Rigid link flapping mechanisms remain the most practical choice for flapping wing micro-aerial vehicles (MAVs) to carry useful payloads and onboard batteries for free flight due to their long-term durability and reliability. However, to achieve high agility and maneuverability-like insects-MAVs with these mechanisms require significant weight reduction. One approach involves using single-DOF planar rigid linkages, which are rarely optimized dimensionally for high lift and low power so that smaller motors and batteries could be used. We integrated a mechanism simulator based on a quasistatic nonlinear finite element method with an unsteady vortex lattice method-based aerodynamic analysis tool within an optimization routine. We optimized three different mechanism topologies from the literature. As a result, significant power savings were observed up to 42% in some cases, due to increased amplitude and higher lift coefficients resulting from optimized asymmetric sweeping velocity profiles. We also conducted an uncertainty analysis that revealed the need for high manufacturing tolerances to ensure reliable mechanism performance. The presented unified computational tool also facilitates the optimal selection of MAV components based on the payload and flight time requirements.

翻译：刚性连杆扑翼机构因其长期耐用性和可靠性，仍然是扑翼微型飞行器（MAV）携带有效载荷和机载电池以实现自由飞行的最实用选择。然而，为了实现类似昆虫的高敏捷性和机动性，采用此类机构的MAV需要显著减轻重量。一种方法是使用单自由度平面刚性连杆机构，但这类机构很少针对高升力和低功耗进行尺寸优化，从而无法使用更小的电机和电池。我们将基于准静态非线性有限元方法的机构模拟器与基于非定常涡格法的气动分析工具集成到优化流程中。我们对文献中的三种不同机构拓扑进行了优化。结果表明，由于优化后的非对称扫掠速度剖面增大了振幅并提高了升力系数，在某些情况下可观察到高达42%的显著功耗节省。我们还进行了不确定性分析，结果表明需要高制造公差以确保机构性能的可靠性。所提出的统一计算工具还有助于根据有效载荷和飞行时间要求优化选择MAV组件。