Overview



The website aniprop.de mainly addresses the German speaking community. The following pages are written in English or refer to links with contents including English subtitles. The name aniprop was derived from animal propulsion. 

=== ANIPROP GbR in 2020 celebrated its 25th anniversary (1995 - 2020). ===
 
Our business is
  • designing and making experimental equipment for research and education in the fields of fluid mechanics  and the physics of flying.
  • gaining power from the kinetic energy in fluids, the stroke-wing engine.
  • preparing results in aeronautical sciences and biophysics of animal flight for educational purposes.
  • thematic consulting for museums and exhibitions.
  • Wolfgang Send (homepage) was among the prize winners of the Berblinger Competition 2006 awarded for the feasibility study of a two-seated airplane Berblinger 2 which is powered by flapping wings. 
Our website 
  • reports current matters and new developments in our business,
  • recommends scientific and didactic publications (basically on German web sites),
  • wants to be regarded as a source of information covering our field of "moving wings".
  • For prices and terms of delivery, please see the German page supplies. We recommend to contact us for any questions and further information in English.
Current activities
  • Buying a Windtunnel Two versions are provided: The Large Windtunnel GWK3, up to 20 m/s at 1.7 kW, and the Small Windtunnel KWK3, up to 15 m/s at 0.18 kW. For particular applications, don't hesitate to contact our company. Several special designs und sizes were produced in recent years.
  • Vita and selected papers of W. Send. English description of former and current activities. See also authorized  profile in Google Scholar
  • The test stand ANIPROP RL3, for the first time, is described in a paper Thrust Measurement for Flapping-Flight Components for the ICAS 2010 Congress (International Council of the Aeronautical Sciences): www.icas.org/ICAS_ARCHIVE/ICAS2010/PAPERS/446.PDF The PDF version of the oral presentation (5 MBytes) also is available.
  • Experimental courses in English: One week course Physics of Flying. The course may be reduced to a minimum of two days or extended to a two-weeks programme. The number of participants is limited to a maximum of 16 students (four groups with four students in each group). Suggested are 12 students, where three students work at four different experiments at the same time. The details are subject to the customers' requirements. The experimental equipment is provided by the lecturer.
  • Lessons for young students: We make wind! The experimental equipment is provided by the lecturer. Prices for lectures currently are listed on the German pages only.

After J. Send joined the company mid-2013, she widened ANIPROP GbR's scope of business, producing a remarkable piece of art: the replica of the machine for generating static electricity which was used in Göttingen by Georg Christoph Lichtenberg (1742 - 1799), notable for his lectures on experimental physics. The original machine is kept at the  Physicalisches Cabinet, which is maintained by the Physics Department of the University of Göttingen. 
  • The making of the machine was completed in February 2015. Unfortunately, there is not yet an English version of the explanation available. A picture of the machine shows the effect of static electricity, generated by the curator of the exhibition in which the replica for the first time was on display. A second replica of the original machine was planned right from the beginning and still is purchasable.
  • Johanna Send gives the lecture on the Lichtenberg figures since 1992 (250. anniversary of Lichtenberg's birthday) both in German and English.
  • Accompanying a publication in the Annual Volume 2020 of the Lichtenberg-Society on "Lichtenberg's Heritage", all Experiments are documented in a series of video clips. Up to now, the takes are available with comments in German only. 

An interesting book:
  • Living machines - A handbook of research in biomimetics and biohybrid systems - Oxford University Press (W. Send contributes chapter 46: "Winged artifacts"). 
The individual chapters not only introduce to the state-of-the-art in the respective fields, they also refer to further reading and give an outlook onto future research.
 
On September 1st 2017 a new project BigBird XL was launched. It is designed as a commercial product with a maximum take-off weight of 25 kg and a payload of up to 10 kg. The aim of the project is to use the silent and efficient flapping-flight mechanism in nature for an aerial vehicle (bending/torsional drive). The former SmartBird-Team in cooperation with the Institute of Flight System Dynamics of the RWTH Aachen University runs the project, which the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy partially finances within the framework of its Central Innovation Programme (ZIM) for SMEs (small and medium-sized enterprises).
During the term of the project, ANIPROP GbR's Dr. W. Send was employed by the Steinbeis gGmbH as scientific consultant. Send layed out the aerial vehicle and is responsible for the accompanying experiments. The project was granted for two years. 
  • The project was presented at the 2018 German National Aerospace Congress. Due to recent events, the English translation of the conference paper is now available. In addition to the economic perspectives and the design of BigBird XL, an introduction to the design of an aircraft with bending torsion drive is also given:
Project BigBird XL - Commercial Use of the  Bending/Torsional Drive
W. Send (10 S., 1.2 MB). The concept for the BigBird XL unmanned aerial vehicle is presented, whose propulsion follows the flapping flight in nature. The technical implementation, called bending/torsional propulsion, allows the functional integration of the two essential features of carrying weight and generating thrust in the wings of the aerial vehicle, which is planned for commercial use. These design features result in virtually silent and highly efficient locomotion. Both aspects justify the expected commercial success. With a wingspan of 5 m, BigBird XL is designed for a take-off weight of up to 25 kg and a payload of up to 10 kg. The design of the aerial vehicle follows from the specification of the primary parameters of degree of evolution, weight and aspect ratio, from which the secondary parameters of wing loading, wing area and wingspan follow directly.

Former projects
was displayed at the Festo AG during the 2014 industry fair "Hannovermesse". Working together with the development engineers of the Festo AG, we introduced - within the frame of Festo's Bionic Learning Network - a further development of the stroke-wing engine. Flapping wings extract energy from an air current. The fluid mechanical properties of such airfoils differ significantly from those of conventional wind rotors. High energy gain at high efficiency is  found in particular for lower wind velocities.

Our most spectacular project SmartBird
was launched in 2009. It was initiated and got full financial support by the Festo Company's Bionic Learning Network. The project was intended to have a closer look at the efficiency of animal flight. An artificial hinged-wing bird with active torsion and partially linear kinematics was developed. Besides the scientific expertise ANIPROP GbR contributed special tools in the course of the project for indepth research on the bird's components. The outcome was presented on the occasion of the international industry fair "Hannovermesse" 2011, April 4-8. More about the project may be found on Festo's SmartBird page. The project is documented in a short film "The Making of ...". A scientific publication was presented at the  ICAS Congress 2012 in Brisbane (International Congress of the Aeronautical Sciences). An article in "SCIENCE 23 March 2012 written by Dana Mackenzie gives some insight into the background of the SmartBird project .