• Journal of the Korean Society for Aeronautical & Space Sciences
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• v.33 no.12
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• pp.48-53
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• 2005

In this paper, we present our recent progress in the LIPCA (Lightweight Piezo-Composite Actuator) application for actuation of a flapping wing device. The flapping device uses linkage system that can amplify the actuation displacement of LIPCA. The feathering mechanism is also designed and implemented such that the wing can rotate during flapping. The natural flapping-frequency of the device was about 9 Hz, where the maximum flapping angle was achieved. The flapping test under 4 Hz to 15 Hz flapping frequency was performed to investigate the flapping performance by measuring the produced lift and thrust. Maximum lift and thrust were produced when the flapping device was actuated at about the natural flapping-frequency.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Aeronautical & Space Sciences
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• v.48 no.11
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• pp.837-847
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• 2020

A velocity profile for flapping flight is optimized to increase the power efficiency of 20g weighted flapping wing micro air vehicle in hover. The experimental optimization of flapping velocity profile is carried out with a real sized flapper, and various velocity profiles are realized by non-circular gear. Kriging with noise is adopted as a meta model of the profile optimization to reflect the data noise by uncertainty. The optimization results confirm that the flapping efficiency (thrust-to-power ratio) is substantially improved (11.3%) through the elastic deformation that carries the angular kinetic energy from previous stroke.

• Composites Research
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• v.22 no.6
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• pp.7-12
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• 2009

This paper deals with a fabrication method of composite hinge mechanisms for flapping-wing micro air vehicles. The fabrication process includes curing process of Graphite/Epoxyprepregs, laser cutting for high fabrication repeatability, laminating of Graphite/Epoxy prepregs with Kapton film which is used for flexure, and so on. The fabricated hinge mechanism was attached with PUMPS actuators and the measured flapping angle was $173^{\circ}$ when driving voltage was 300V 170Hz.

• Journal of the Computational Structural Engineering Institute of Korea
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• v.30 no.4
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• pp.289-296
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• 2017

In this paper, geometrical optimization for newly designed flapping mechanism for insect-like micro air vehicle is presented. The mechanism uses strings to convert rotation of motor to reciprocating wing motion to reduce the total weight and inertial force. The governing algorithm of movement of the mechanism is established considering the characteristic of string that only tensile force can be acted by string, to optimize the kinematics. Modified pattern search method which is complemented to avoid converging into local optimum is adopted to the geometrical optimization of the mechanism. Then, prototype of the optimized geometry is produced and experimented to check the feasibility of the mechanism and the optimization method. The results from optimization and experiment shows good agreement in flapping amplitude and other wing kinematics. Further research will be conducted on dynamic analysis of the mechanism and detailed specification of the prototype.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers A
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• v.36 no.6
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• pp.653-663
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• 2012

The study considers the high maneuverability flight and path optimization is conducted to investigate the appropriate generation of the lift and thrust considering the angle of the stroke plane. The path optimization problem is defined according to the various purposes of the high maneuverability flight. The flying purposes are to maximize thrust force, lift force and both lift and thrust forces. The flapping motion of the airfoil is made by a combined sinusoidal plunging and pitching motion in each problem. The optimization process is carried out by using well-defined surrogate models. The surrogate model is determined by the results of two-dimensional computational fluid dynamics analysis. The Kriging method is used to make the surrogate model and a genetic algorithm is utilized to optimize the surrogate model. The optimization results show the flapping motions for the high maneuverable flight. The effects on the generation of lift and thrust forces are confirmed by analyzing the vortex.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Aeronautical & Space Sciences
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• v.34 no.8
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• pp.55-62
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• 2006

This paper presents experimental evaluation of an insect-mimicking flapping-wing device actuated by a unimorph piezoceramic actuator. Length of each rod and hinge point in the linkage/amplification system are carefully chosen such that the resulting wing motion can mimic clapping of wings in a real insect at the end of upstroke. In addition to this, a pair of corrugated wings are fabricated mimicking zig-zag cross section of a real insect wing. Thanks to the two additional implementation, the improved flapping wing device can generate a larger lift force than the previous model even though area of the new wing is about 50% less than that of the previous wing. In this work, effects of the wing clapping, the wing corrugation, and the input wave form on the lift force generation have been also experimentally investigated. Finally, the vortex generated by the flapping device has been captured by a high speed camera, showing that vortices are produced during up- and down-strokes.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Aeronautical & Space Sciences
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• v.33 no.10
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• pp.82-92
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• 2005

The present study was carried out in order to develop a remote-controlled micro ornithopter with a weight of 20 gram. This ornithopter has three channel radio control. It runs on two direct-current type pager motors powered by a lithium polymer battery which flaps its 35cm wings. The performance of an ornithopter, applied to a flapping motion only, was validated by flight tests. The flight test results indicate that the ornithopter developed here has sufficient thrust to propel itself.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Aeronautical & Space Sciences
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• v.36 no.11
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• pp.1063-1071
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• 2008

A piezoceramic unimoph actuator can produce a relatively larger actuation force and actuation displacement when a proper compressive load is applied during operation, because the compressive stress causes material nonlinear behavior in the piezoceramic layer and triggers mechanical buckling. In this paper, we examined effects of the actuator under compression on the flapping angle and aerodynamic force generation capability. Effects of wing shape and passive wing rotation angle on the aerodynamic force production were also investigated. The average vertical force acquired by a 2D CFD simulation for an artificial wing showed a good agreement with the measured one by the experiment.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Aeronautical & Space Sciences
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• v.38 no.7
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• pp.647-654
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• 2010

In this study, an efficient ornithopter aerodynamic model, which is applicable to ornithopter wing design considering fluid-structure interaction or ornithopter flight dynamics and control simulation, was proposed and experimentally validated through the wind tunnel experiments. Due to the ornithopter aerodynamics governed by unsteady low Reynolds number flow, an experimental device was specially designed and developed. A part of the experimental device, 2-axis loadcell, was situated in the non-inertial frame; the dynamic calibration method was established to compensate the inertial load for pure aerodynamic load measurements. The characteristics of proposed aerodynamic model were compared with the experimental data in terms of mean and root-mean-square values of lift and drag coefficients with respect to the flow speed, flapping frequency, and fixed angle of attack.

• Journal of Advanced Navigation Technology
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• v.21 no.5
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• pp.450-458
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• 2017

This paper presents dynamic modelling and simulation study on attitude/altitude control of an insect-mimicking flapping micro aerial vehicle during hovering. Mathematical modelling consists of three parts: simplified flapping kinematics, flapping-wing aerodynamics, and six degree of freedom dynamics. Attitude stabilization is accomplished through linear quadratic regulator based on the linearized model of the time-varying nonlinear system, and altitude control is designed in the outer loop using PID control. The performance of the proposed controller is verified through numerical simulation where attitude stabilization and altitude control is done for hovering. In addition, it is confirmed that the attitude channel by periodic control is marginally stable against periodic pitching moment caused by flapping.