AI vibration control of high-speed rotor systems using electrorheological fluid

This paper is concerned with the design and application of an electrorheological (ER) fluid damper to semiactive vibration control of rotor systems. In particular, the system under the present study is constructed structurally flexible in order to explore the behavior of a high-speed spindle system traversing multiple critical speeds within motor capacity. To seek a way of suppressing the rotor vibration, dynamic models for the proposed ER damper and its associated amplifier are derived. Subsequently, they are assembled with the other relevant spindle components by means of the finite element method, enabling predictions as to free and forced vibration characteristics of the entire rotor system. Next, an artificial intelligent (AI) feedback controller is synthesized based on the system model, taking into account the stiffening effect of the point damper in flexible rotor applications. Finally, computational and experimental results are presented regarding model validation and control performances. In practice, such an AI control scheme proves effective and robust whether the spin rate is either below or above the critical speeds. (c) 2004 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.