The American University in Cairo MENG 372: Mechanical Systems Project: Morphing Ornithopter Wing

Done by: Meg Foresman Mina Ramzy Omar Sedik Youssef Fakhr

Revised by: Dr. Mustafa Arafa

1. Table of Contents: 2. Abstract 3. Introduction 4. Background Research 5. Problem Statement 6. Brainstorming 7. Analysis/ Selection 8. Detailed Final Design Page 4 5 6 10 11 15 17

B. List of Figures: Figure 1. Seagull Gliding Figure 2. Seagull during up stroke with folding Figure 3. Seagull during down stroke Figure 4. Forces acting on a flying mechanism Figure 5. Slider Driven Ornithopter at 90, 10, and -80 Figure 6. Rubber Band Crank Ornithopter in Up Position Figure 7. Rubber Band Crank Ornithopter in Down Position Figure 8. Initial Design of a rigid wing Ornithopter at an up and down positions Figure 9. Initial Folding Wing design Figure 10. Initial Folding Wing Design when it toggled Figure 11. Another Design that worked until it bent backwards Figure 12. Designs investigating the placement of motor and inner wing pivot point
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Figure 13. Designs that investigate the distance to the motor of the two couplers and which should be closer for better motion Figure 14. Designs that investigate the lengths of the wing links Figure 15. Final Design at bottom extreme position Figure 16. Final Design during up stroke Figure 17. Final Design at top extreme position Figure 18. Final Design during down stroke Figure 19. Final Design with Dimensions

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2. Abstract
Several methods to fly are implemented in todays technologies. Some are based from physics concepts and others are imitations of natures solution. Wing motion was researched and observed of seagulls and hawks where the wing is fully extended on the down stroke and then folded on the upstroke to reduce area that air resistance can act. From this research, several ornithopter designs, or a flying mechanism that flaps its wings in a vertical motion, were investigated and then optimized once a final design was chosen. The final design is made up of a 6 bar linkage. A single crank has two couplers attached that drive a jointed wing. Gears are used to ensure symmetric movement of both wings. With the design selected the maximum torque is approximately 3 Nm and the minimum transmission angles are approximately 22 and 30 for the two sections of the jointed wing. This design has only one degree of freedom thus can be driven by one motor.

3. Introduction
From Ancient Greek time, as myth tells us, a lot of people have tried to fly by using simple wings made of feathers. But all their attempts have failed and they ended up dying by crashing with the ground. Later, during the tenth century one of the most important scientist in Arab world, Abbas Ibn Firnas has attempted to fly but he succeeds for a small distance. Then he fall and get hurt because he did not consider a lot of bird aspects. After years in Italy, One of the greatest Italian citizens, Leonardo Davinci studied aerodynamics and observed the technique of birds flying in order to be able to design a flying mechanism. Sadly, after all this efforts and time, Davinci failed to make his dream come true. So, his ornithopter could not fly because Leonardo could not recognize that humans are very heavy compared to flying objects and their muscles are also too weak to fly. The American Wright brothers flew the first plane at Kitty Hawk. Since then scientists and engineers have worked to perfect the art of flying as well as design new flying techniques. During last century in France, Gustave Trouv invented the first successful flying mechanism that used a combustion engine. Nowadays, by using technological advances and innovative studies, there are different and powerful models of ornithopters. Ornithopters are a flight technique where the wings flap to achieve lift. This method is found in nature from the wing motion of seagulls and hawks. The disadvantage of using an Ornithopter with rigid wings is that the same power created in the down stroke, is lost in the upstroke due to air resistance. To minimize the negative lift during the upstroke, the wings need to have a minimized area to minimize air resistance. Thus wings that fold, twist, or a combination of the two, would provide a design similar to that found in nature. The use of ornithopters has real life applications for military intelligence of a discreet spy method.

4. Background Research
Before trying to design any mechanism, time and effort is saved by looking into already existing mechanisms that perform the same function. For example seagulls are ornithopters. Their two main in-flight motions are gliding and flapping. When gliding, a seagull moves forward by slightly tilting its wings upwards. The angle by which the wing is tilted is called the angle of attack. This deflects the air gently downwards and creates an opposite reaction directed upwards called lift. As the seagull moves forward, the air resistance or drag force acts on the seagull causing it to slow down. To make up for lost speed, the seagull angles its body downwards and goes into a shallow dive, this causes the generated lift to be angled slightly forward increasing the birds speed. The three different movements of the seagulls wing of vertical flapping, twisting, and folding occur during flapping and not during gliding. When flapping, a seagulls wings continue to develop lift as before, but they also create an additional forward and upward force, called thrust, to counteract its weight and drag. Wing flapping involves two stages: the down-stroke, which provides the majority of the thrust, and the up-stroke, which can also provide some upward force. On each up-stroke the wing is slightly folded inwards to reduce upward air resistance. This allows the seagull to change the angle of attack between the up-stroke and the down-stroke of their wings. During the down-stroke the angle of attack is increased. During the up-stroke the angle of attack is decreased. This action causes the wings to act like the propeller on an airplane to pull the seagull forward. As the bird is flapping along, it needs to make sure it has the correct angle of attack all along its wingspan. Since the outer part of the wing moves up and down more steeply than the inner part, the wing has to twist, so that each part of the wing can maintain just the right angle of attack. The wings are flexible, so they twist automatically.

Figure 1. Seagull Gliding

Figure 2. Seagull during up stroke with folding

Figure 3. Seagull during down stroke

Looking at flying from a physics standpoint, the third law of motion states for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. This specific law stated by Isaac Newton, deals specifically to ornithopter wings, because we must reduce the air resistance in contact with the surface of the wings in the up stroke thus not to cancel out the lift created in the down stroke. The famous airfoil shape of airplane wings requires the air travelling over the wing to travel faster than the air travelling under the wing. Because the air travels faster above the wing, the air pressure there decreases and creates the upward lift. The shape of the wings determines how fast and high a plane can fly. In the 1480's, Leonardo da Vinci made the first real studies of flight when he had over 100 drawings that illustrated his theories on flight. The ornithopter flying machine

was never actually created but showed a theoretical design how man could fly. Eventually this concept led to the development of the modern day helicopter.

Figure 4. Forces acting on a flying mechanism

To design a plane, aeronautical engineers must understand all of these elements. 1. Aerodynamics, which is the study of how air flows around the airplane. This will then clarify the idea to the engineer and will be able to define the shape of the plane. The wings, the tail, and the main body of the plane all affect the manner the air will move around the plane. 2. Propulsion is the study of how to design an engine that will provide the thrust that is needed for a plane to take off and fly through the air. The study of propulsion is what enables the engineers to determine the proper kind of engine and the right amount of power that a plane will need. 3. Materials and Structures is the study of what materials are to be used on the plane and in the engine and how those materials make the plane strong enough to fly effectively. Many airplane materials are now made out of composites that are stronger than most metals and are lightweight to enable easy maneuvering. 4. Stability and Control is the study of how to control the speed, direction, altitude and other conditions that affect how a plane flies.

Moving to mechanical mechanisms online, a few patents exist for ornithopters. Some use a slider attached to a semi-flexible rope while others are more complicated methods using a crank. However, none of the patents found animate motion other than a rigid flapping wing. Thus most patents were unhelpful for our specific purposes of a folding or twisting ornithopter, but gave ideas for the general flapping motion. Figures 5 through 7 show two examples of some of the patents looked at for inspiration.

Figure 5. Slider Driven Ornithopter at 90, 10, and -80

Figure 6. Rubber Band Crank Ornithopter in Up Position

Figure 7. Rubber Band Crank Ornithopter in Down Position

5. Problem Statement / Performance specification

Design a drive mechanism of the wings of an ornithopter, which is an aircraft that flies by vertically flapping its wings. The flying mechanism of a seagull is considered as a modified ornithopter as it folds simultaneously while flapping. This feature has been added to reduce surface area in the upstroke which results in less air resistance in contact with the wings. Furthermore, another feature that is also added is twisting, which together with vertical flapping and folding will highly increase the net lift generated over the flapping cycle. One of the important features that has to be introduced is to minimize the degree of freedom of our ornithopter. This is done to obtain only one independent motion and to decrease the number of motors running the mechanism. Also, it is crucial to minimize the torque from the motor in order to have a smaller motor which will decrease the total weight resulting in higher lift force. In addition, we should obtain the minimum possible transmission angle. Maximum force transmitted between the coupler and the wing is desired and the transmission angle should be as close to 90 as possible for maximum transmission of force. The mechanism must also meet Grashofs equation so that it will rotate completely and wont toggle.

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6. Brainstorming
From the research and patents found, designing commenced. Designs started with a flapping inner section of the wing, then the folding section was added. Twisting was eliminated early on because that would make the project a three dimensional problem and would complicate it very quickly. Focusing on how to obtain a design that will give a flapping ornithopter, gears were thought of then modeled on the Working Model software. From this several errors were found with placement of joints and link lengths that caused toggle positions to not allow the motion to continue. Trial and error lead to the discovery that if the joint connecting the coupler to the inner section of the wing and the joint connecting the coupler to the outer section of the wing needed to be aligned on the crank in a straight line with the motor. Once this configuration was found to work with no toggle errors, optimization commenced to perfect the design. Figures 8 through 11 show the initial trials before the design of making the couplers collinear was discovered. Different optimization ideas included: which joint needs to be further away from the motor? And what wing section lengths will maximize the folded angle between the two sections? Figures 12 through 14 show the alterations to address these two questions. After several versions, an optimized design emerged which was then adopted as our final design.

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Figure 8. Initial Design of a rigid wing Ornithopter at an up and down positions

Figure 9. Initial Folding Wing design

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Figure 10. Initial Folding Wing Design when it toggled

Figure 11. Another Design that worked until it bent backwards

Figure 12. Designs investigating the placement of motor and inner wing pivot point

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Figure 13. Designs that investigate the distance to the motor of the two couplers and which should be closer for better motion

Figure 14. Designs that investigate the lengths of the wing links

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7. Analysis / Selection
The degree of freedom is the number of autonomous parameter required to exceptionally describe position of a system in space at any instant of time. It is also the set of independent displacements that can be done by the system. The Gruebler's equation is very important in order to determine the degrees of freedom of any type linkage. It is obtained by calculating the number of joints and links. In our design we have 6 links and 7 joints. In our design, the degree of freedom is equal to one, so that the mechanism has only one independent motion. ( ( ) ) ( ) (1)

The Grashof condition examines the behavior of the mechanism by calculating the length of its links. If shortest and longest links are smaller than the two others, then it satisfies Grashof conditions. So, at least one link is able to make complete revolution. The condition was evaluated twice, once using the outermost links and the other using the inner links. For the outer links which are (variables taken from the dimensions sheet:

Therefore this is a Grashof mechanism since the sum of smallest length and largest length is smaller than the sum of the other two lengths. Using the inner links:

Therefore it is Grashof.

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The maximum torque was 3 N.m. This was calculated via the equation (2) ( )( )( )( )

Where g is gravity, m is the mass of the ornithopter which is assumed to be 1 kg (average seagull mass), L is the lift factor since the design should be able to withstand 1.5 time the weight of the ornithopter, and d is the horizontal distance between the center of the wing and the motor. Since the average wingspan is around 100 cm from tip to tip, 0.2 was assumed to be the distance from the center of wing to the motor The transmission angle is the value of the angle between the intersections of two links. This angle should be as close to 90 as possible because torque is transmitted by a force perpendicular to the distance from the rotation center. Thus it is important to make it limit how small the transmission angle so to transmit the maximum amount of force as possible. By using protractor, the minimum transmission angle between the outer wing and the coupler is 22 and the minimum transmission angle between the inner wing and the coupler is 30.

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8. Detailed Final Design

The design is a six bar mechanism, which when analyzing it could be split into two four bar mechanisms. The first four bar mechanism controls the flapping and the second controls the folding. The wing is made of two jointed links. The inner link is part of the flapping mechanism, while the outer link is part of both, folding and flapping if considered a part of the inner link. The crank is a driving gear which is connected to the motor by a shaft. The driving gear is meshed with another driven gear that is connected to a similar mechanism to generate the same motion for the second wing. The inner and outer links of the wing are connected to the gear via two separate links. The design is shown below in 4 stages: the maximum positions and one during the up stroke and one during the down stroke. During analysis it can be noted that the flapping coupler needed to be farther away from the motor than the folding coupler. The length of the flapping coupler, the length of the crank, and the position of the motor dictated the angle of flapping. Maximum folding angle was found to be when the two links that make up the wing were equal size. Pros: Motions of wings are synchronized due to gears Only one driving motor is needed Cons: The motion of the wing slows down during the end of the down stroke as it is straightening out

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Figure 15. Final Design at bottom extreme position

Figure 16. Final Design during up stroke

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Figure 17. Final Design at top extreme position

Figure 18. Final Design during down stroke.

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