Adaptive-passive vibration control system

Abstract: A passive-adaptive vibration control system is provided wherein various elements of the system may be adapted on-line in response to sensed vibrations. A spring/weight vibration absorber (160, 165) is attached to a vibrating body, such as the drum (115) of a laundry machine (100), to absorb energy generated by the drum, to minimize the transmission of vibrations to a structure, such as the body of the machine (100) in mechanical communication with the drum. The mass of the weight (160) of the vibration absorber may be adjusted, on-line, to compensate for sensed vibrations. A vibration sensor (170) is connected to the vibrating body so as to sense the level of vibration above a desired level and to send a signal representative of that vibration to an electronic controller (180). The electronic controller (180) is designed to instruct an actuator arrangement (182, 184) to adapt the mass of the weight to compensate for the sensed vibration. For example, the weight (160) may be a chamber, the mass of which may be adjusted by adding or releasing a fluid to or from the chamber via the actuator arrangement (182,184) under the control of the controller (180).

Description: This invention relates generally to vibration control, and more specifically to a system of passive vibration control having adaptive elements. There are many instances where undesired mechanical vibrations are transmitted through a structure or assembly of structures which are in mechanical communication. Dishwashers, refrigerators, satellite-antennae, heavy machinery, sensitive computer and other electronic equipment, electric generators in an RV or on a ship, stacks and mufflers, and engine-body structure of a vehicle are all examples of structures with vibrating bodies in communication with other structures. Prior devices have attempted to reduce the amount of vibration in a system by designing passive mounting systems that are mechanically "tuned" to the vibrating body to ensure that system resonances do not occur at primary system operational frequencies, thereby reducing the amount of transmitted noise and vibrations. However, due to wear and tear of the mounting system over time, as well as changes in the dynamic characteristics of the vibrating body and the attached structure, the system may become "out of tune" and vibrations may surpass a desired threshold. Thus a purely passive mounting system, may not satisfy today's specifications. Further, current industry trends, e.g., appliances and HVAC equipment, have focused on the development of variable speed industrial machinery applications in order to increase operational efficiency and prolong machinery life. As a result, it is no longer practical to seek to use passive elements "tuned" to fixed frequencies to reduce vibrations and noise over the entire operational frequency range. Various publications and patents have introduced possible solutions in an attempt to solve the above described problems using active vibration control techniques. Others have proposed different techniques for either a modified controller or actuation mechanism or both to compensate for the present problem. However, many of the proposed techniques are designed to work with active noise control and may not be applicable to the vibration control problem. Active vibration control techniques are typically complex, expensive, and may not be economically feasible for many types of industrial machinery. Additionally, active control systems may, in fact, be beyond what is necessary to control vibrations in appliances, generator sets, compressors, etc. There is a need for for a vibration control system which overcomes the shortcomings of a purely passive system, while avoiding the complexity and expense of an active system, and, which is adaptive, on-line, to compensate for variations in system characteristics. Various systems which go some way towards meeting the above objectives (on which the pre-characterising part of claim 1 is based) are described in Patent GB 1528486. In a first system described in GB 1528486, a combined spring and mass vibration absorbing system is connected to a vibrating body. In a second embodiment described therein, a sensor senses vibrations in the vibrating body and sends a feedback signal to the system which changes a variable parameter of the system so that it passively absorbs vibrations. In this document, there is outlined that the first embodiment is optionally provided with the feedback system described by the second embodiment. In the vibration absorbing system described, it is only the stiffness of the spring which constitutes the variable parameter. According to the present invention there is provided a vibration absorbing system for minimizing the transmission of vibrations from a vibrating body to at least one structure in mechanical communication with the vibrating body, comprising a combined spring and mass vibration absorbing system independent of said mechanical communication, the spring being connected to the vibrating body and the mass being a weight connected to the spring thereby the stiffness of said spring and the mass of said weight provide passive absorption of vibrations; an actuator means for adjusting a variable parameter of the vibration absorbing system; a sensor for sensing the vibration in the vibrating body and/or in the structure connected to the vibrating body, said sensor providing to the actuator means a variable output feedback signal corresponding to the sensed vibration; and an electric controller connected to receive said feedback signal from said sensor indicative of the sensed vibration, and to relay a control signal to said actuator means instructing said actuator means to automatically adjust the variable parameter of the vibration absorbing system in a manner to minimize the sensed vibrations, thereby said variable parameter is adaptively varied by said actuator means in accordance with said feedback signal from said sensor, characterized in that said variable parameter of the vibration absorbing system comprises the mass of said weight . In various embodiments described below, in addition to the mass of the weight being variable, the stiffness of the spring may also be variable. In one particular embodiment, the spring is a mechanical spring in which the number of active springs used by the system is set by a stepper motor under the control of the electronic controller. In another embodiment, the spring includes an air spring, in which the air pressure is controlled by the electronic controller which operates a pump and release valve. In a further embodiment, strips of shape memory alloy are embedded in the spring material and are activated by a current source operated using signals obtained by the electronic controller. Further, multiple embodiments of the present invention may be cascaded in order to minimize vibrations due to a plurality of excitation frequencies. Reference will now be made to the accompanying drawings, in which:- FIG. 1 is a front cross-sectional view of a prior art device having a purely passive vibration absorber incorporated therein; FIG. 2 is a front view of a system including a vibration absorber of the type shown in Fig. 1; FIG. 3 shows the classical model of the system of Fig. 2 showing the forces acting on the vibrating body; FIG. 4 is a front cross-sectional view of a device including an adaptive-passive vibration absorber having a spring/mass combination wherein the mass of a weight used in the vibration absorber may be adjusted on-line in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention; FIG. 5 is a front, partial cut-away view of a system including an adaptive-passive spring/mass type vibration absorber, wherein the stiffness of a mechanical spring may be adjusted on-line which system could be incorporated in a system according to the present invention; FIG. 6 is a front view of a system including an adaptive-passive spring/mass type vibration absorber, wherein the stiffness of a pneumatic spring may be adjusted on-line which system could be incorporated in a system according to the present invention; FIG. 7 is a front view of a system including an adaptive-passive spring/mass type vibration absorber, wherein the stiffness of a spring, which includes strips of a shape memory alloy, may be adapted on-line which system could be incorporated in a system according to the present invention; FIG. 8 is a front view of a system including at least two adaptive-passive spring/mass type vibration absorbers, cascaded in series, in accordance with a further embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 9 is a classical model of a system including at least two adaptive-passive spring/mass type vibration absorbers, cascaded in series, in accordance with an additional embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 10 is a front view of a system having a vibrating body in mechanical communication with a structure, via mounting brackets. FIG. 11 is a classical representation of the system shown in FIG. 10, showing the forces acting upon the vibrating body. FIG. 12 is a system having a vibration absorber in accordance with an additional embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 13 is a block diagram of the control logic used in the present invention. FIG. 14 is a schematic diagram of one embodiment of an electronic controller for use with the present invention. For the purposes of promoting an understanding of the principles of the invention, reference will now be made to the embodiment illustrated in the drawings and specific language will be used to describe the same. In FIG. 1 there is shown a structure incorporating a prior art passive vibration absorption system which is tuned to absorb, and thus minimize transmission of, vibrations caused by a device such as rotating machinery or a vibrating body (motor, compressor, engine, etc.) operating at a single speed and generating an excitation at a single time varying excitation frequency. For the purposes of this disclosure, the term "vibrating body" is meant to include any body that is subject to vibrations, including rotating machinery, etc. More specifically, FIG. 1 shows a laundry machine 10 having a laundry drum 15 including a motor 20 for operating the drum 15. The drum 15 is connected to the chassis 40 of the laundry machine 10 by body mounts 30. In operation, the laundry machine 10 may become unbalanced due to the presence of an imbalanced load 50 in the drum 15. This imbalance will cause mechanical vibrations to be transmitted throughout the laundry machine 10, as well as to an assembly of structures in mechanical communication with laundry machine 10. As such, a purely passive vibration absorber 67, comprising a spring 65 and a weight 60, is connected to the drum 15, at which the undesired mechanical vibrations are generated. The spring constant k of spring 65 and the mass m of weight 60 are chosen off-line so as to mechanically "tune" the system to ensure that system resonances do not occur at a fixed primary system operational frequency, thus reducing the amount of transmitted noise and vibrations due to the drum. The tuned vibration absorber 67 will work to absorb vibrations caused by any imbalance within the drum 15. The structure of FIG. 1, as well as other types of systems including a vibrating body and a structure in mechanical communication with the vibrating body through a mounting structure, may generally be modelled as shown in FIGS. 2 and 3. More specifically, FIG. 2 shows a system 10' including a vibrating body 40' which is mounted to a structure 30'. Due to imbalances caused by the motor and/or load combination 20' an excitation is generated which vibrates both the vibrating body 40' and the structure 30', which is in mechanical communication with the vibrating body. Classically modelling the system of FIG. 2, it can be seen from FIG. 3 that there exists an excitation or vibration force X 1 in the system 10". Vibrating body 40" has a mass M, stiffness K, and damping force B. Note that K and B may be an equivalent stiffness and damping of the body and its mounting system and is illustrated as K/2 and B/2 in two locations. The vibration absorber 67" of the system 10" includes an equivalent spring 65" having a stiffness k and a weight 60" having a mass m. Based on the frequency domain analysis of this system, the following displacements for masses M and m result when an excitation F(t) is applied, wherein F(t)= F 0 sinωt. X 1 F = k-mω 2 [k(K-mω 2 )-Mω 2 (k-mω 2 )-kω 2 (M+m)] 2 + B 2 ω 2 (k-mω 2 ) 2 X 2 F = k [k(K-mω 2 )-Mω 2 (k-mω 2 )-kω 2 (M+n)] 2 + B 2 ω 2 (k-mω 2 ) 2 By choosing either k=mω 2 or m=k/ω 2 the value of the excitation X 1 will be set to zero, thus there will be no vibration throughout the system. Instead the vibration absorber will absorb all of the energy produced by the excitation. One problem with such devices is that past systems have assumed that the excitation frequency of the vibrating body will always be constant. Thus, prior art systems have attempted to cancel the vibration resulting from the excitation X 1 by tuning the system off-line to solve equations (3) or (4), resulting in constant values for the stiffness k and mass m of the system. The present invention is an adaptive-passive system wherein vibration cancellation will occur for possibly varying frequencies of a system, whether the differing frequencies are attributable to multiple variable motor speeds of the device or wear and tear in the system that tends to alter the excitation frequency or to some other cause. Namely the adaptive-passive systems of the present invention can alter the stiffness, k, and/or the mass, m, of the vibration cancellation system, on-line, to compensate for changing excitation frequencies. In FIG. 4, there is shown one embodiment of the present adaptive-passive system invention wherein the mass portion of the spring/mass vibration absorber is adjusted on-line to compensate for vibrations detected in the system. These vibrations may be due to changing excitation frequencies caused by variable speed motors or other considerations, as discussed herein. The present embodiment is especially suited for use with systems dealing with hydraulics, e.g. laundry machines and hydraulic presses. However, other applications will become apparent from the descriptions provided herewith. In FIG. 4, there is shown a laundry device 100, similar to that of FIG. 1, with one major difference being that the vibration absorber mass of the weight 160 is adjusted in response to detected vibrations. The laundry device 100 includes a drum 115 driven by a motor 120. Drum 115 is mechanically connected to the laundry machine 100 by body mounts 130. Further, a vibration sensor 170 is mounted to the drum 115 for measuring the amount of vibration produced at the drum 115. Alternatively, vibration sensor 170 may be located on the body of the laundry machine, in order to measure the amount of vibration actually transmitted to laundry machine 100. In the present embodiment, directly measuring the excitation frequency is unnecessary, e.g. measuring motor rpm. Rather, a vibration sensor 170, such as an accelerometer, is used as a feedback sensor to directly measure the amount of vibration occuring at the drum 115. In the alternative, the excitation frequency may be measured and used in the present invention in addition to or instead of a signal from a vibration sensor. For the purposes of illustration, a vibration sensor is used in all embodiments of the present invention. The vibration sensor 170 is electrically connected to an electronic controller 180, as well as to inlet valve 182 and outlet valve 184. The weight 160 comprises an empty enclosed chamber of constant volume. The mass of weight 160 when empty is m o A. The mass may be adjusted by adding or releasing fluid to the weight 160. Although the present embodiment uses fluid to change the mass of weight 160, other means may be used to change the mass, for example, sand may be added and removed from the weight. However, fluid is the preferred substance for use with the present embodiment. A fluid source 192 is connected via inlet hose 192 to the weight 160. The electronic controller 180 operates inlet valve 182 to control the amount of fluid permitted to flow into the weight 160 from the fluid source 192. Likewise, the electronic controller 180 operates outlet valve 184, which is connected to an outlet hose 194, to control the evacuation of fluid from the weight 160. Outlet hose 194 may be connected to a drain which is external to the laundry machine, or may alternatively drain into the same drainage channel as the laundry machine, or may further be pumped back into the fluid source container 192 using a pump (not shown). The total mass of the weight 160, when filled with fluid, is initially chosen, off-line, based upon the lowest excitation frequency present in the system for which reduction is contemplated. The stiffness, k, of the spring is optimized for a medium value of the excitation frequency. In operation, if a vibration is detected by the feedback vibration sensor 170, the control circuitry operates either inlet valve 182 or outlet valve 184 to admit or release fluid from the weight 160, thus changing the mass of the weight 160 by adjusting the fluid mass Δm portion of the total mass of the weight (total mass m=m 0 + Δm, wherein Δm is the mass of the fluid in the chamber 160). If the excitation frequency increases, the total mass, m, should be reduced. Thus outlet valve 184 is opened to reduce the Δm portion of the total mass m of the vibration absorber. If the excitation frequency decreases, then the outlet valve is closed and the inlet valve is opened, causing an increase in the total mass, m of the vibration absorber. Thus the system can be adapted on-line to changes in the excitation frequency. In addition to the mass of the weight being variable, the stiffness of the spring may also be variable. Figs. 5-7 show three different ways in which the stiffness, k, of the spring could be adjusted to optimise the spring/mass vibration absorber. The system shown in Figs. 5-7 per se do not fall within the scope of the invention since they do not include means for varying the mass of the weight. In the system shown in Fig. 5, the stiffness, k, of the spring can be written as: k = GD 4 64R 3 N Wherein D is the diameter of the coil wire, G is the shear modulus of the spring, R is the mean coil radius of the spring, and N is the number of active coils in the spring. Based upon equation (5), in order to change the stiffness, k, of the spring, and thus adapt the vibration absorber, on-line, the number of active coils in the system must be changed. Fig. 5 shows one system useful for changing the number of coils used in the vibration absorber, and thus changing the spring stiffness, k. A vibrating body 210 (e.g. a drum of a laundry machine, a vehicle engine, a compressor, etc.) is in mechanical communication with a structure 270, via mounts 230. A small stepper motor (or a DC motor) 240 is mounted to the vibrating body 210. A helical spring 265 is attached to the motor shaft 245 of the stepper motor 240 and is passed through a support bracket 250. A mass 260 is attached to the free end of an active spring 265. When the motor rotates in one direction (i.e. clockwise), it forces the upper section of the spring 165 to pass downward through the bracket 250, and, consequently, increases the number of active coils of the spring 265. According to equation (5), increasing the number of active coils will decrease the stiffness, k, of the spring 265. If the motor is driven in the opposite direction, it will retract coils of the spring up through the bracket 250, thus reducing the number of active coils and increasing the stiffness, k. The motor 240 is controlled by an electronic controller 285 which may be identical to that used in connection with the embodiment of FIG. 4. Similarly, a vibration sensor 275 may be connected to either the vibrating body or the structure mechanically connected to the vibrating body via the mounts 230, as described in connection with FIG. 4. FIG. 6 shows a further system 300 wherein the stiffness, k, of the spring is adjusted to aid with vibration absorption and minimum vibration transmission. System 300 is similar to that of system 400 of FIG. 5 in that a vibrating body 310 is mechanically connected to a structure 370 via body mounts 330, and that a spring/mass combination is connected to the vibrating body for absorbing the vibration energy from the main structure of the device. Likewise, a vibration sensor 375 may be connected to either the vibrating body 310, or to the base structure 370. Further, a controller 385 is used to adjust the stiffness, k, of the spring in response to a signal from the vibration sensor. However, the system 300 differs from that shown in FIG. 5 in that, instead of a purely mechanical spring, a pneumatic spring is used. An air pump 340 is used to increase the air pressure inside the air bag 320, which is the pneumatic spring. A discharge valve 347, controlled by the electronic controller 385, may be opened to reduce the air pressure. The stiffness of the pneumatic spring is given in terms of the air pressure as: k = A 2 nP V where P is the air pressure inside the air bag, V is the volume of the air bag, A is the contact area between the air bag and the vibrating body 310, and n is the polytropic constant. The electronic controller 385 is used to regulate the air pressure inside the air bag, and thus, the stiffness, k of the pneumatic spring. In yet another system, shown in FIG. 7, a shape memory alloy type material may be embedded inside the spring portion of the vibration absorber. The shape memory material may be activated by an electric current generated by current source 440 in response to sensed vibrations. Strips of shape metal alloy springs 465 may be connected between the vibration absorber weight 460 and the vibrating body 410. A current source 440 would provide sufficient current to the shape metal alloy springs 465 via conductors 442 to change the stiffness, k, of the springs 465. Further, the number of shape memory alloy strips embedded in the spring material and connected to the current source may be varied such that current may be selectively supplied by the current source 440 to particular strips, as determined by a signal from the controller, so that the stiffness of the springs may be adjustable in a continuous, rather than a discrete manner. For example, the stiffness of the springs 465 may be varied along a continuum of stiffnesses depending on the number and location of embedded shape memory alloy strips to which the current is supplied (e.g. four out of eight strips in each spring activated such that every other strip is relaxed). Further, it may be possible to continuously, rather than discretely, change the stiffness of the springs by varying the level of applied current so as to prevent a complete martinsite transition of the shape memory material, and thus vary the stiffness. As with the previously described embodiments, the signal generated by the electronic controller 485 is in response to a vibration signal obtained from a vibration sensor 475. Additionally, it is possible that a vibrating body may be excited by two independant, time varying frequencies. As such the excitation force may be written as: F(t) = Asinω 1 t + Bsinω 2 t In cases where two such independent time varying frequencies exist, the adaptive-passive vibration absorber of the present invention may be adapted to include two adaptive vibration absorbers cascaded in series or placed along the same vibration axis. FIG. 8 shows one such system wherein two vibration absorbers of the type described in connection with FIG. 4 are connected in series to provide for the absorption of vibrations at two separate excitation frequencies. Other combinations of variable mass and possibly variable stiffness vibration absorbers may be used. For example, a multiple frequency vibration absorber may be chosen to include a variable spring stiffness/constant mass type vibration absorber, as described in connection with FIGS. 5-7, cascaded with a variable mass/constant spring stiffness type vibration absorber. As such, cascaded adaptive passive vibration absorbers may be implemented using various combinations of classical systems and the embodiments described in FIGS. 4-7. As noted above, an adaptive vibration absorber may be composed of both adaptive stiffness and adaptive mass components. FIG. 9 is a classical representation of a system, such as is shown in FIG. 8, wherein multiple vibration absorbers are cascaded to act on multiple excitation frequencies present in the system. More particularly, FIG. 9 shows two adaptive vibration absorption systems cascaded in series. Using transfer function analysis, the following can be found: X F = (m 2 S 2 +k 2 ) (m 1 S 2 +k 1 +k 2 )-k 2 2 (MS 2 +BS+k 1 +K) [(m 2 S 2 +k 2 2 ) (M 1 S 2 +k 1 +k 2 )-k 2 2 ]-k 2 1 For complete absorption of the vibration from the vibrating body having mass M, and based on an F(t) having two distinct and variable excitation frequencies ω 1 and ω 2 , the following must be satisfied: (k 1 -m 1 ω 2 1 ) (k 2 -m 2 ω 2 1 )= k 2 m 2 ω 2 1 (k 1 -m 1 ω 2 2 ) (k 2 -m 2 ω 2 2 )= k 2 m 2 ω 2 2 If using an adaptive spring is desired, then the resulting stiffnesses may be found by: k 1 = m 1 ω 2 2 2 [(1+α 2 )- (1-α 2 ) 2 -4βα 2 ] k 2 = m 2 ω 2 2 (1-α 2 ) - (1-α 2 ) 2 -4βα 2 (1-α 2 ) - (1-α 2 ) 2 -4βα 2 +2β where α = ω 1 ω 2 and β = m 2 m 1 To guarantee physically realizable values for these stiffnesses, the following should be satisfied: α < 1 => ω 2 > ω 1 β < 1 - a 2 2α or m 2 < m 1 ( ω 2 2ω 1 - ω 1 2ω 2 ) Since the mass is adapted for changes in frequency, then the following equations should be used. m 1 = k 1 ω 2 2 [1 - 2γ (α 2 -1) 2 + (α 2 -1) 2 -4γα 2 ] m 2 = 2k 2 ω 2 2 [(α 2 -1) 2 + (α 2 -1) 2 -4γα 2 ] and γ = k 1 k 2 For either of the above cases, cascaded adaptive vibration absorbers may be implemented using a combination of designs described in FIGS. 4-7 of the present invention. Furthermore, it should be noted again that an adaptive vibration absorber can be comprised of both adaptive stiffness and adaptive mass components. This may be seen in FIG. 9, wherein it is represented that any or all of the stiffnesses of the springs, k 1 or k 2 , or the masses of the weights, m 1 or m 2 , may be varied. As such, a hybrid of individual designs described in FIGS. 4-8 may be used. In one example of the use of the present invention, there is shown in FIG. 10 a vehicle type system 70, wherein a vehicle engine 95 is separated from the vehicle body 80 by means of engine mounts 90. The system shown in FIG. 10 could easily represent other such systems, for example, the system 70 of FIG. 10 may represent a compressor 95 of an air conditioning unit 80 which is separated from the housing of the air conditioning unit by rubber mounts 90. In this type of system the vibrating body is separated from the main structure by means of an intermediate body or mounting system. The objective of the intermediate body is to minimize the transmission of vibration from the vibrating body to the main structure. As discussed herein, if the frequency of the vibrating body is variable, then passive mounts will not be effective to minimize vibration transmission over the entire frequency spectrum. As such, some form of adaptive mounts are desirable. In general, the system of FIG. 10 may be modelled as a system 70' composed of three bodies (a vibrating body, a mounting system, and a main structure), as shown in FIG. 11. The main structure 80' is composed of several vibrational modes which are coupled together, and the vibrating body 95' is assumed to be rigid with a mass M. In the system of FIG. 11, the impedance (complex resistance) to motion of the main structure may be represented as: Z = Z 1 + jZ 2 where Z 1 is the real part and Z 2 is the imaginary part of the impedance. The transmissibility of such a system 70' is given as: T ≙ k o (x-x 1 )+b o ( x - x 1 ) F(t) When trying to reduce the transmissibility, T, it can be shown that ∂T/∂k o and ∂T/∂b o do not lead into any relationships that carries k o and b o . Thus to find the optimal values of k o and b o , it is necessary to maximize the term (1-T) 2 . Maximizing (1-T) 2 results in the following equations for optimal mounting system: k o = 1 - M 2 ω 4 + M(1 - Z 1 )ω 2 1 - 2Mω 2 Z 1 + M 2 (Z 1 2 + Z 2 2 )ω 4 b o = MωZ 2 (1 + Mω 2 ) 1 - 2Mω 2 Z 1 + M 2 (Z 1 2 + Z 2 2 )ω 4 Z 1 and Z 2 may be obtained from a modal analysis of the main structure. In the case of a structure with two modes (ω 1 ,ξ 1 ) and (ω 2 , ξ 2 ), Z is given by: Z = k 1 + k 2 - m 2 ω 2 + jω(b 1 + b 2 ) (-ω 2 + δW 2 2 + 2jξ 2 ωω 2 ) (ω 2 1 - ω 2 + 2jξ 1 ωω 1 ) The spring stiffness k o , may be adjusted employing a variable spring stiffness, as described herein. However, prior art systems have adjusted the damping force using electro-rhealogical (E-R) fluid, shape memory alloys, or a hydraulic damper with a variable orifice. These systems have been studied by the inventor and others, and seem too complex. This invention uses a design for an adaptive mount as shown in FIG. 12. Based on a nominal vibrating frequency and off-line modal analysis of the main structure, the passive mount characteristics (k o , b o ) may be derived from equations (16) and (17), and passive mounts having those characteristics may be embedded in the passive mount or connected in parallel with an adaptive vibration absorber. The present vibration absorber may be adapted on-line using the designs of FIGS. 4-7 by means of an electronic controller 85". A vibration sensor 75" connected to the main structure is used as a feedback sensor to feed a signal representative of the vibration sensed at the chassis 80" to the electronic controller 85". There are several advantages of this design over active mount systems. Using optimized k o and b o and passive elements reduces the amount of effort the vibration absorber must exert to absorb the vibration. Further, any static loading is taken care of by the optimized k o and b o . At the same time a simple and inexpensive design for an adaptive vibration absorbing system is used to compensate for unexpected variations in the system. In all embodiments described herein, an electronic controller is used to adaptively tune the vibration absorber, on-line. FIG. 13 shows a block diagram of the control system 500 used in all embodiments of the present invention. The control system of FIG. 13 may be implemented using analog circuitry. First, a vibration signal, Y a , is obtained from a point 510 on either the vibrating body or the structure. This vibration signal is obtained by vibration sensor 520, which may be a device such as an accelerometer. A signal representing the vibration is sent from the vibration sensor 520 to a comparator 530, where the actual vibration level, Y a is compared to a desired threshold level of vibration, threshold R. Threshold R is input to the comparator using input 540. The resulting signal from the comparator 530 is sent to the controller 550. One version of the circuitry for controller 550 is shown in FIG. 14. The resulting control signal from the controller 550 is used to operate the actuators shown in FIGS. 4-7. For example, this signal will drive the inlet and outlet flow valves in FIG. 4, or drive the motor in FIG. 5, etc. It should be noted that with this control design, there is no need for an on-line microprocessor. This system can be implemented in electronic circuitry using analog components. However, if the structure, e.g., automobile or a refrigerator, already has an on-board microprocessor, then more sophisticated control logics, including a fuzzy controller can be incorporated. FIG. 14 shows a schematic diagram of one possible embodiment of the electronic controller 550. The controller 550 has three operational amplifiers creating a three term control action. Other control circuits may be used. The controller need only send an appropriate control signal to the actuator 560, which may be interpreted by the actuator to operate a device in order to optimize the vibration absorber characteristics in the system. While the invention has been illustrated and described in detail in the drawings and foregoing description, the same is to be considered as illustrative and not restrictive in character. For example, the present invention is described in connection with vehicle engines, washing machines and bodies incorporating compressors. However, this is not meant to be limiting. Dishwashers, refrigerators, satellite-antenna, heavy machinery, sensitive computer and other electronic equipment electric generators in a recreational vehicle (RV) or on a ship or on board of an aircraft, fighter craft, or any civil structures and buildings, stacks and mufflers, and engine-body structure of a vehicle are all examples of structures with vibrating bodies and an assembly of other bodies are all examples of structures with which the present invention, as shown in the various embodiments herein, may be used. It is being understood that only the preferred embodiments have been shown and described and that all changes and modifications that come within the scope of the invention are desired to be protected.

Claims: A vibration absorbing system for minimizing the transmission of vibrations from a vibrating body (115) to at least one structure in mechanical communication with the vibrating body, comprising: a combined spring and mass vibration absorbing system independent of said mechanical communication, the spring (165) being connected to the vibrating body (115) and the mass being a weight (160) connected to the spring (165) thereby the stiffness of said spring (165) and the mass of said weight (160) provide passive absorption of vibrations; an actuator means (182,184) for adjusting a variable parameter of the vibration absorbing system; a sensor (170) for sensing the vibration in the vibrating body (115) and/or in the structure connected to the vibrating body, said sensor (170) providing to the actuator means a variable output feedback signal corresponding to the sensed vibration; and an electric controller (180) connected to receive said feedback signal from said sensor (170) indicative of the sensed vibration, and to relay a control signal to said actuator means instructing said actuator means (182,184) to automatically adjust the variable parameter of the vibration absorbing system in a manner to minimize the sensed vibrations, thereby said variable parameter is adaptively varied by said actuator means (182,184) in accordance with said feedback signal from said sensor (170), characterized in that: said variable parameter of the vibration absorbing system comprises the mass of said weight (160). The vibration absorbing system (100) according to claim 1, wherein said sensor (170) directly senses the excitation frequency of said vibrating body (115). The vibration absorbing system (100) according to claim 2, wherein said weight (160) includes a fluid containing chamber of constant volume, said weight (160) having a mass of m o when said chamber is empty. The vibration absorbing system (100) according to claim 3, additionally including a fluid source (192) in fluid communication with said chamber, and wherein the mass of said weight (160) is varied by adjusting the amount of fluid in said chamber. The vibration absorbing system (100) according to claim 4, wherein said actuator means comprises at least one inlet valve (182) for admitting fluid from a fluid source (192) into said chamber in response to a command from said controller (180) to said inlet valve (182); and at least one outlet valve (184) for evacuating fluid from said chamber in response to a signal from said controller (180) to said outlet valve (184). The vibration absorbing system (70") according to any preceding claim wherein said variable parameter of the vibration absorbing system comprises the mass (m) of said weight and the stiffness (k) of said spring. The vibration absorbing system according to claim 6, wherein: said spring (265) is a mechanical spring; a motor (240) is provided, including a motor shaft (245), said mechanical spring (265) being attached to said motor shaft (245); a support bracket (250) is provided, through which a first end of said mechanical spring (265) is passed; said weight (260) being connected to a first end of said mechanical spring (265); said electronic controller (285) being connected to relay a control signal to said motor (240) to instruct said motor to automatically adjust the stiffness of said mechanical spring (265) in response to the sensed vibrations; the output of said motor (240) in a first direction forces an upper section of the spring (265) to pass downward through the bracket (250) and increase the number of active spring coils; and the output of said motor (240) in a second direction retracts coils of the spring (265) back upward through said bracket (250) thus reducing the active number of spring coils. The vibration absorbing system according to claim 7 wherein said motor (240) is a stepper motor. The vibration absorbing system according to claim 6 wherein: said spring is a pneumatic spring (320) comprising an air bag, the stiffness of which is variable over a continuum of stiffnesses, said pneumatic spring (320) being connected at a first end to the vibrating body (310); said weight (360) is connected to a second end of said pneumatic spring (320); an actuator is provided for varying the stiffness of said pneumatic spring; said actuator comprises a pump (340) connected to increase air pressure within said air bag and a release valve (347) connected to reduce the air pressure within said air bag; an electronic controller (385) is connected to relay a control signal to said actuator to instruct said actuator to automatically adjust the stiffness of said pneumatic spring (320) in response to sensed vibrations. The vibration absorbing system according to claim 6 wherein: said spring is a mechanical spring (465) the stiffness of which is variable over a continuum of stiffnesses, said mechanical spring including at least one strip of a shape memory alloy, said spring (465) being connected at a first end to the vibrating body (410); said weight (460) is connected to a second end of said mechanical spring (465); an actuator is provided for varying the stiffness of said mechanical spring (465), said actuator comprising a current source (440) electrically connected (442) to said at least one strip of shape memory alloy for applying a variable electrical current to said shape memory alloy to change the stiffness of said alloy and thus of said mechanical spring (465); and an electronic controller (485) is connected to relay a control signal to said actuator to instruct said actuator to automatically adjust the current applied to said shape memory alloy in response to sensed vibrations. The vibration absorbing system (500) according to any preceding claim, additionally comprising a second spring (569) and a second mass (567) connected to each other and said second spring (569) also connected to said first mass (560) forming a second spring/mass vibration absorbing system (569, 567) in series with said first spring/mass vibration absorbing system (565, 560). The vibration absorbing system (500) according to claim 11, wherein said second mass (567) is a variable mass and/or said second spring (569) has a variable stiffness.

Inventors: SHOURESHI RAHMAT A, SHOURESHI, RAHMAT A, SHOURESHI, RAHMAT A C/O COOPER ADVANCED TECH.
Applicants: COOPER TIRE & RUBBER CO, COOPER TIRE & RUBBER COMPANY
Application year: 1995
Main classification: F16F15
IPC codes: F16F15, D06F37, F16F7, G05D19