Engineers use whale body part and gas grill clicker to create drones that are more stable and can fly longer

Sometimes, when you’re doing research, you need to cast your net far and wide in hopes of catching something inspirational to draw upon. 

Not sure I’ve ever seen a wider net cast than that thrown by Felix Ewere, a doctoral student at the University of Alabama, and Dr. Gang Wang. 

The duo combined tiny biological structures found on humpback whales with the basic principles of a gas grill clicker to improve the steadiness and longevity of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs).

So let’s dive in — the whale parts, called tubercles, are located on the leading edge of their fins, and are used to help the whale maneuver in the ocean. 

Ewere made a mechanical version of these structures for the purpose of sensing the direction of airflow and airspeed on UAVs. He then attached it to a piezoelectric energy harvester that converts mechanical action into electricity much in the same way the red piezoelectric button on a gas grill operates. Ewere explained that he did this so UAV designers can use what’s referred to as the “galloping piezoelectric” principle when designing their aircraft. Specifically, they can place his device all over their models to test them and determine how the UAV behaves in the fluid currents of air; also, the attached devices can also be used as harvesters to generate power and extend the battery’s range.  

Ewere came up with the idea after Dr. Wang questioned him on whether greater efficiency could be attained so that piezoelectrics could better harvest energy. Ewere took that query and developed the solution described above. 

“I just threw the question to him, and he found the answer for me, which is using this biologically inspired concept,” Dr. Wang says. “One day, he just knocked on my door and said, 'Dr. Wang I want to try this one.'”

What followed was a series of experiments in a wind tunnel. 

“We were trying to get more force and induce more strain by using this idea” to improve energy harvesting ability, Ewere explains. While it turned out that efficiency was never actually increased, the team discovered that the device could serve as a form of passive control aboard a UAV, thereby making them useful as measuring devices for air flow speed and direction.

“This is a new kind of flow sensor,” Ewere says. “A regular flow sensor will just tell you the magnitude of the wind, but this also shows you the direction.”

Since their initial discovery, the technology has progressed in terms of miniaturizing the components; this has, in turn, led it to be used in many more applications.

Now that the theoretical work and design concept phases are pretty much completed, Dr. Wang is looking for application funding. 

“For three or four years now, we have been drawing up the basics of this, and we have done the basic research,” Dr. Wang says. “Now I have the tangible benefits for it, but to take it to the next level I need a boost from an interested funding agency.”

Via University of Alabama