Low-cost Test Rig for Aerodynamic Evaluation of Ornithopters

Abstract

ABSTRACT Experimental assessment of lift and thrust forces of flapping wing micro aerial vehicles (FWMAVs)isofparamountinteresttoassessitspayloadcarryingcapability.Inthiswork, a simple and cost effective test bench is developed to measure the forces of ornithopter. Two compressive load cells are calibrated and assembled in an appropriate mode to capture the generated forces. Alabview based graphical user interface is designed to acquire real time force data and thereby control the angle of attack of ornithopter. Through varying wind speeds, flapping frequencies and angle of attacks (AOA), wind tunnel experiments are conducted for two ornithopters E-Bird and Golden Snitch, with wing spans of 27 cm and 21.5 cm respectively. Experimental results suggested that, E-Bird has attained maximum lift force of 28.7 g at 60 AOA and golden snitch has 13.5 g lift force at 35 AOA. The developed compact test rig can measure the lift and thrust forces upto 200 grams with an accuracy 0.1 gram of FWMAVs.