Design of Micro-Newton Scale Contact Force Measurement System for Small Flying Insect during Landing/take-off Process

doi:10.3901/JME.2023.05.280

Abstract

Abstract: At present, obvious difference in maneuverability exists between the micro biomimetic flying aerocraft and its biomimetic prototype in the landing/take-off process, which reduces the safety of its operation process and the universality of its application scope. Accurate characterization of contact force of biomimetic prototype in the landing/take-off process without interference is a necessary prerequisite to solve this problem. A micro-Newton scale contact force measurement system for small flying insects during landing/take-off was designed. The carbon fiber spring T300 was selected as the sensing device of contact force and calibrated to obtain the mathematical equation involved contact force-deflection-contact point position (goodness of fit R²=0.979). A high frame camera was selected to record the image information of small flying insects during landing on and take-off from the carbon fiber spring. Taking the fly (Musca domestica) as the small flying insect, the operation debugging of the contact force measurement system was conducted. The image analysis and processing program based on the Matlab software was used to accurately obtain the deflection of carbon fiber spring and the position of landing/take-off contact point. According to the mathematical equation, the contact force was calculated and corrected to eliminate the influence of carbon fiber spring’s gravity. Result shows that the contact force of flies during landing/take-off process ranges from 0.121 mN to 0.772 mN, which is about 0.71 to 4.53 times of their body weight (17.38 mg). Four the designed contact force measurement system, its resolution is 0.001 mN and its accuracy is improved by four aspects: simulation/actual calibration, accurate acquisition of deflection, contact force correction and no interference in landing/take-off process. Our result provides a reference technology/method for the quantitative and accurate characterization of the biomimetic prototype’s movement behavior for developing micro flying aerocraft.

Key words: biomimetic prototype, biomimetic flying aerocraft, micro-newton contact force, deflection, image processing

CLC Number:

TB17

YAN Zheng, WANG Lixin, DONG Shiyun, YAN Shixing. Design of Micro-Newton Scale Contact Force Measurement System for Small Flying Insect during Landing/take-off Process[J]. Journal of Mechanical Engineering, 2023, 59(5): 280-290.

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