Active Vibration Control of a Membrane Structure Using PVDF Actuator

To realize a vibration suppression of flexible structures like a membrane, the smart structures technology that uses material such as piezoelectric element is focused. In this study, a vibration control system using a PVDF film as an actuator for the membrane structure is proposed. To confirm the effectiveness of the proposed method, the control properties with H ∞ control for reducing single mode, 1st or 2nd mode vibration, are evaluated by using the non-contact laser excitation vibration test system. In the system, a high power pulse laser is used for producing an ideal impulse excitation and a laser Doppler vibrometer is used for measuring the response on the membrane. The obtained results show that the vibration suppression is achieved at each mode in all experiments. Therefore, the present method using the flexible piezoelectric element is effective to suppress the vibration of flexible structures.