Control Strategies for Vibration Suppression in Drive Systems
Summary
Modern drive systems—ranging from industrial servo motors to precision robotics—often comprise multiple inertial elements linked by elastic couplings. Mechanical resonances arising from flexible shafts, gear transmissions or modular joints can degrade positioning accuracy, accelerate wear and excite unwanted oscillations under varying load conditions. Control strategies for vibration suppression therefore combine accurate modelling of dynamic behaviour with tailored feedback and feedforward schemes. Passive approaches, such as tuned dampers or mechanical filters, offer simplicity but lack adaptability to shifting resonance frequencies. Active methods employ control loops to attenuate oscillatory modes: notch filters selectively reject resonant peaks; disturbance observers estimate and counteract external perturbations; state-feedback regulators or sliding-mode controllers deliver robust performance against parameter uncertainty; and adaptive algorithms retune gains online in response to changing mechanical properties. Recent advances integrate high-fidelity fractional-order models, multifrequency identification and machine-learning modules to achieve real-time resonance tracking and compensation. The global significance of these strategies is evident in applications from CNC machining—where chatter suppression boosts surface finish—to electric vehicles and wind-turbine pitch drives, in which stability and longevity depend on effective vibration damping. Emphasis on low-cost hardware implementations, IoT connectivity and scalable architectures ensures that emerging solutions can be deployed across diverse sectors, harmonising academic rigour with practical viability.
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Control Strategies for Vibration Suppression in Drive Systems publication trend
The graph below shows the total number of articles in control strategies for vibration suppression in drive systems across all publications each year (not limited to Nature Index journals).
Technical terms
Resonant frequency: The natural oscillation frequency at which a mechanical system amplifies vibration.
Notch filter: A narrow-band filter designed to attenuate signals at a specific frequency while preserving others.
Disturbance observer: An algorithm that estimates external forces or unmodelled dynamics for active compensation.
Two-mass system: A simplified dynamic model comprising motor and load masses connected by an elastic element.
Resonance ratio control (RRC): A method that maintains a fixed ratio between resonant and anti-resonant frequencies to suppress vibration.
References
- Application of Fractional-Order Calculus to Improve the Mathematical Model of a Two-Mass System with a Long Shaft. Energies (2021).
- Design and Vibration Suppression Control of a Modular Elastic Joint. Sensors (2018).
- Vibration Suppression and Over-Quadrant Error Mitigation Methods for a Ball-Screw Driven Servo System With Dual-Position Feedback. IEEE Access (2020).
- Optimal Online Resonance Suppression in a Drive System Based on a Multifrequency Fast Search Algorithm. IEEE Access (2021).
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