| This document presents the methods and results of early experiments, conducted at the University of Toronto's Institute for Aerospace Studies, toward the development of wings for a hovering, flapping-wing micro air vehicle. The vehicle envisioned symmetrically actuates four wings within a 15 cm diameter, horizontal disc, thrusting the air downward, using the 'clap-fling' aerodynamic effect. The entire vehicle will fit within a 15 cm cube.; Following an elementary, quasi-steady analysis to estimate the required flapping-frequency, test equipment was designed to evaluate various wing concepts. An empirical test process allowed many wing designs to be evaluated through a wide flapping-frequency range and at several flapping amplitudes. One year of experimentation led to a design capable of generating more than 50 grams of thrust while consuming less than 6 W of power. This performance is comparable to the best that an unducted propeller or rotor of the same diameter would achieve. |
