Large-Scale Self-Powered Vibration Control: Theory and Experiment

Abstract: A self-powered system is a control technology that powers itself by harvesting energy from exogenous disturbances. This article details the design and experimental validation of a prototype self-powered vibration control system, for larger-scale applications (i.e., power flows above 1W and forces on the order of 1kN.) The prototype consists of a linear ballscrew coupled with a permanent-magnet synchronous machine. A custom three-phase inverter is used to control power flow, and a custom half-bridge DC-DC power converter is used to facilitate power flow to and from a storage capacitor. Due to parasitics in the control hardware, feedback laws for self-powered systems must adhere to a feasibility condition tighter than mere passivity. This article implements a tractable control design approach that accounts for this feasibility constraint. The control design is validated via hardware-in-the-loop experiments pertaining to a stochastically-excited tuned vibration absorber.