System & component study of motor driven micro air vehicle

Abstract

Insects are incredible flying creatures. Being one of the smallest creatures that has flying capabilities, coupled with high agility and manoeuvrability, make it the model for creating Micro-Air-Vehicles (MAV).

Over the past decade, there has been a significant increase in interest in MAVs. Movies such as Transformers and others have assisted in the increase in interest for MAVs too. There are several existing MAVs in the market with various configurations and built for designated functions. These MAVs may carry visual, acoustic, chemical or biological sensors for various missions such as traffic management, hostage situation surveillance, rescue operations and a few more.

Flapping wings and rotary wings have been widely explored as key mechanisms for MAVs to function. With MAVs, it is good to note that they will travel at low Reynolds numbers (50,000 to 250,000) which is far lower than the conventional commercial planes. This has sparked a revitalised study in low Reynolds number flights. Due to its small size and lack of lift generated from the flapping wings, it is critical to minimize weight and be operationally robust. However the design of MAV is greatly hindered by the lack of comprehensive understanding of the airflow or a very small aircraft at low speeds. Trial and error methods have been utilised in many cases when creating the MAVs which may be costly and time consuming.