Flapping Mechanism Design and Aerodynamic Analysis for the Flapping Wing Micro Air Vehicle

This paper introduces a biological flapping micro air vehicle (FMAV) with four wings, instead of two wings, where wing clap-and-fling of real insects has been mimicked. The total weight is 2.236g. A spatial linkage is implemented in the flapping wing system, which is symmetry. This can prevent the flapping wing MAV from tilting toward the left or the right in the course of flight. By using the computational fluid dynamics (CFD), it has been confirmed that the flapping wing system can utilize the clap-and-fling mechanism, which is essential to enhance the lift and thrust in the insect flight.