Design of strain-gage balances for micro air vehicles and their experiments in wind tunnel

In this paper, 4 kinds of strain-gauge balances with 3-ridges or 4-ridges aluminum construction, designed recently for measuring aerodynamic characteristics of micro air vehicles (MAVs) will be discussed in detail. The applying formula of these balances is given through ground static calibrating. In a special wind tunnel, with these balances, the aerodynamic characteristics of the soft model, stiff model, airfoil model and flapping-wing MAV are obtained. The testing results indicate that these balances have relatively high accuracy and sensitivity, and that the curves of the experiments are smooth and continue. In addition, the experimental data is reliable. In a word, these balances have provided some effective methods for MAVs' research.