Vibration damping and isolation systems using direct inertia force control

Abstract

Active vibration control devices are extensively used in various industrial fields. These devices are categorized according to their mechanisms into the following two types: (A) The vibration is controlled by actuators whose ends are connected to the controlled object and to “a fixed floor or a reaction wall”. (B) The vibration is controlled by actuators whose ends are connected to the controlled object and to “movable mass”. Typical types (A) devices are active vibration isolation devices. The advantage of a type (A) device is its excellent vibration control performance. However, it is difficult to downsize these devices because the actuator has to support the controlled object. In contrast, typical type (B) devices are active mass dampers (AMD). They do not need to support the controlled object; therefore, it is possible to realize compact systems. However, the control system design tends to be complicated, especially for multi-axis plants. In this study, we propose a new vibration control system design concept called “Direct Inertia Force Control (DIFC)”. By using DIFC, we can achieve the above mentioned advantages of both types (A) and (B), as well as circumvent the disadvantages. Furthermore, the effectiveness of DIFC is verified via experiments on a newly designed single-degree-of-freedom active vibration control device.

Keywords

• vibration control
• active mass damper
• direct inertia force control