“Folding wing design for a drone”
Jenny Horing, S.B. ’18, mechanical engineering
Advisor: Scott Kuindersma, Assistant Professor of Engineering and Computer Science
Horing’s project was inspired by pigeons, which are able to fold their wings back to avoid upcoming obstacles while in flight. She designed a foldable wing for a drone that can be quickly retracted during flight, while maintaining the lift of the micro aerial vehicle. Horing designed a tapered wing using a technique of layering wood, plastics, and adhesives to keep the wing light enough so it would not hamper the drone’s ability to fly. Then, using a motor for actuation, she incorporated a pulley and spring to retract the wing during flight in only 2.5 seconds, then reopen the wing after the drone clears an obstacle. Her design was able to reduce the wingspan of the drone by 47 percent.
“The application of this design to fixed wing drones would allow many different flight paths previously inaccessible to drones due to their large and restrictive wingspan. With the ability to reduce its wingspan while maintaining flight, the drone will be able to avoid collisions and fit through much tighter spaces,” she said. “This would be useful for search and rescue drones in particular, in order to get closer to the danger and assess the situation.”