An Insect-Like Flapping-Wing Device Actuated by a Compressed Unimorph Piezoelectric Composite Actuator

In this work, we have introduced an insect-inspired flapper mimicking typical general characteristics of flying insects such as wing corrugation and wing clap-fling as well as wing rotation. The flapper was actuated by a unimorph piezoelectric composite actuator and a compressed one, respectively, for force generation comparison. Flapping tests were conducted both in the air and in a vacuum chamber to measure total vertical force and vertical inertia force, and then the vertical aerodynamic force was calculated by subtracting the vertical inertia force from the total vertical force. Further, the wing kinematics of the flapper was figured out by examining high-speed camera images taken from front and top views at the same time. The experimental results confirmed that the flapper could optimally operate at flapping frequency of 9 Hz and applied voltage of 300 voltage peak-to-peak (Vpp). In addition, the results also showed that we could increase the flapping angle 22 % and improve the average of vertical aerodynamic force 19 % by using the compressed piezoelectric composite actuator.

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