Torsional Vibration Control of a Rotating Chamber Shaft System Using Electrorheological Fluid

It is reported that an intermittently rotating chamber system will improve the ratio of firepower to armament space in the case of mid-calibre automatic guns. However, the parallel index, which is a main component of the system, tends to be torsionally flexible due to the low lateral stiffness of cam followers on the index turret. This may cause the shaft system connecting the turret with the chamber prone to considerable residual torsional vibration so that serious misalignment problems occur during ammunition loading and firing processes. Herein, an electrorhelogical (ER) fluid actuator that can suppress such vibrations and the associated semiactive control algorithm are proposed. By mathematical modeling and computer simulations, the performance of the entire system is proved satisfactory.