AUTHOR=Salami Erfan , Montazer Elham , Ward Thomas A , Nik Ghazali Nik Nazri , Anjum Badruddin Irfan 

TITLE=Aerodynamic Performance of a Dragonfly-Inspired Tandem Wing System for a Biomimetic Micro Air Vehicle

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Bioengineering and Biotechnology

VOLUME=Volume 10 - 2022

YEAR=2022

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/bioengineering-and-biotechnology/articles/10.3389/fbioe.2022.787220

DOI=10.3389/fbioe.2022.787220

ISSN=2296-4185

ABSTRACT=The flying agility demonstrated by dragonflies is accomplished by means of complex aerodynamic forces produced by flapping their four wings arranged in a tandem configuration. The current article presents a novel tandem flapping wing mechanism that was used to experimentally investigate these aerodynamic forces. Such a mechanism could be used in a future biomimetic micro air vehicle (BMAV) design. The mechanism uses an electromagnetic actuator to flap the wings in a linear up-down stroke motion with a variable beat frequency (30 to 210 Hz) at various angles-of-attack (-10° to 20°). The results show that the tandem wings generate approximately 50% higher lift, compared with the forewing or hindwing pairs acting alone. The tandem wings also improve stability, which could potentially allow hovering.