Fluidic origami with embedded pressure dependent multi-stability: a plant inspired innovation

Inspired by the impulsive movements in plants, this research investigates the physics of a novel fluidic origami concept for its pressure-dependent multi-stability. In this innovation, fluid-filled tubular cells are synthesized by integrating different Miura-Ori sheets into a three-dimensional topological system, where the internal pressures are strategically controlled similar to the motor cells in plants. Fluidic origami incorporates two crucial physiological features observed in nature: one is distributed, pressurized cellular organization, and the other is embedded multi-stability. For a single fluidic origami cell, two stable folding configurations can coexist due to the nonlinear relationships among folding, crease material deformation and internal volume change. When multiple origami cells are integrated, additional multi-stability characteristics could occur via the interactions between pressurized cells. Changes in the fluid pressure can tailor the existence and shapes of these stable folding configurations. As a result, fluidic origami can switch between being mono-stable, bistable and multi-stable with pressure control, and provide a rapid ‘snap-through’ type of shape change based on the similar principles as in plants. The outcomes of this research could lead to the development of new adaptive materials or structures, and provide insights for future plant physiology studies at the cellular level.     

气候变化对中国寒冷和夏热冬暖城市建筑能耗的影响

气候变暖已对建筑全生命周期的运行状况产生了不可忽略的影响,准确评估气候变化下的建筑能耗对建筑方案设计和既有建筑的节能改造具有重要意义。进行气候变化下建筑能耗的精确预测,必须拥有未来的逐时气象数据。以寒冷地区北京和夏热冬暖地区广州为研究对象,将挑选的两个城市典型气象年为基线气候,结合全球模式下的预测气象数据,应用变形法修正TMY的气象参数,得到直至本世纪末的10个节点年逐时气象文件,并进行了全年能耗模拟,预估了两个城市的办公建筑在气候变化下建筑能耗的变化趋势。结果表明:在两种预测排放情景下,干球温度、含湿量和太阳辐射均呈增加趋势;北京采暖能耗显著降低、制冷能耗增加,总能耗减少,广州采暖能耗降低、制冷能耗显著增加,总能耗增加。     

变体飞行器有限时间切换H∞跟踪控制

针对变体飞行器变形过程中的跟踪控制问题,基于切换线性变参数控制理论建立了变体飞行器模型。为了抑制变形过程中控制器切换和不确定性的影响,保证闭环系统有限时间有界同时满足指定的H_∞性能指标,基于模态依赖平均驻留时间方法和多Lyapunov函数方法,提出一种切换有限时间H_∞跟踪控制器的设计方法,并分析了系统的有限时间鲁棒稳定性,通过求解线性矩阵不等式得到控制器存在的充分条件。仿真结果表明,所提方法能够使飞行器系统准确跟踪指令,且对于控制器切换和不确定性具有鲁棒性,降低了控制器设计的保守性。     

基于智能夹层的复合材料柔性蒙皮变形测量研究

探索变体机翼蒙皮拉伸变形测量的可行性,对波纹式复合材料蒙皮的变形测量方法进行研究。通过新配方制作了波纹式蒙皮试件,对其进行力学拉伸试验,分析蒙皮的力学性能。制作模块化的智能夹层,对安装在蒙皮上的智能夹层输出特性进行测试,并与直接粘贴在蒙皮表面的应变片输出特性进行对比分析。结果表明:通过新配方制作的柔性蒙皮线弹性范围达到0~7%;在蒙皮线弹性范围内智能夹层能有效测得应变数据,其应变灵敏系数相对于应变片由2.08降至1.84;由应变反推的蒙皮伸长量与实际伸长量较吻合。     

Design of deployable bistable structures for morphing skin and its structural optimization

The morphing skin is the surface of a deployable frame which can change its shape to present optimal performance in all stages of a task for an aerospace vehicle. This article proposes a deployable frame with low kinematic error and high stability. Mechanical design and optimization of the deployable mechanism are developed, and specifically the analysis model of the deployable mechanism is established by the use of extendable units. The genetic algorithm is employed to find the optimal geometric parameters of the foldable structure. Furthermore, the design method of a bistable compliant mechanism is investigated to achieve the bistability. An example of a morphing leading edge (MLE) is analysed using the proposed method. The results show that the position errors converge to the optimal solution which supplies the minimum value. Numerical analysis indicates that the mechanism can provide two bistable positions for the actual use of the MLE.     

Experimental study on control fins of a small flying vehicle using piezo-composite actuators

A camber morphing control fin design and an all-moving control fin design using piezo-composite unimorph actuators are presented in this paper. The control fin of a small flying object is usually actuated using a servo motor system with an electromagnetic motor. Much research has been conducted to solve the structural complexity of servo actuation systems to convert the rotation of a servo motor to a linear actuation motion. To simplify this structural complexity, several types of smart actuators have been developed, such as bimorph or unimorph actuators with piezoelectric material layers and shape memory alloy actuators. In this study, a camber morphing type control fin and an all-moving type control fin actuated using piezo-composite actuators are designed to evaluate their ability to simplify the structural complexity of the gear transmission and electromagnetic servo motor system or hydraulic actuator system. Within the skin of the control fin, a piezo-composite actuator is mounted and the other end inserted in a slot of the control fin. As the piezo-composite actuator is excited by an electric field, the pitch angle of the control fin is changed. Experimental testing for the pitch rotation angle of a control fin in a 450 V electric field showed the deflection angle of the camber morphing control fin was 1.4° and the rotational angle of the all-moving control fin was 5.4°, which is obtained from the rotation angle magnification linkage structural system.     

A morphing downwind‐aligned rotor concept based on a 13‐MW wind turbine

To alleviate the mass‐scaling issues associated with conventional upwind rotors of extreme‐scale wind turbines (≥10 MW), a morphing downwind‐aligned rotor (MoDaR) concept is proposed herein. The concept employs a downwind rotor with blades whose elements are stiff (no intentional flexibility) but with hub‐joints that can be unlocked to allow for moment‐free downwind alignment. Aligning the combination of gravitational, centrifugal and thrust forces along the blade path reduces downwind cantilever loads, resulting in primarily tensile loading. For control simplicity, the blade curvature can be fixed with a single morphing degree of freedom using a near‐hub joint for coning angle: 22° at rated conditions. The conventional baseline was set as the 13.2‐MW Sandia 100‐m all glass blade in a three‐bladed upwind configuration. To quantify potential mass savings, a downwind load‐aligning, two‐bladed rotor was designed. Because of the reduced number of blades, the MoDaR concept had a favorable 33% mass reduction. The blade reduction and coning led to a reduction in rated power, but morphing increased energy capture at lower speeds such that both the MoDaR and conventional rotors have the same average power: 5.4 MW. A finite element analysis showed that quasi‐steady structural stresses could be reduced, over a range of operating wind speeds and azimuthal angles, despite the increases in loading per blade. However, the concept feasibility requires additional investigation of the mass, cost and complexity of the morphing hinge, the impact of unsteady aeroelastic influence because of turbulence and off‐design conditions, along with system‐level Levelized Cost of Energy analysis. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

基于翼表温度测量的光纤Bragg光栅传感器研究

根据可变体机翼翼表温度检测范围-60～+80℃的要求,提出了一种基于铝板片封装的光纤Bragg光栅(FBG)温度增敏传感装置.该装置采用耐高温环氧树脂胶将FBG粘贴在铝板片U槽中,并预热60℃、保持30 min以保证FBG温度传感增敏装置线性和重复性.研究及试验结果表明,在翼表工作环境温度范围内,该模型理论与实测温度灵敏度分别为28.16 pm/℃和29.03 pm/℃.与裸光栅相比,其增敏倍数分别为2.540倍和2.636倍,增敏倍数误差为3.78％,反射波长与温度的线性度达到0.999 3.因此,在翼体工作环境温度范围内尤其低温环境-60～0℃间,该温度增敏传感装置能满足检测所需精度.     

Tensile Deformation Properties of Corrugated Style Fiber Reinforced Composite Skin for a Morphing Wing

A type of skin structure which is made by a Circular Arc Corrugated Style Fiber Reinforced Composite(CACSFRC)is proposed to meet the requirements of the large and continuous deformation and high load capacity of a morphing wing skin.A mechanical model is developed to predict the tensile deformation properties and equivalent elastic modulus of the composite skin.Corrugated and plane skin samples are manufactured and tested.The theoretical analysis and tension tests show that CCSFRC skin has markedly much mor...