U.S. Pat. No. 6,227,483 disclosed a wing movement for ornithopters including a plurality of pairs of wings mounted to the output shafts and each movable along a curved infinity-symbol-like pattern projecting substantially along one side of the drive motor.
However, this prior art has the following drawbacks:
The present inventor has found the drawbacks of the prior art and invented the present micro aerial vehicle with lighter and simpler construction.
The object of the present invention is to provide a micro aerial vehicle including: a fuselage; a flapping transmission mechanism mounted on a front portion of the fuselage; a flexible wing frame secured to and driven by the flapping transmission mechanism for producing a figure-eight flapping trajectory for mimicking the flight of a tiny natural flier, such as hummingbird; and a tail wing secured to a tail portion of the fuselage; wherein the flexible wing frame is formed by respectively pivotally or rotatably mounting a wing skin made of parylene foil to a pair of leading-edge arm members made of carbon fiber, and linked to the flapping transmission mechanism so as to produce a miniaturized micro aerial vehicle.
As shown in
The fuselage 1 may simply be a longitudinal beam or rod made of light material, such as carbon fiber, aluminum or titanium alloy, or a light plastic material, not limited in the present invention.
The flapping transmission mechanism (or flapping means) 2 may be formed as one degree-of-freedom (DOF) flapping movement, and is mounted on the front portion of the fuselage 1 and positioned under the flexible wing frame 3 for driving the flexible wing frame 3 for producing a figure-eight trajectory at a wing tip of the flexible wing frame 3 for rendering the thrust and lift of the micro aerial vehicle of the present invention.
As shown in
The flexible wing frame 3 includes: a pair of leading-edge arm members 31 respectively connected to and driven by the flapping transmission mechanism 2, a wing skin (composed of a right and a left wing portion) 32 pivotally secured to the pair of leading edge arm members 31 (especially as shown in
A front opening 34 is formed in a front portion of the central or root portion 33 of the flexible wing frame 3, allowing the up-and-down reciprocative movements of the flapping transmission mechanism 2 and preventing from “deadlocking” of the wing skin 32 when performing the figure-eight flapping operation.
The leading-edge arm member 31 may be made of carbon fiber or light-weight plastic or metallic materials, such as aluminum or titanium alloy.
The wing skin 32 may be made of parylene (or poly-para-xylylene) foil or other flexible thin films.
Upon reciprocative movement of the four-bar linkage flapping transmission mechanism 2 of the present invention, the pair of leading-edge arm members 31 of the wing frame 3 will be vertically reciprocatively flapped in repeated up-and-down motions for flapping the wing skin 32 as pivotally secured to the leading-edge arm members 31.
Accordingly, the micro aerial vehicle of the present invention will perform the flapping movements as following analysis:
The wingbeat frequency may range, for instance, from 15.6 to 21.7 Hz, which is smaller than the natural frequency (e.g., 85 Hz) of the wing structure of the present invention, to thereby prevent the occurrence of resonance of the wing frame and prevent damage of the wing frame of this invention.
The wing skin of the present invention is preferably formed as wavy shape as shown in
A nose cone 10 may be further formed on a front end portion of the fuselage 1 to reduce wind resistance during the flying of the present invention (
The tail wing 4 may also be modified as shown in
The present invention provides a micro aerial vehicle capable for exerting figure-eight (“8”) flapping pattern for fantastically mimicking a natural hummingbird. The 8-shaped flapping pattern of the present invention is reciprocatively oriented vertically, rather than a horizontal figure-eight pattern, to thereby enhance both lift and thrust synergetically.
Even the excellent flying performance of the present invention may be presented, the weight and size of the vehicle has, however, been greatly minimized as palm size even as low (light) as 5.9 grams for a wingspan of 21.6 cm. Therefore, a miniaturization of a micro aerial vehicle may be accomplished, without deteriorating its flying performance, in accordance with the present invention.
The present invention may be further modified without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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97101553 A | Jan 2008 | TW | national |
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5170965 | Yasuda | Dec 1992 | A |
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Number | Date | Country | |
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20090179108 A1 | Jul 2009 | US |