithopters flapping wings and their motion through the air are designed to
maximize the amount of lift generated within limits of weight, material strength, and
mechanical complexity. A flexible wing material can increase efficiency while keeping
the driving mechanism simple. In wing designs with the spar sufficiently forward of
the airfoil that the aerodynamic center is aft of the elastic axis of the wing, aero
elastic deformation causes the wing to move in a manner close to its ideal efficiency
(in which pitching angles lag plunging displacements by approximately 90
degrees). Flapping wings increase drag and are not as efficient as propeller-powered
aircraft. Some designs achieve increased efficiency by applying more power on the
down stroke than on the upstroke.
In order to achieve the desired flexibility and minimum weight, engineers and
researchers have experimented with wings that require carbon fiber, plywood, fabric
and ribs with a stiff strong trailing edge. Any mass located to the aft of the
empennage reduces the wing's performance, so lightweight materials and empty
spaces are used where possible. In order to minimize drag and maintain the desired
shape, choice of a material for the wing surface is also important. In De Laurier's
experiments, a smooth aerodynamic surface with a double-surface airfoil is more
efficient at producing lift than a single-surface airfoil.
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LITERATURE REVIEW
Some early manned flight attempts may have been intended to achieve flapping-
wing flight though probably only a glide was actually achieved. These include the
flights of the 11th-century monk Eilmer of Malmesbury (recorded in the 12th century)
and the 9th-century poet Abbas Ibn Firnas (recorded in the 17th century). Roger
Bacon, writing in 1260, was also among the first to consider a technological means
of flight. In 1485, Leonardo da Vinci began to study the flight of birds. He grasped
that humans are too heavy, and not strong enough, to fly using wings simply
attached to the arms. Therefore he sketched a device in which the aviator lies down
on a plank and works two large, membranous wings using hand levers, foot pedals,
and a system of pulleys.
The first ornithopters capable of flight were constructed in France. Jobert in 1871
used a rubber band to power a small model bird. Alphonse Pnaud, Abel Hureau de
Villeneuve, and Victor Tatin, also made rubber-powered ornithopters during the
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1870s. Tatin's ornithopter (now in the US Air & Space Museum) was perhaps the first
to use active torsion of the wings, and apparently it served as the basis for a
commercial toy offered by Pichancourt c. 1889. Gustave Trouv was the first to use
internal combustion and his 1890 model flew a distance of 70 meters in a
demonstration for the French Academy of Sciences. The wings were flapped
by gunpowder charges activating a bourdon tube.
From 1884 on, Lawrence Hargrave built scores of ornithopters powered by rubber
bands, springs, steam, or compressed air. He introduced the use of small flapping
wings providing the thrust for a larger fixed wing. This eliminated the need for gear
reduction, thereby simplifying the construction.
E.P. Frost made ornithopters starting in the 1870s; first models power by steam
engines then in the 1900s an internal combustion one large enough for a person but
which did not fly.
In the 1930s, Alexander Lippisch and the NSFK in Germany constructed and
successfully flew a series of internal combustion powered ornithopters, using
Hargrave's concept of small flapping wings, but with aerodynamic improvements
resulting from methodical study.
Erich von Holst also working in the 1930s achieved great efficiency and realism in
his work with ornithopters powered by rubber band. This includes perhaps the first
success of an ornithopter with a bending wing, intended to more closely imitate the
folding wing action of birds although it was not a true variable span wing like birds
have.
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by a 0.35-cubic-inch (5.7 cm3) displacement 2-stroke engine. It has a biplane
configuration, to reduce oscillation of the fuselage.
Manned flight
Manned ornithopters fall into two general categories: Those powered by the
muscular effort of the pilot (human-powered ornithopters), and those powered by an
engine.
Around 1894, Otto Lilienthal, an aviation pioneer, became famous in Germany for his
widely publicized and successful glider flights. Lilienthal also studied bird flight and
conducted some related experiments. He constructed an ornithopter, although its
complete development was prevented by his untimely death on the 9th of August
1896 in a glider accident.
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3 hp (2.2 kW) Sachs motorcycle engine. With the engine, it made flights up to 15
minutes in duration. Schmid later constructed a 10 hp (7.5 kW) ornithopter based on
the Grunau-Baby IIa sailplane, which was flown in 1947. The second aircraft had
flapping outer wing panels.
In 2005, Yves Rousseau was given the Paul Tissandier Diploma, awarded by
the FAI for contributions to the field of aviation. Rousseau attempted his first human-
muscle-powered flight with flapping wings in 1995. On 20 April 2006, at his 212th
attempt, he succeeded in flying a distance of 64 meters, observed by officials of the
Aero Club de France. Unfortunately, on his 213th flight attempt, a gust of wind led to
a wing breaking up, causing the pilot to be gravely injured and rendered paraplegic.
Projects Worldwide
With the ongoing miniaturization in robotics during the past years it became possible
to remarkably downsize aerial vehicles. Recently, several research groups have
been trying to build aerial vehicles that are based on the principle of flapping the
wings such as insects do. Two of these projects are the DelFly and from TU Delft
and the Robotic Insect from Harvard University.
DelFly
DelFly is a MAV developed at TU Delft in the Netherlands. It has four wings, which
are actuated by one electric motor. The wings are arranged in pairs, 3State of the Art
4 with the right upper wing connected to the left lower wing and vice versa. Via a
small gear train the wing pairs are connected to the electric motor so that the upper
and the lower wing approach towards each other. In forward flight, the course can be
controlled with rudders installed at the tail of the vehicle. DelFly also carries a
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camera onboard that sends images to a ground computer from where the vehicle is
controlled.
Figure 1: DelFly.
Robotic Insect
Another interesting project is the so called Robotic Insect, being developed at the
Harvard Micro robotics Laboratory. The underlying concept is the applying motion of
small insects such as flies. For the actuation of the wings of this very small scale
MAV a piezoelectric cantilever is used, inducing an oscillation of the wings at their
resonance frequency, in order to produce high amplitude. The joints are integrated in
the structure as exible parts. The power supply however is not included in this
vehicle, which means that despite of already producing remarkably high lift it is not
yet able to actually y.
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Flapping Wings at ETH
The ASL at ETH also aims to develop a MAV of bird size that is based on the
aerodynamic principles used in insect flight and by small birds. Unlike other
developments in this area, the intended MAV at ETH shall be able to hover like
insects or Humming birds, and so it is supposed to become an interesting alternative
to Flapping Wings at ETH helicopters as currently being developed at ASL.
Furthermore, such an aerial vehicle should be large enough to carry some payload
such as a camera, but still small enough to have high agility. Hovering is closely
connected to unsteady aerodynamic effects at small Reynolds numbers used in
nature by insects and small birds. With a wingspan of 280mm and a weight of about
20g the Giant Hummingbird is one of the largest species in nature that can hover,
and therefore had been selected as natural ante type [2]. The goal, however, is not
to copy nature but to adopt the basic principles.
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Aerodynamics of Flapping Wings
When flapping the wings, the airflow is highly turbulent and producing more lift
compared to wing flight. These are a consequence of the permanently changing
wing position during flapping, and are connected to the Reynolds number. In this
section the most important aerodynamic are described, however only as a short
introduction because this has already been subject to previous work by S. Gisler and
O. Breitenstein, where fairly detailed explanations can be found.
Lift
The lift that is produced by applying the wings is characterized by highly un-
stationary aerodynamic effects which make it difficult to predict the resulting lift force
for a given wing. In order to get a rough idea about what could be expected as lift,
and therefore have a boundary for the total weight of the MAV, some simplifications
are necessary, which allow applying the 2-dimensional airfoil theory with the formula
for lift (L)
L = (CL..v2.A)/2
,
where is the lift force, is fluid density, is true airspeed, is platform area
and is the fluid dynamic pressure.
Applying equation for the Flapping wings requires the following assumptions:
1. Non stationary lifts that occur only when the wings are flapping are neglected,
with the result that the resulting lift will likely be higher in reality.
2. The lift coefficient CL is independent of time and location on the wing.
3. Induced inflow is disregarded.
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PRESENT WORK
In our model there is one crank and connecting rods. Wings are attached to
connecting rods and the wings are hinged to two different slots. When we rotate the
crank, the second connecting rod oscillates. The oscillatory motion of connecting rod
leads to flapping of wings. Quick Return Mechanism is used here. The wings travel
faster during the downward stroke as compared to the upward stroke. This gives
more power during the downward stroke and hence gives lift.
DIMENSIONS
Crank radius= 4.5 cm
Length of Wings= 30 cm
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Components used
Aluminum Linkages
Nut and bolts.
Lock nuts.
Vinyl Sheet (Wings)
Wooden Plank (Base)
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Advantages
Unlike airplanes and helicopters, the driving airfoils of the ornithopter have a flapping
or oscillating motion, instead of rotary. As with helicopters, the wings usually have a
combined function of providing both lift and thrust. Theoretically, the flapping wing
can be set to zero angle of attack on the upstroke, so it passes easily through the air.
Since typically the flapping airfoils produce both lift and thrust, drag-inducing
structures are minimized. These two advantages potentially allow a high degree of
efficiency.
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APPLICATION
Because ornithopters can be made to resemble birds or insects, they could be
used for military applications, such as aerial reconnaissance without alerting the
enemies that they are under surveillance. Several ornithopters have been flown with
video cameras on board, some of which can hover and maneuver in small spaces. In
2011, AeroVironment, Inc. announced a remotely piloted ornithopter resembling a
large hummingbird for possible spy missions.
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AeroVironment, Inc., then led by Paul B. MacCready (Gossamer Albatross)
developed in the mid-1980s, for the Smithsonian Institution, a half-scale radio
controlled replica of the giant pterosaur, Quetzalcoatlus northropi. It was built to star
in the IMAX movie On the Wing. The model had a wingspan of 5.5 meters (18 feet)
and featured a complex, computerized autopilot control system, just as the full-size
pterosaur relied on its neuromuscular system to make constant adjustments in flight.
Since 2002, Prof. Theo van Holten has been working on an ornithopter which
is constructed like a helicopter. The device is called the ornicopter and was made by
constructing the main rotor so that it would have no reaction torque at all.
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Ornithopters as a hobby
Hobbyists can build and fly their own ornithopters. These range from light-
weight models powered by rubber band, to larger models with radio control.
Some helpful resources for hobbyists include The Ornithopter Design Manual,
book written by Nathan Chronister, and The Ornithopter Zone web site, which
includes a large amount of information about building and flying these models. To
see video examples of a remote control Ornithopter visits the Birds You Fly website.
Ornithopters are also of interest as the subject of one of the events in the
nationwide Science Olympiad event list. The event ("Flying Bird") entails building a
self-propelled ornithopter to exacting specifications, with points awarded for high
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flight time and low weight. Bonus points are also awarded if the ornithopter happens
to look like a real bird.
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Conclusion
Sooner or later, maybe - in the nearest future, manned motor ornithopters will cease
to be "exotic", imaginary, unreal aircraft and start to service for humans as a junior
member of aircraft family. Necessary high aviation technology already exists.
Designers and engineers will be forced to solve not only, for example, wing design
problem, but all problems peculiar to any safe and reliable aircraft of any type. Parts
of them, such as stability, controllability, durability etc. are inherent to all aircraft with
no exemption. The second part - specific ornithopter new problems, unknown
before, which will appear at the first time; flapping wing design problem is only one of
them.
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REFERENCES
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