The Use of Damping Based Semi-Active Control Algorithms in the Mechanical Smart-Spring System

Abstract

In recent decades, semi-active control strategies have been investigated for vibration reduction. In general, these techniques provide enhanced control performance when compared to traditional passive techniques and lower energy consumption if compared to active control techniques. In semi-active concepts, vibration attenuation is achieved by modulating inertial, stiffness, or damping properties of a dynamic system. The smart spring is a mechanical device originally employed for the effective modulation of its stiffness through the use of semi-active control strategies. This device has been successfully tested to damp aeroelastic oscillations of fixed and rotary wings. In this paper, the modeling of the smart spring mechanism is presented and two semi-active control algorithms are employed to promote vibration reduction through enhanced damping effects. The first control technique is the smart-spring resetting (SSR), which resembles resetting control techniques developed for vibration reduction of civil structures as well as the piezoelectric synchronized switch damping on short (SSDS) technique. The second control algorithm is referred to as the smart-spring inversion (SSI), which presents some similarities with the synchronized switch damping (SSD) on inductor technique previously presented in the literature of electromechanically coupled systems. The effects of the SSR and SSI control algorithms on the free and forced responses of the smart-spring are investigated in time and frequency domains. An energy flow analysis is also presented in order to explain the enhanced damping behavior when the SSI control algorithm is employed.