Active vibration control of cantilever beam using

MFC sensor and actuator

W.K. Miao, M.L. Xu, C.S. Wu
State Key Laboratory for Strength and Vibration of Mechanical Structures,
School of Aerospace, Xi’an Jiaotong University, P.R. China

ABSTRACT

In this paper, three Macro Fiber Composite (MFC) patches are applied for vibration
sensing and active control for a cantilever beam. Two of them are utilized as actuators:
one provides the excitation force, the other creates the control force. The third one is
used as a sensor. The sensitivity of MFC sensor is obtained by the test of sensing
capability of MFC. Utilizing PD and fuzzy control algorithms, the active vibration control
of the first two vibration modes is implemented. The effectiveness of the MFC sensor
and actuator for sensing and controlling vibration is validated by experiment.

1 INTRODUCTION

Cantilever structures can be found in various important fields, for example, the solar
panel of the satellite, the UAV with long wingspan, and the rotor wing of helicopter. The
vibration will easily occur when they are subjected to the excitation from the external
environment, which always threatens the safety of the structure. Thus, the vibration
control becomes the key to ensure their structural safety.

Adopting piezoelectric actuators to control vibration has already been the subject of
researches. However, traditional piezoelectric material, PZT, has extremely brittle
characteristic which restricts its application (1). A kind of leading low-profile actuator
and sensor, Macro Fiber Composite (MFC) invented by NASA, is flexible, durable, reliable,
and easily surface-bonded. When subjected to voltage, it can deform materials, suppress
or generate vibration. Conversely, it is a sensitive strain sensor with no voltage
excitation (2). MFC have already been used as actuator for vibration control in
aerospace devices by NASA’s Langley Research Center (3). In recent years, MFC has been
applied in various fields of vibration monitoring and control. Many relevant studies have
been conducted by researchers. Salim Azzouz (4) modeled the MFC/AFC actuators and
investigated the performance of MFC. In another study, Ro, Jeng-Jong (5) used MFC
actuators to control the flexural vibration of the circular handlebars of a bicycle. In a
work by Vadiraja (6), the experimental results revealed that MFC can be used to sense
and control the vibration of rotating composite beams.

In this study, MFC sensor and actuator are utilized to sense and control the first two
vibration modes of a cantilever beam using PD and fuzzy control algorithms.

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© The author(s) and/or their employer(s), 2014 447
2 EXPERIMENTAL OBJECT AND MODAL ANALYSIS

The experimental object, shown in fig. 1, is a cantilever beam whose cross section is
rectangular. The length, width, and thickness of the cantilever beam are 370mm, 20mm,
and 1.39mm respectively. The thickness of all MFC patches is 0.3mm. Two pieces of MFC
patches (M2814-P1), whose length and width are 38mm and 20mm respectively, are
surface-bonded on the cantilever beam as actuators. One MFC patch (M0714-P2), whose
length and width are both 16mm, is boned on another side as a sensor. For convenience,
the MFC actuator closer to the clamped end is defined No.1 to produce control force, and
the other one is defined No.2 to provide excitation force. The MFC sensor is named No.3.
In order to provide base for exciting the cantilever beam, the sine sweep frequency
experiment is conducted. Here, we use laser displacement sensor to get the frequency
response as shown in fig. 2, which indicates that the first three natural frequencies are
respectively 8.27Hz, 51.14Hz, and 142.4Hz. A photograph of sweep frequency
experimental setup is shown in fig. 3.

Fig. 1. Experimental object and MFC bonded locations in two sides of beam

Fig. 2. Frequency response at free end Fig. 3. Sweep frequency setup

3 SENSING CAPABILITY TEST OF MFC SENSOR

Given that MFC is a sensitive strain sensor, it is necessary to test the sensing capability
of MFC to obtain its sensitivity. Fig. 4 presents the experimental setup of sensing test.
The amplified sinusoidal excitation signal at 8.27Hz is applied to the No.2 MFC patch to
make the cantilever beam vibrate as the first vibration mode. Meanwhile, the No.3 MFC
patch is utilized to measure the strain of cantilever beam end. Use an oscilloscope to
simultaneously observe the signal from the laser displacement sensor and charge-
amplifier. The sensitivity of charge-amplifier is 1mV/pC. Thus, the charge generated by
MFC sensor can be figured out. Corresponding strain can also be figured out according to
amplitude measured by laser displacement sensor.

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As can be seen in fig. 5, the output signal of the MFC sensor is well sinusoidal curve. And
fig. 6 illustrates the relationship between output charge of MFC sensor and average
strain of the cantilever beam end, which describes a well linear relationship. The result
indicates that the sensitivity of MFC (M0714-P2) is 225.28 pC / με . With the purpose of
investigating the sensing capability of MFC much further, MFC sensor is utilized to
obtain the frequency response of the cantilever beam. As shown in fig. 7, it is indicated
that the data measured with MFC sensor is nearly consistent with the result acquired by
using laser displacement sensor before. Actually, owing to the higher electromechanical
coupling, the frequency response obtained with MFC sensor is more distinct. All above
results reveal that MFC is a very excellent vibration sensor.

Fig. 4. Experimental setup of sensing test Fig. 5. Output signal of MFC sensor

Fig. 6. Charge-strain relationship Fig. 7. Frequency response with MFC

4 ACTIVE VIBRATION CONTROL

As shown in fig. 8, utilizing PD and fuzzy control algorithms, a closed-loop control

system which consists of a dSPACE system, three MFC patches, a signal generator, an
oscilloscope, and a high voltage driver is built. The dSPACE system is utilized to
implement the PD and fuzzy controller. Here, we experimentally investigate the
suppression of first two vibration modes. The No.2 MFC patch is subjected to a
sinusoidal signal at the first two natural frequencies of the cantilever beam, which leads
to the first vibration mode and second vibration mode of the cantilever beam,
respectively. Meanwhile, the No.3 MFC patch monitors the vibration. And the No.1 MFC
patch is utilized to suppress the vibration.

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 Fig. 8. Schematic diagram and experimental setup of active control

4.1 PD control results

As a common and mature algorithm, the PD control algorithm is selected to obtain the
control voltage, which depends on two control parameters, namely kp and kd. While
controlling, the appropriate control signal figured out by selecting suitable control
parameters is applied to the No.1 MFC patch. The strain of the cantilever beam end can
be figured out with the sensitivity of the MFC sensor and the charge-amplifier

Fig. 9 and fig. 10 respectively exhibit the time response and frequency response of the
first two vibration modes before and after control. For the first vibration mode, the
control parameters, kp and kd, equal 70 and 1 respectively while the corresponding
parameters are -100 and -0.1 for the second vibration mode. Experimental results
clearly indicate that the vibration attenuation of the first and second vibration mode is,
respectively, 92.7% and 94.4%.

Fig. 9. Time response and frequency response of the first vibration mode
before and after control by PD algorithm

Fig. 10. Time response and frequency response of the second vibration mode
before and after control by PD algorithm

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4.2 Fuzzy control results
In this section, the vibration of the cantilever beam is controlled by fuzzy algorithm
which has three control parameters, namely ke, kec, and ku. The control process is similar
to the PD control. And the control parameters, ke, kec, and ku are -0.5, -0.5, and -9 for the
first vibration mode and 10, 0.05, and-5.5 for the second vibration mode. The results are
presented in fig. 11 and fig. 12, revealing that vibration attenuation of the first and
second vibration mode is, respectively, 96.8% and 95.5%.

Fig. 11. Time response and frequency response of the first vibration mode
before and after control by fuzzy algorithm

Fig. 12. Time response and frequency response of the second vibration mode
before and after control by fuzzy algorithm

5 CONCLUSION

In this study, the Macro Fiber Composite (MFC) is utilized as actuator and sensor. Two
MFC (M2814-P1) patches are utilized as actuators: one provides the excitation force, the
other creates the control force. Meanwhile, one MFC (M0714-P2) patch is applied to
sensing the vibration. Firstly, with a laser displacement sensor, the natural frequency is
obtained by sweep frequency experiment. Then, the test of the sensing capability of MFC
sensor is conducted to acquire the sensitivity, which demonstrates that MFC own the
excellent sensing performance. Compared with the laser displacement sensor, more
distinct frequency response is obtained by using MFC sensor, which further proves the
excellent sensing property of MFC senor. Finally, the active vibration control for the
cantilever beam is implemented, whose results clearly indicate that, using the PD
algorithm and fuzzy algorithm, the first two vibration modes of the cantilever beam are
obviously suppressed by the MFC sensor and actuator. This work provides an effective
approach to control vibration of cantilever structures by utilizing MFC as actuator and
sensor. The methods used in this study can be applied in many fields.

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