Examination of vibration control of linear oscillatory actuator

Linear oscillatory actuators (LOAs) are widely used in linear motor shavers, electric toothbrushes, and mobile phone vibrators as high-speed oscillatory driving devices. The maximum amplitude of the motor is obtained at a resonant frequency that is determined from the spring constant and the mass of the motor. However, there is a problem with these actuators: the amplitude decreases sharply when the driving frequency differs from the resonant frequency in a mechanical vibration system with minimal damping. In this paper, we propose a control method for the resonant frequency in which the thrust, which shows the characteristics of a spring, is generated on the basis of the displacement of the mover and the damping factor, in which the thrust, which shows the characteristics of damping, is generated based on the velocity of the mover. The proposed method assures that the resonant frequency always corresponds to the driving frequency and that rapid changes in the amplitude are avoided. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Electr Eng Jpn, 178(4): 55–62, 2012; Published online in Wiley Online Library (wileyonlinelibrary.com). DOI 10.1002/eej.21172