Vibration Control With Magnetically Mounted Piezoelectric Actuators

Abstract

A novel vibration control method utilizing magnetically mounted piezoelectric actuators is described. Piezoelectric actuators are bonded to permanent magnets, which are attached to the surface of a steel cantilever beam through their magnetic attraction. The magnetic-piezoelectric control mounts are an alternative to traditional epoxy attachment methods for piezoelectrics which allows easy in-the-field reconfiguration. In model and laboratory measurements, the beam is driven through base excitation and the resonant shunt and synchronized switching techniques are applied to two magnetic-piezoelectric control mounts to attenuate vibration. The coupled system is discretized using a Galerkin finite element model that incorporates relative axial motion between the beam and the mounts, which is governed by the sticking contact stiffness per unit length of the beam-magnet interface. The control mounts are designed using a magnetic array configuration which increases the attraction force for a given magnet thickness. Results show that the magnetic-piezoelectric control mounts provide attenuation, while also providing the flexibility to easily adjust the actuators along the length of the beam.