Design and fabrication of an Ornithopter

Abstract

Nature has always inspired us to solve our problems in a different way. Quadcopters, one of the most common and commercially available unmanned aerial vehicles, are good for cinematic shots, spying and even various other things, but they cannot glide like the fixed wing planes. On the other hand, fixed wing planes lack the ability to hover when subjected to a confined space. Inspired by the complex flight dynamics of a hummingbird which is the only bird capable of hovering and generating thrust on both forward and backward stroke. And additionally, its weight is around 20g, which is why we decided to replicate the flight of a bird in a feasible manner. In this project, we present some cost and time-effective prototypes for such micro aerial vehicles. Because of the inter-dependence of power, cost, availability, and size of various components involved, their selection was a tedious process, and intensive research and literature review was done to ensure minimal financial loss. To realize a compact and reliable control mechanism, we made two prototypes based on an optimized string-based flapping mechanism and a gear-linkage based flapping mechanism. The completed prototype has a flapping frequency of 15 Hz and a full wingspan of 275mm. This report covers the design process for both mechanical and electrical systems involved in making an ornithopter along with their component selection and a comparison of the similar projects conducted in the campus as well as some of the successful prototypes from all over the world