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US 11,467,058 B2Granted
Sensing and control of flows over membrane wings
AssigneeBrown University
InventorsJillian R. Bohnker, Kenneth S. Breuer
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Abstract
A method includes simultaneously controlling and sensing aerodynamic loading of a membrane wing using a capacitance of the membrane, the membrane wing stretching under aerodynamic load, leading to thinning of a membrane thickness and increased capacitance, and using knowledge of the membrane's elastic and dielectric material properties to determine an amount of steady aerodynamic lift being generated.
Claims11
A method comprising:
- providing an extensible membrane wing;
- performing integrated camber sensing, a camber measured via capacitance of a dielectric elastomer membrane that is sandwiched between two compliant electrodes,
- wherein a relationship between capacitance and camber is defined;
- and estimating a load on the extensible membrane wing using the camber.
1 more element
A method comprising:
- simultaneously controlling and sensing aerodynamic loading of a membrane wing using a capacitance of the membrane, the membrane wing stretching under aerodynamic load, leading to thinning of a membrane thickness and increased capacitance;
- and
- using knowledge of the membrane's elastic and dielectric material properties to determine an amount of steady aerodynamic lift being generated and time-dependent properties.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.