Smart Flapping Wings with a PVDF Sensor to Modify Aerodynamic Performance of a Micro UAV

This paper describes a new configuration of flapping wings to study the aerodynamic behavior of a microUAV (unmanned aerial vehicle). The flapping wings are composed of a pure parylene right wing and a PVDF-parylene composite left wing on purpose. The PVDF (polyvinylidene fluoride) sensor could only export the lift signals from the left wing. In comparison to the total lift signal picked by the load cell from the wind-tunnel facility, we can figure out and separate the lift contributions donated by left wing and right wing, respectively. Therefore, we found a new design methodology to adjust the aerodynamic performance of microUAVs by changing the phase lag between the two flapping wings through fine tuning the mechanism linkages.