Control of a test rig for vibration measurements of overhead transmission lines

This paper deals with the resonance control of a test rig for vibrations in overhead transmission lines and corresponding nonlinear dampers (STOCKBRIDGE dampers). In the test rig, an elec-trodynamical shaker is used as an actuator and the input power is measured. Operating the rig requires the excitation of the mechanical system in resonance. A control law adjusting the frequency and amplitude of the excitation is developed. Sufficiently large vi-brational amplitudes have to be realized with limited input power. Due to the large vibration amplitudes, the mechanical system may behave nonlinearly, complicating the appropriate control law. Nevertheless a resonance state of the nonlinear system usually features a minimal input power. This phenomenon is used to design a resonance control without detailed knowledge of the mechanical system.