US 2015/0307191 A1 · FLAPPING WING AERIAL VEHICLES

Abstract

An autonomous flapping wing aerial vehicle can have a vehicle body, a pair of flapping wings, tunable wing hinges, and elastic drive mechanisms. The tunable wing hinges can be coupled to the flapping wings. Each wing hinge can be constructed to deliver a force to a respective one of the flapping wings to alter end points of a stroke thereof. The elastic drive mechanisms can rotate the flapping wings about pivot points to produce the strokes of the flapping wings. The elastic drive mechanism can be driven at or near a resonance thereof. Alterations to the strokes of the flapping wings produced by the combined effect of the tunable wing hinges and the elastic drive mechanisms, operating in parallel, can provide steering control of the aerial vehicle.

Claims28

Dependent claims

A flapping wing aerial vehicle comprising:

a vehicle body;
a pair of flapping wings;
tunable wing hinges coupled to the flapping wings, each wing hinge being constructed to deliver a force to a respective one of the flapping wings to alter end points of a stroke thereof;
and
elastic drive mechanisms that rotate the flapping wings about pivot points to produce the strokes of the flapping wings.

2 more elements

A wing-flapping device for an aerial vehicle, the wing-flapping device comprising:

(a) a pair of wing support members, each wing support member supporting a root portion of a flapping wing and being capable of rotation about a flap axis;
(b) a lift-generating mechanism comprising:
(b1) a drive mechanism that produces reciprocating motion;
and
(b2) a pair of flexures, each flexure being coupled to the drive mechanism and to the respective wing support member such that the reciprocating motion produces a corresponding rotation of the wing support member about the flap axis;
and
(c) a steering mechanism comprising:
(c1) one or more actuator magnets, each actuator magnet being coupled to one of the wing support members;
(c2) a pair of actuator coils, each actuator coil being configured to provide a magnetic force to the one or more actuator magnets to alter the rotation of the respective wing support member about the flap axis;
and
(c3) a pair of bearings, each bearing supporting a respective one of the actuator coils and the respective wing support member, each bearing having a first rotational axis perpendicular to a second rotational axis of the respective wing support member about the flap axis.

8 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Flapping wing aerial vehicles

Life of this patent

Flapping wing aerial vehicles

Life of this patent

Abstract

Claims28