Active vibration control of a rotor bearing system using flexible piezoelectric patch actuators

Rotor vibration control is crucial for the reliability of rotating machines. This article applies active vibration control to reduce the vibration of a rotor bearing system using flexible piezoelectric patches as actuators mounted on the shaft external surface. The patches reduce the vibration due to unbalance forces by generating bending moments to counteract rotor deformation. An active vibration control system is designed based on a full-state linear quadratic regulator controller. Since proximity probes are used to measure the lateral vibrations of the rotor at few shaft positions, an observer is designed to estimate the unmeasured vibrations. The weighting matrices required by the linear quadratic regulator controller are selected by trial and error so that the displacement amplitudes are reduced to a minimum and the actuation voltages remain within the limitations defined by the manufacturer of the used patches. Simulated responses demonstrate the effectiveness of the designed controller in attenuating the lateral vibration of the rotor bearing system when using two actuating voltages. The vibration response is reduced for the steady-state condition and during run-up particularly at the first critical speed.