Insights on the potential of vibratory actuation mechanism for enhanced performance of flapping-wing drones

This paper investigates the impacts that vibratory-based actuation mechanisms can have on power consumption for a flapping-wing micro air vehicle. The flapping-wing is characterized by a lumped-parameter single degree of freedom system. Equations of motion are developed which are solved to obtain the flapping angle and lift response of the flapping-wing system. Linear and nonlinear vibratory actuation mechanisms are considered to determine their effects on the power consumption of the flapping-wing drone. Actuation mechanism parameters are varied to enhance and optimize the system’s performance. The results show that the resonance phenomenon can be utilized to minimize the power consumption depending on the system’s parameters. Linear damping is found to be a very critical parameter that is necessary to minimize when designing the system. It is demonstrated that higher transmission ratios are effective at reducing the necessary forcing input, which reduces the input power needed for hovering flight. The results also indicate that the nonlinear softening behavior can be beneficial in further reducing the required power by reducing the necessary input force and excitation frequency. An optimal configuration of actuation mechanism parameters is presented.