Development of piezoelectric actuated mechanism for flapping wing micro-aerial vehicle applications

A piezoelectric actuated two-bar two-flexure motion amplification mechanism for flapping wing micro-aerial vehicle application has been investigated. f(r)*A as an optimisation criterion has been introduced where f(r) is its fundamental resonant frequency of the system and A the vibration amplitude at the wing tip, or the free tip deflection at quasi-static operation. This criterion can be used to obtain the best piezoelectric actuation mechanism with the best energy transmission coefficient for flapping wing micro-aerial vehicle applications, and is a measurable quantity therefore can be compared with experimental results. A simplified beam model has been developed to calculate the fundamental resonant frequency for the full system consisted of piezoelectric actuator, motion amplification mechanism and the attached wing and the calculated values were compared with the measured results. A clear trend of the criteria f(r)*A varying with the two-flexure dimension, stiffness and setting angle have been obtained from the measured data and also the predicted results as a guideline for optimal design of the system.