Accurate position control of a flapping-wing robot enabling free-flight flow visualisation in a wind tunnel

Accurate position control of a flapping-wing robot enabling free-flight flow visualisation in a wind tunnel

Karasek, M. (TU Delft Control & Simulation)
Perçin, M. (Middle East Technical University)
Cunis, Torbjørn (ONERA Centre de Toulouse)
van Oudheusden, B.W. (TU Delft Aerodynamics)
de Wagter, C. (TU Delft Control & Simulation)
Remes, B.D.W. (TU Delft Control & Simulation)
de Croon, G.C.H.E. (TU Delft Control & Simulation)

2019

Flow visualisations are essential to better understand the unsteady aerodynamics of flapping wing flight. The issues inherent to animal experiments, such as poor controllability and unnatural flapping when tethered, can be avoided by using robotic flyers that promise for a more systematic and repeatable methodology. Here, we present a new flapping-wing micro air vehicle (FWMAV)-specific control approach that, by employing an external motion tracking system, achieved autonomous wind tunnel flight with a maximum root-mean-square position error of 28 mm at low speeds (0.8–1.2 m/s) and 75 mm at high speeds (2–2.4 m/s). This allowed the first free-flight flow visualisation experiments to be conducted with an FWMAV. Time-resolved stereoscopic particle image velocimetry was used to reconstruct the three-dimensional flow patterns of the FWMAV wake. A good qualitative match was found in comparison to a tethered configuration at similar conditions, suggesting that the obtained free-flight measurements are reliable and meaningful.

control
flapping flight
Flapping wing
micro air vehicles
particle image velocimetry
wind tunnel
OA-Fund TU Delft

http://resolver.tudelft.nl/uuid:f3ffc69e-2733-4e15-b7f8-81517ef73117

https://doi.org/10.1177/1756829319833683

1756-8293

International Journal of Micro Air Vehicles, 11

Institutional Repository

journal article

© 2019 M. Karasek, M. Perçin, Torbjørn Cunis, B.W. van Oudheusden, C. de Wagter, B.D.W. Remes, G.C.H.E. de Croon