Impact of Tuned Mass Dampers and Electromagnetic Tuned Mass Dampers on Geometrically Nonlinear Vibrations Reduction of Planar Cable Robots

Vibration is one of the problems that limits the applications of cable driven parallel robots (CDPR). The problem is bigger in CDPR with planar configuration due to the presence of out-of-plane vibrations, which have a larger amplitude and settling time. Some authors have proposed solutions such as the increase in tension of the wires, increase in the end effector mass, or the use of active dampers. In this research, we investigated the performance of tuned mass dampers (TMD) and electromagnetic tuned mass dampers (ETMD) which are integrated in the end effector of a CDPR in a planar configuration with eight wires. The essential idea is to reduce the settling time of the end effector through free vibrations without the use of external energy. This research followed an analytical and experimental methodology with the following steps. Three mathematical models were formulated and analysed using numerical simulations. Then, a test bench to validate the analytical results was designed and built. The effectiveness of the dampers was evaluated by comparing the settling times of the following three cases: without damper, with TMD, and with ETMD. During the investigation, it was observed that the use of AMS can reduce the settling time using the appropriate parameters. The effectiveness of AEMS is highly dependent on frictions and can be effective in some scenarios. Reductions in settling time from marginal values to 95% can be obtained. This research implies a viable solution for the out-of-plane vibrations of planar CDPR.