Application of Piezoelectric Actuator and Compliant Structures to Achieve Flapping Wing Motion for a MAV

Application of Piezoelectric Actuator and Compliant Structures to Achieve Flapping Wing Motion for a MAV

Micro Aerial Vehicles(MAVs)are the smallest artificial aircraft.Most of the flapping wings MAVs are powered by electric motors of various capacities.We report in this paper the application of piezoelectric actuators as power system for a flapping wing MAV using a compliant displacement amplification mechanism.The actuator used for this application is a pre-stressed cut piece of TH-7R type Thunder actuator.A two-bar compliant mechanism with two flexures has been developed to convert the linear displacement into angular movement and amplification.The specimens were made from carbon fiber links and nylon flexures.We also proposed to use the product of frequency(F)and tip displacement(D),F*D as a criteria for the characterization of an amplifying mechanism.The best specimen according tO this criterion is obtained for a 5mm length flexure specimen made of three layers of nylon.The F*D value obtained for this specimen was 0.58 Hz.m.ANSYS finite element analysis results for different flexural thickness and Iengths were obtained and have been compared to the experimental results.The effect of both the thickness and length of the flexure on a particular arrangement has been discussed.