An Inventory of Structural Changes to Modify the Dynamic Response of Lightweight Compliant FWMAV Designs

摘要

Active flight control is of paramount importance for the practical use of lightweight Flapping Wing Micro Air Vehicle (FWMAV) designs. Some FWMAV designs use compliant structures to decrease friction, wear and mechanical complexity. Active local structural property changes (e.g., structural stiffness changes) can be used to temporarily modify the dynamic response of these dynamic, compliant structures. However, which method can induce these change in the most energy effective way? This paper presents an overview of different methods to induce structural property changes and compares these methods based on qualitative criteria like robustness, scalability, and system integration. This comparison results in four promising candidates based on smart fluids, piezoelectric polymers, active clamping of stacked layers, and electrostatic fields. Future work requires a more extensive, qualitative comparison of these four methods to determine the most effective method to induce structural property changes to control lightweight compliant FWMAV designs.