Active vibration control of a flexible beam, based on flow source control

Abstract

This paper presents a new method of actively controlling the vibration of a flexible beam by using a rigid body motion actuator based on flow source control. The proposed flow source controller generates a control input of a rotating angle instead of a torque that acts as an effort source control input. It is shown that the proposed flow source control improves the vibration suppression performance when disturbance forces such as friction forces are involved in the rigid body motion dynamics. The stability and the robustness to disturbance of the flow source controller are compared with an effort source controller. An optimal control theory is used to design the flow source vibration controller and a conventional PD controller is used for the motor position controller. Computer simulations and experimental results on a rotating beam system show that the vibration control performance achieved by the proposed flow source control method is superior to that of an effort source control method.