Faculty of Design, Kyushu University, Fukuoka, 815-8540, Japan.
Graduate School of Engineering, Nagasaki University, Nagasaki, 852-8521, Japan.
Sci Rep. 2021 Oct 14;11(1):18631. doi: 10.1038/s41598-021-98242-y.
Insects have acquired various types of wings over their course of evolution and have become the most successful terrestrial animals. Consequently, the essence of their excellent environmental adaptability and locomotive ability should be clarified; a simple and versatile method to artificially reproduce the complex structure and various functions of these innumerable types of wings is necessary. This study presents a simple integral forming method for an insect-wing-type composite structure by 3D printing wing frames directly onto thin films. The artificial venation generation algorithm based on the centroidal Voronoi diagram, which can be observed in the wings of dragonflies, was used to design the complex mechanical properties of artificial wings. Furthermore, we implemented two representative functions found in actual insect wings: folding and coupling. The proposed crease pattern design software developed based on a beetle hindwing enables the 3D printing of foldable wings of any shape. In coupling-type wings, the forewing and hindwing are connected to form a single large wing during flight; these wings can be stored compactly by disconnecting and stacking them like cicada wings.
昆虫在进化过程中获得了各种类型的翅膀，成为了最成功的陆地动物。因此，应该阐明它们卓越的环境适应性和运动能力的本质；需要一种简单而通用的方法来人工复制这些无数类型翅膀的复杂结构和各种功能。本研究提出了一种通过 3D 打印将机翼框架直接打印到薄膜上来制造昆虫翅型复合材料结构的简单整体成型方法。基于蜻蜓翅膀中可以观察到的质心 Voronoi 图的人工脉生成算法，用于设计人工翅膀的复杂机械性能。此外，我们实现了实际昆虫翅膀中发现的两个代表性功能：折叠和耦合。基于甲虫后翅开发的提出的褶皱图案设计软件，可以实现任何形状的可折叠翅膀的 3D 打印。在耦合式翅膀中，前翼和后翼在飞行中连接形成单个大翅膀；这些翅膀可以通过断开连接并像蝉翼一样堆叠起来，紧凑地存放。
