REPORT ON FLAPPING WINGS

MECHANISM
THEORY OF MACHINES (ME-315-L)

SUBMITTED TO:

Engr. Shahbaz Ahmed

SUBMITTED BY:

MALAIKA KHALIL

(19-MCT-9)

DANIYA SHAKEEL

(19-MCT-26)

DEPARTMENT OF MECHATRONICS ENGINEERING

 Table of Contents
Abstract ……………………………………………………………………………………………. 3
Acknowledgements ………………………………………………………………………………… 4

1. Introduction.................................................................................................................................4
1.1. Background information.....................................................................................................4
2. Literature Review........................................................................................................................5
2.1 Four-Bar Mechanism..........................................................................................................5
2.2 Wing Kinematics........................................................................................................................5
3. Components Description.............................................................................................................6
3.1 Components required....................................................................................................................6
Wood.............................................................................................................................................6
Nails..............................................................................................................................................6
4. Operations performed.............................................................................................................6
5. CAD Design..................................................................................................................................7
5.2 Dimensions.................................................................................................................................7
6. Hardware model......................................................................................................................8
7. Working........................................................................................................................................8
8. Conclusion....................................................................................................................................8

List of Figures
Figure 1. Flapping Wing Mechanism....................................................................................................4
Figure 2. Leonardo da Vinci Drawing of a flying machine (left) and a glider (right)............................4
Figure 3. 4-Bar Linkage Mechanism.....................................................................................................5
Figure 4. 4-Bar Flapping Wing Mechanism..........................................................................................5
Figure 5. Pine Wood..............................................................................................................................6
Figure 6. Flat Head Nails.......................................................................................................................6
Figure 7. Cutting Operation...................................................................................................................6
Figure 8. CAD Design of Mechanism...................................................................................................7
Figure 9. List of Parts of Mechanism.....................................................................................................7
Figure 10. Hardware Model of Flapping Wing Mechanism..................................................................8

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Abstract
This project aims at the development of a bio-mimetic mechanism for a Flapping Wing
Mechanism, without considering the aerodynamics of the wings in the design. This artificial
bird will be the size of approximately 30-40cm. The kinematics model of the flapping
mechanism movement was constructed. The flapping trajectory of the wing based on the
kinematics model was to mimic the motion of a pigeon wing in flight. To reduce the
manufacturing complexity, the flapping mechanism was simplified with only two degrees of
freedom (flapping) retained. This is followed by a review of natural flappers. The
aerodynamic and kinematic pattern of hummingbirds, bats and small birds are summarized.
Using a qualitative evaluation, the quality of concepts is determined according to different
criteria such as size, and accuracy. The best concept is used as a basis for a CAD design of
the mechanism. During the design process, the focus is set more on getting a simple
mechanism, which could resemble a flapper. Concluding, the mechanism is manufactured
and assembled to prove the feasibility.

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Acknowledgments
We would like to express our special gratitude to Engr. Shahbaz Ahmed who gave us the
golden opportunity to do this wonderful project on Flapping Wings Mechanism. Specially
during the 2D-CAD design, their experience was supportive. It also helped us in doing a lot
of research and we came to know about so many new things. We are really thankful to him.

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1. Introduction:
Flapping Wings Mechanism is a manned aircraft or an unmanned flying
machine in which the driving air foils have a flapping, reciprocating, or oscillating motion,
instead of the rotary motion used in airplanes and helicopters. Flapping wings mechanism
mimics the flapping motion of bird flight. The wings of these mechanism generally swing in
a planar path without control of the wing pitch angle. The mechanism must be lightweight
and fairly simple.
This project focused on the arrangement and material used for the flapping wings mechanism
that could achieves improved performance. The flapping wing mechanism made in this
project uses a four-bar linkage to control the wing pitch that is built on a planar four-bar
linkage that controls the swing movement. There is a rotating crank shaft, driven by a handle.
As the crank goes around, the connecting rods push the wings up and down.

Figure 1. Flapping Wing Mechanism

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 1.1.Background information:
Flapping wings mechanism have gained inspiration for long years
in natural flyers such as insects and birds. Flying insects and birds can fly differently such as,
hovering, perching, gliding and soaring by changing the pitch angle, feather orientation,
flying trajectory, direction of motion and wing area. 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. He, therefore, 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.

Figure 2. Leonardo da
Vinci Drawing of a flying machine (left) and a glider (right)

In the last two decades, with developing technology, many scientists stick to design and
generate of flapping wings. Flapping wing machines are usually used for indoor activities.

2. Literature Review:
Different mechanisms are used in designing of flapping wing vehicles.
Gears and different types of four bar mechanisms are widely used in flapping wings designs.

2.1 Four-Bar Mechanism:

The mechanisms comprise of moving parts which one of them can
convert or transform input forces and generate some functional motions to the other parts as
output forces and motions. The most widely used and simplest mechanism is a four-bar
mechanism which is a closed chain mechanism.

Figure 3. 4-Bar Linkage Mechanism

This type of mechanisms has four rotating joints and four links, one of them fixed and the
others are movable. The fixed link is called a frame which is immobilized with base revolute
joint. The other links are connected with rotating joint to each other and they have two
diversified movements. The crank makes full spin about fixed link; on the other hand, rocker

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swings between two limiting angles depending on the length of the links. There is no
connection between coupler link and fixed link.

Figure 4. 4-Bar Flapping Wing Mechanism

2.2 Wing Kinematics:

The wing is fixed from the wing root to the four bar mechanism with
an incident angle, therefore the wing can pure flap (only moving up and down) with no wing rotation
(fixed pitch angle & 1 DOF motion).

3. Components Description:
3.1 Components required:
To design Flapping Wings Mechanism, we used following components:

 Wood
 Nails
Wood:
We used softwood for making our project. Softwood has many types, for our project we
preferred pine wood as it was very easy to work with. It is very easy to carve and drill. Pine
usually has a light yellow colouring that can really brighten any surface. After it has been
sealed, pinewood is very easy to stain. However, many woodworkers simply seal the wood
and apply a clear finish.

Figure 5. Pine Wood

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Nails:
We used flat head nails for joining and for fastening wood structures in our project.
These are made from hardened nail wire with a bright polished finish, cold forged, with a
reinforced flat head with plain shank and diamond point.

Figure 6. Flat Head Nails

4. Operations performed:
Followings are the operation we performed while making mechanism;

 Cutting
 Filling
 Drilling

5. CAD Design: Figure 7. Cutting Operation

The winner concept is now converted into 2D-CAD design. The CAD design for
mechanism provides an easiness for manufacturing. For this purpose, Linkage software is
used. In place of wings, 4 links are used. Similarly, to represent crank a link is used. One of
the link is fixed to the background in order to prevent dislocation. The dimensions and the
size of mechanism is adjusted using the Auto Dimension command. To represent crank a link
is used. The resulting mechanism can be seen in Figure 8.

Figure 8. CAD Design of Mechanism

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5.1 List of Parts:
The parts used in the 2D CAD drawing for the flapping wings mechanism are;

 Wing 1
 Wing 2
 Wing 3
 Wing 4
 Crank Figure 9. List of Parts of Mechanism

5.2 Dimensions:
The following table summarizes the dimensions of the parts which are used in this
mechanism.

Names of Parts Dimension (cm)

Wing 1 8.00
Wing 2 26.0
Wing 3 21.5
Wing 4 32.0
Crank 4.00

6. Hardware model:
The hardware model of our project is shown in Figures 10.

Figure 10. Hardware Model of Flapping Wing Mechanism

7. Working:
The above Figure 10. shows the assembled prototype. Similarly, a dry run test was
done for the flapping mechanism. Everything was working normally. The mechanism was
also able to move in a desired motion. The mechanism of the flapping mechanism was able to

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convert the rotary motion into the reciprocating motion of flapping wings. Yet it also
provides a fairly symmetrical wing motion.
The basis for our mechanisms was based on four-bar linkage. There is a rotating crank shaft,
driven by a handle. As the crank goes around, the connecting rods push the wings up and
down mimicking the motion of natural flyers such as insects and birds. The crank attached to
wing 1 completes a full rotation causing to move wing 1 which causes the movement of wing
2 and 3 due to which, wing 4 completes a full rotation in random shape, forcing the
mechanism to produce same movements as bird’s wings flapping movement. The mechanism
parts are cut from hacksaw. The linkages are interconnected to each other by nails.

8. Conclusion:
In this project, a new FWM was designed from the conceptual design stage.
First, several design requirements were established. In keeping with these requirements, a
detailed design of the flapping mechanism was done. For the flapping mechanism, a four-bar
linkage was used, and it was expected to have a sufficient flapping stroke amplitude. The
control mechanism was then considered to generate the flight control moment for up and
down motions. This control motion was implemented via a combination of motions by joints.
Flapping wing mechanism is designed, fabricated and tested. In the first part of this study,
four-bar mechanism literature survey are done in order to understand their working
principles. A single-degree of freedom double rocker four-bar linkage system kinematic
analysis is introduced for the equation of motion of flapping wing. After kinematic analysis,
2D drawing of system is drawn by using Linkage program. A fabrication process and
experimental setup are also introduced.

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