A modified airfoil-based piezoaeroelastic energy harvester with double plunge degrees of freedom

In this letter, a piezoaeroelastic energy harvester based on an airfoil with double plunge degrees of freedom is proposed to additionally take advantage of the vibrational energy of the airfoil pitch motion. An analytical model of the proposed energy harvesting system is built and compared with an equivalent model using the well-explored pitch-plunge configuration. The dynamic response and average power output of the harvester are numerically studied as the flow velocity exceeds the cut-in speed (flutter speed). It is found that the harvester with double-plunge configuration generates 4%–10% more power with varying flow velocities while reducing 6% of the cut-in speed than its counterpart

Effects of caffeine, tea polyphenol and daidzein on the pharmacokinetics of lansoprazole and its metabolites in rats

O objetivo deste estudo foi avaliar os efeitos da cafeína, do polifenol do chá e da daidzeína na farmacocinética do lansoprazol e de seus metabólitos. Administraram-se, intragastricamente, aos ratos cafeína (30 mg·kg-1, uma vez ao dia), polifenol do chá(400 mg·kg-1, uma vez ao dia) ou daidzeína (13,5 mg·kg-1, uma vez ao dia), por 14 dias, seguindo-se a administração de lansoprazol (8 mg·kg-1) no 15º. dia. As concentrações plasmáticas do lansoprazol e de seus dois metabólitos primários, 5-hidroxilansoprazol e sulfona de lansoprazol, foram determinadas por cromatografia líquida de alta eficiência acoplada com espectrometria de massas (CLAE-EM/EM). O polifenol do chá elevou, significativamente, a Área Sob a Curva (ASC) do lansoprazol de 680,29 ± 285,99 para 949,76 ± 155,18 μg/L.h e reduziu a da sulfona de lansoprazol de 268,82 ± 82,37 para 177,72 ± 29,73 μg/L.h. A daidzeína aumentou a ASC do lansoprazol de 680,29 ± 285,99 para 1130,44 ± 97,6 μg/L.h e reduziu a da sulfona de lansoprazol de 268,82 ± 82,37 para 177,72 ± 29,73 μg/L.h. A farmacocinética do 5-hidroxilansoprazol permaneceu intacta na presença de polifenol do chá ou daidzeína. A cafeína não afetou a farmacocinética do lansoprazol e de seus metabólitos. Os resultados sugerem que o polifenol do chá e a daidzeína podem inibir o metabolismo in vivo do lansoprazol por supressão da CYP3A.The aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of caffeine, tea polyphenol and daidzein on the pharmacokinetics of lansoprazole and its metabolites. Rats were intragastrically administered caffeine (30 mg·kg-1, once per day), tea polyphenol (400 mg·kg-1, once per day) or daidzein (13.5 mg·kg-1, once per day) for 14 days, followed by an intragastric administration of lansoprazole (8 mg·kg-1) on the 15th day. The plasma concentrations of lansoprazole and its two primary metabolites, 5-hydroxylansoprazole and lansoprazole sulfone, were determined by high-performance liquid chromatography coupled with tandem mass spectrometry (HPLC-MS/MS). Tea polyphenol significantly elevated the Area Under the Curve (AUC) of lansoprazole from 680.29 ± 285.99 to 949.76 ± 155.18 μg/L.h and reduced that of lansoprazole sulfone from 268.82 ± 82.37 to 177.72 ± 29.73 μg/L.h. Daidzein increased the AUC of lansoprazole from 680.29 ± 285.99 to 1130.44 ± 97.6 μg/L.h and decreased that of lansoprazole sulfone from 268.82 ± 82.37 to 116.23 ± 40.14 μg/L.h. The pharmacokinetics of 5-hydroxylansoprazole remained intact in the presence of tea polyphenol or daidzein. Caffeine did not affect the pharmacokinetics of lansoprazole and its metabolites. The results imply that tea polyphenol and daidzein may inhibit the in vivo metabolism of lansoprazole by suppressing CYP3A

A review of modelling and analysis of morphing wings

Morphing wings have a large potential to improve the overall aircraft performances, in a way like natural flyers do. By adapting or optimising dynamically the shape to various flight conditions, there are yet many unexplored opportunities beyond current proof-of-concept demonstrations. This review discusses the most prominent examples of morphing concepts with applications to two and three-dimensional wing models. Methods and tools commonly deployed for the design and analysis of these concepts are discussed, ranging from structural to aerodynamic analyses, and from control to optimisation aspects. Throughout the review process, it became apparent that the adoption of morphing concepts for routine use on aerial vehicles is still scarce, and some reasons holding back their integration for industrial use are given. Finally, promising concepts for future use are identified

Aeroelastic dynamic response and control of an airfoil section with control surface nonlinearities

Nonlinearities in aircraft mechanisms are inevitable, especially in the control system. It is necessary to investigate the effects of them on the dynamic response and control performance of aeroelastic system. In this paper, based on the state-dependent Riccati equation method, a state feedback suboptimal control law is derived for aeroelastic response and flutter suppression of a three degree-of-freedom typical airfoil section. With the control law designed, nonlinear effects of freeplay in the control surface and time delay between the control input and actuator are investigated by numerical approach. A cubic nonlinearity in pitch degree is adopted to prevent the aeroelastic responses from divergence when the flow velocity exceeds the critical flutter speed. For the system with a freeplay, the responses of both open- and closed-loop systems are determined with Runge-Kutta algorithm in conjunction with Henon's method. This method is used to locate the switching points accurately and efficiently as the system moves from one subdomain into another. The simulation results show that the freeplay leads to a forward phase response and a slight increase of flutter speed of the closed-loop system. The effect of freeplay on the aeroelastic response decreases as the flow velocity increases. The time delay between the control input and actuator may impair control performance and cause high-frequency motion and quasi-periodic vibration

Adaptive control of a nonlinear aeroelastic system

Aeroelastic two-dimensional wing section with both trailing-edge (TE) and leading-edge (LE) was investigated in this paper through numerical simulation in time domain. Structural stiffness and damping in pitch degree of freedom were represented by nonlinear polynomials. Open-loop limit cycle oscillation (LCO) characters of two examples were studied, and flutter boundaries with initial conditions were obtained. Parametric uncertainties in both pitch stiffness and damping were considered in the design of adaptive control laws to depress LCOs. Firstly an adaptive controller based on partial feedback linearization was derived for the wing section with a single TE control surface. Secondly a structured model reference adaptive control law was designed for the aeroelastic system with both TE and LE control surfaces. The results show that the designed control laws are effective for flutter suppression, and that considering damping uncertainty has positive effect on flutter control. It may reduce convergent time or increase flutter speed

Reduced-order modeling of unsteady aerodynamics of a flapping wing based on the Volterra theory

Flapping flight mechanisms offers a power-efficient and highly manoeuvrable basis for the development of micro air vehicles. The aerodynamic knowledge and prediction tools of the flapping wing are quite important for the design of micro air vehicles. In this paper, the unsteady aerodynamics of a flapping wing is investigated by numerical simulations and the generation of reduced-order model based on the Volterra theory for predicting the unsteady aerodynamic of a flapping wing is described. The three dimensional aerodynamic calculation is performed by solving the unsteady Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes equations and the user-defined functions were employed to simulate the flapping motion. The training maneuver is a flapping motion with a linearly increasing flapping frequency. Based on the Volterra theory and numerical simulation results, a reduced-order model is generated to predict the unsteady aerodynamics of a flapping wing. The system identification method is employed to generate the Volterra theory reduced-order model. The results show that the Volterra theory reduced-order model agrees well with the training data and the Volterra theory reduced-order model works well to predict the unsteady aerodynamics of a flapping wing. Keywords: Flapping wing, Computational fluid dynamics, Unsteady aerodynamics, Reduced-order model, Volterra theor

Recent advance in nonlinear aeroelastic analysis and control of the aircraft

A review on the recent advance in nonlinear aeroelasticity of the aircraft is presented in this paper. The nonlinear aeroelastic problems are divided into three types based on different research objects, namely the two dimensional airfoil, the wing, and the full aircraft. Different nonlinearities encountered in aeroelastic systems are discussed firstly, where the emphases is placed on new nonlinear model to describe tested nonlinear relationship. Research techniques, especially new theoretical methods and aeroelastic flutter control methods are investigated in detail. The route to chaos and the cause of chaotic motion of two-dimensional aeroelastic system are summarized. Various structural modeling methods for the high-aspect-ratio wing with geometric nonlinearity are discussed. Accordingly, aerodynamic modeling approaches have been developed for the aeroelastic modeling of nonlinear high-aspect-ratio wings. Nonlinear aeroelasticity about high-altitude long-endurance (HALE) and fight aircrafts are studied separately. Finally, conclusions and the challenges of the development in nonlinear aeroelasticity are concluded. Nonlinear aeroelastic problems of morphing wing, energy harvesting, and flapping aircrafts are proposed as new directions in the future

Robot Pilot: A New Autonomous System toward Flying Manned Aerial Vehicles

The robot pilot is a new concept of a robot system that pilots a manned aircraft, thereby forming a new type of unmanned aircraft system (UAS) that makes full use of the platform maturity, load capacity, and airworthiness of existing manned aircraft while greatly expanding the operation and application fields of UASs. In this research, the implementation and advantages of the robot pilot concept are discussed in detail, and a helicopter robot pilot is proposed to fly manned helicopters. The robot manipulators are designed according to the handling characteristics of the helicopter-controlling mechanism. Based on a kinematic analysis of the robot manipulators, a direct-driving method is established for the robot flight controller to reduce the time delay and control error of the robot servo process. A supporting ground station is built to realize different flight modes and the functional integration of the robot pilot. Finally, a prototype of the helicopter robot pilot is processed and installed in a helicopter to carry out flight tests. The test results show that the robot pilot can independently fly the helicopter to realize forward flight, backward flight, side flight, and turning flight, which verifies the effectiveness of the helicopter robot pilot