Active vibration control of slewing drives with gear backlash

Geared transmissions with high reduction ratios are widely utilized in drive technology. Common to these drives is the occurrence of considerable gear backlash. If operating scenarios with repeated reversals of the rotational direction or changing load directions occur, the backlash will be traversed. To overcome the gear play, rotation angles of several hundred degrees can be required at the motor. As a result, unwanted vibrations can occur and high dynamic loads may arise. It is shown that an active vibration control strategy based on full state feedback (LQG) allows to reduce both the dynamic overload and the time for reversing the drive. The model-based design approach relies on two angular measurements only. Multibody system simulations of an exemplary drivetrain are used to verify the possible improvements.