COMPLIANT MULTIFUNCTIONAL WING STRUCTURES FOR HARVESTING SOLAR ENERGY

摘要

Over the last several years, there has been an increasing interest in Miniature Air Vehicles, (MAVs). Due to their limitation in weight [1], MAVs rely on advanced lightweight structures and components to achieve flight. This requires the MAV to be powered by a small but efficient battery. A consistent problem that arises among different MAVs is the limitation to flight duration. Thus, new technologies for enabling energy to be harvested for long-term/distance missions are required. While technologies like flexible solar cells and piezofilms [2] exist to "harvest energy" during missions, they are difficult to integrate using their existing packaging because the added weight and stiffness decrease the load bearing capabilities and increase energy requirements. To overcome these limitations, integration of energy harvesting elements (such as solar cells) into the critical structural components (such as wings) must be studied. This integration can be accomplished using transfer processes where the choice of substrate plays a more dominant role in the compliance of the structure. Compliant design issues can then focus on the thickness of the substrate, the elastic properties, the density, and the geometry and distribution of the energy harvesting element. The key to realizing a complete understanding of compliant design for these new "multifunctional structures" is a multi-stage multi-material molding process we have developed that enables us to completely integrate electronic components with polymer and polymer composite structural members. Thus, we are investigating experimental and computational multifunctional principles for guiding the design of compliant wing structures with integrated solar cells.