IEEE/ASME TRANSACTIONS ON MECHATRONICS, VOL. 7, NO.
2, JUNE 2002
A Single-Step Automatic Tuning Algorithm for
the Delayed Resonator Vibration Absorber
Martin Hosek and Nejat Olgac, Member, IEEE
Abstract—The delayed resonator (DR) is an active vibration
control approach where a passive mass-spring-damper arrange-
ment is converted into an undamped real-time tunable dynamic
absorber using partial state feedback with time delay. In the pre-
sented work, robustness of the control strategy against fluctuations
in the structural parameters of the controlled system is addressed.
A single-step automatic tuning algorithm based on online param-
eter identification is developed as a means of increasing robust-
ness against uncertainties and variations in the mechanical proper-
ties of the absorber arrangement. The tuning process is completed
within the absorber section of the controlled system with no ex-
ternal information from the primary structure. Implementation of
the algorithm is illustrated by a numerical example, and demon-
strated experimentally on a clamped-clamped flexible beam.
Index Terms—Automatic tuning, delayed resonator, dynamic
absorbers, vibration suppression.
NOMENCLATURE
Amplitude of the disturbance force acting on the th
mass of the primary structure (N).
Acceleration of the absorber reaction mass m/s .
Acceleration of the th mass of the primary structure
m/s .
Damping matrix of the primary structure (kg/s).
Damping coefficient of the absorber arrangement
(kg/s).
Damping coefficient of the th damping member of the
primary structure (kg/s).
Vector of disturbance forces acting on the primary
structure (N).
Disturbance force acting on the th mass of the primary
structure (N).
Control force acting on the absorber reaction mass (N).
Sampling rate (Hz).
Control feedback gain (kg).
Stiffness matrix of the primary structure (N/m).
Stiffness constant of the absorber arrangement (N/m).
Stiffness constant of the th spring of the primary
structure (N/m).
Manuscript received July 20, 1999; revised May 16, 2001. Recommended
by Technical Editor K. Ohnishi. This paper was supported in part by the Na-
tional Science Foundation (NSF) under Grant CMS-9415428 and in part by
Connecticut Innovations, Inc., under Grant 00Y14.
M. Hosek was with the Department of Mechanical Engineering, University
of Connecticut, Storrs, CT 06269 USA. He is now with Brooks Automation,
Inc., Chelmsford, MA 01824 USA (e-mail: mhosek@brooks.com).
N. Olgac is with the Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of
Connecticut, Storrs, CT 06269 USA (e-mail: olgac@uconnvm.uconn.edu).
Publisher Item Identifier S 1083-4435(02)05512-6.
1083-4435/02$17.00 © 2002 IEEE
245
Number of samples recorded for discrete Fourier
transform (DFT).
Mass matrix of the primary structure (kg).
Reaction mass of the absorber arrangement (kg).
Number of degrees of freedom of the primary
structure.
Number of frequency points in DFT.
Sampling interval (s).
Time interval between two consecutive modifications
of control parameters in automatic tuning (s).
Time required to record samples,
(s).
Settling time for the combined system (s).
Vector of displacements of the primary structure (m).
Displacement of the absorber reaction mass (m).
Displacement of the th mass of the primary structure
(m).
Computational resolution of DFT (rad/s).
Physical resolution of DFT (rad/s).
Control feedback delay (s).
Phase of the disturbance force acting on the th mass
of the primary structure (rad).
Frequency of the disturbance acting on the primary
structure (rad/s).
Resonant frequency of the delay-controlled resonator
(rad/s).
I. INTRODUCTION
A GREAT NUMBER of mechanical structures are often
loaded with cyclical forces which cause undesirable
oscillatory motions. As a result, comfort of operation is re-
duced and durability of the mechanical components involved
is affected due to excessive stresses and material fatigue with
an accompanying increase of maintenance costs. In some cases
a favorable solution of the vibration problem is provided by
structural properties of the system, either as originally de-
signed or after relatively simple and inexpensive adjustments.
In many other cases, however, these modifications may be
found impracticable or insufficient and it may be necessary to
introduce special vibration devices which reduce oscillations
to an acceptable level. Various vibration isolators, dampers,
and dynamic absorber arrangements belong among the most
frequent solutions [1]–[4]. With the recent advances in sen-
sors, actuators, and digital control equipment, considerable
research effort has been invested to improve performance of
the originally passive devices through the use of semiactive and
246
active control [5]. The control algorithms range from classical
controls (e.g., [6] and [7]) to fuzzy logic and neural networks
(e.g., [8]).
An active control approach with time delay, the delayed res-
onator (DR) vibration absorber [9] and [10], is of particular in-
terest in the presented study. In this method, a passive mass-
spring-damper system is reconfigured into a real-time tunable
vibration absorber using an actuator controlled via partial state
feedback with time delay. The use of time delay is what differ-
entiates this approach from conventional control strategies. In
contrast to the common tendency to eliminate delays in control
systems due to their destabilizing effects (e.g., [11]), the con-
cept of the DR absorber introduces time delay as a tool for pole
placement. As an attractive feature, the control strategy is com-
pletely decoupled from the structural and dynamic properties
of the primary structure and, therefore, insensitive to parameter
uncertainties associated with it. However, satisfactory perfor-
mance depends to a great extent on accurate knowledge of the
mechanical properties of the absorber itself. The issue of robust-
ness against uncertainties and variations in the parameters of
the absorber arrangement is addressed in an iterative automatic
tuning algorithm presented in [12] and [13]. In this approach,
optimum performance of the absorber is achieved by repeated
refinements of the control parameters using a gradient method.
As a drawback typical for iterative techniques, convergence re-
lated issues may become of concern in practical applications.
In the presented study, an alternative single-step automatic
tuning algorithm is developed. The core idea is to tune the DR
absorber using the best estimates of the structural parameters
available, evaluate the performance achieved, identify actual
mechanical properties of the absorber, and retune it accordingly.
This approach is foreseen as a preferred solution in a number
of applications since it avoids convergence concerns associated
with the iterative algorithm, and reduces the time required to
achieve satisfactory tuning of the absorber. Furthermore, the
tuning process is completed within the absorber section of the
controlled system with no external information from the pri-
mary structure. That is, the DR absorber can operate as an in-
dependent unit mounted at the point where the vibration needs
to be suppressed. The theoretical development of the algorithm
is illustrated by a numerical example and verified by laboratory
tests performed on a clamped-clamped flexible beam.
The text is structured as follows: Section II starts with a brief
introduction to the concept of the DR absorber. A single-step
automatic tuning algorithm based on online parameter identi-
fication is developed in Section III. An illustrative numerical
example is discussed in Section IV. Representative records of
experimental tests are shown in Section V. Concluding remarks
are summarized in Section VI. The following terms are used
throughout the text: the primary structure is the original vi-
brating machinery alone; the combined system is the primary
structure equipped with the DR absorber arrangement.
II. DR ABSORBER
The core idea of the DR concept is to reconfigure the dy-
namics of a damped single-degree-of-freedom (SDOF) system
so that it behaves like an ideal tunable resonator. This objective
IEEE/ASME TRANSACTIONS ON MECHATRONICS, VOL. 7, NO. 2, JUNE 2002
(a) (b)
Fig. 1. (a) Mass-spring-damper trio. (b) Delayed resonator.
is achieved by applying a control force based on simple posi-
tion [9], [10], velocity [14], or acceleration [15] feedback. The
basic mechanical arrangement under consideration is depicted
schematically in Fig. 1. Departing from the passive mass-spring-
damper trio of diagram (a), a control force between the mass
and the grounded base is applied, as shown in diagram (b). Fol-
lowing the delay control strategy described in [15], an acceler-
ation feedback with time delay is proposed in order to modify
the dynamics of the passive arrangement
(1)
where and are the feedback gain and delay, respectively. The
equation of motion for the new system takes the form
(2)
Extensive theoretical discussions on differential equations of
this class can be found in [16]–[18]. Relevant practical implica-
tions are summarized in [10] and [15]. An abbreviated analysis
only is presented in this study for the sake of a conceptual re-
view. The Laplace domain representation of (2) leads to the fol-
lowing transcendental characteristic equation of the closed-loop
system:
(3)
Equation (3) possesses infinitely many characteristic roots.
When the feedback gain varies from zero to infinity and the
time delay is kept as a constant parameter, the roots move in
the complex plane along infinitely many branches of root loci
[15] and [19].
To achieve pure resonance of the controlled mass-spring-
damper system, two dominant roots of the characteristic (3)
should be placed on the imaginary axis at the desired resonance
frequency . Introducing this proposition (i.e., ) into
(3) yields the following control parameters:1
(4)
(5)
By this selection of feedback gain and delay, i.e., and
, the DR can be tuned to the desired frequency in real
time. A complementary set of solutions which gives a negative
feedback gain also exists. However, for the sake of brevity, it
is kept outside the treatment in this text.
1In (5) atan2(y; x) is four-quadrant arctangent of y and x, 0 
atan2(y; x) 
+ .
HOSEK AND OLGAC: A SINGLE-STEP AUTOMATIC TUNING ALGORITHM 247

Fig. 2. Schematic of a MDOF structure with the DR absorber.

The parameter in (5) indicates the branch of the root loci where
which is selected to carry the resonant pair of the characteristic
roots. As a direct consequence, there are infinitely many (at least (8)
theoretically) sets of control parameters available for the same With the DR absorber implemented on the th mass of the pri-
placement of the resonant pole pair. This freedom becomes a mary structure, (7) takes the following form:
convenient design tool when the DR is coupled to a mechanical
structure and employed as a vibration absorber. It allows the (9)
designer to relax restrictions on frequencies of operation which
typically arise from stability related issues and due the presence where
of an inherent delay in the control loop [14], [15], and [19]. except if
As a practical application of the delay-induced resonance, the
(10)
DR can be coupled to a mechanical structure and employed as a
tuned dynamic absorber to suppress vibration at the location of
attachment, as depicted schematically in Fig. 2. When the me- (11)
chanical structure is subject to a harmonic force disturbance,
the DR constitutes an ideal vibration absorber, provided that
(12)
the control parameters are selected such that the resonance fre-
quency of the DR and the frequency of the external disturbance (13)
coincide. The fundamental effect of the absorber is to reduce (14)
the amplitude of oscillation of the vibrating system to zero at (15)
the location where it is mounted. This topic is detailed in the
(16)
following study.
It is a common engineering practice to represent distributed- (17)
parameter systems in a simplified reduced-order form, i.e., using (18)
a linear multidegree-of-freedom (MDOF) model. A typical dia- (19)
gram of such a lumped-mass primary system is shown in Fig. 2.
(20)
It consists of discrete masses which are coupled through
spring and damping members and are acted on by harmonic dis- The coefficients are the corresponding elements of the ma-
turbance forces , . A DR trix defined in (8). Applying Cramer’s rule, the displacement
absorber is attached to the th mass in order to control oscilla- of the th mass of the primary structure (i.e., the mass where the
tions resulting from the disturbance forces. absorber is located) is obtained as
The dynamic properties of the primary structure alone are de-
scribed by a linear differential equation of motion of the conven-
tional form

(6) (21)

where , , and are mass, damping, and stiffness

matrices, respectively, is an vector of disturbance where
forces and denotes an vector of displacements.
Equation (6) is represented in the Laplace domain as2 except if (22)
(7) (23)
2Abusing the notation slightly, symbols x(s) and F (s) are written for the The factor in the numerator is identical to the left-hand
Laplace transforms of x(t) and F (t), respectively. side of the characteristic (3). Therefore, as long as the absorber
248 IEEE/ASME TRANSACTIONS ON MECHATRONICS, VOL. 7, NO. 2, JUNE 2002

is tuned to the frequency of disturbance, i.e., , , and the control parameters and are set rather according to
, the expression for is zero. That is, provided their estimates , , and in practice
that the denominator of (21) possesses stable roots, the primary
structure exhibits no oscillatory motion in the steady state at the (25)
location where the absorber is implemented

(24)

In practice, the range of frequencies of operation of the DR ab- (26)

sorber is restricted due to limitations which typically arise from
stability related issues and due to the presence of an inherent
delay in the control loop. These restrictions can be conveniently
relaxed by proper selection of the branch of the root loci which
carries the resonance pair of the characteristic roots of the DR
[parameter in (5)]. The details of this procedure can be found
in [14], [15], and [19].
In summary, for the frequency of disturbance , which agrees
with the resonant frequency , the point of attachment of the
absorber is quieted completely. If the disturbance contains more
than one frequency component, such as in the case of a square
wave excitation, the DR absorber is capable of eliminating any
single frequency component selected (e.g., the fundamental fre-
quency in the case of a square wave excitation, as demonstrated
in [19]).
III. SINGLE-STEP AUTOMATIC TUNING ALGORITHM
Real mechanical structures tend to vary their physical prop-
erties with time. In particular, the damping and stiffness charac-
teristics involved in their mathematical models often differ from
the nominal values. As a natural consequence, insensitivity of
the absorber performance to parameter variations and uncertain-
ties is an essential requirement in practical applications.
Consider the combined system of a MDOF primary structure
with the DR absorber as depicted in Fig. 2. In order to achieve
zero steady-state response of the th element of the primary
structure at the frequency , the control parameters
and should be set according to (4) and (5). The two equations
indicate that the control parameters depend on the mechanical
properties of the absorber substructure and the frequency of dis-
turbance only. That is, the vibration suppression ability of the
DR absorber is insensitive to uncertainties in the parameters of
the primary structure, as long as the combined system is stable
(stability of the combined system is addressed in detail in [15]
and [19]).
Insensitivity to parameter uncertainties of the primary struc-
ture, however, does not guarantee sufficient robustness of the
control algorithm since some of the absorber parameters in-
volved in (4) and (5) are also subject to variations and uncer-
tainties. While the mass can be determined quite accurately
and typically remains fixed, the other parameters often exhibit
undesirable fluctuations. The effective value of the stiffness
may depend, for instance, on the amplitude of oscillation of the
absorber, and the damping coefficient may be a function of
the frequency of operation . Both of the parameters may also
vary with other external factors, such as the temperature of the
environment. In addition, the frequency of oscillation is esti-
mated with a limited accuracy only. Due to these uncertainties,
the actual values of the variables , and are not available
Naturally, more accurate estimates , , and yield
better absorption performance. Departing from this observation,
an automatic tuning procedure based on an online identification
of the absorber parameters is suggested in this study. The key
idea in this approach is to apply control parameters based on
the best estimates available, evaluate the performance achieved,
identify the mechanical properties of the absorber, calculate the
corresponding control parameters, and utilize them in the feed-
back law.
The differential equation of motion for the absorber unit does
not involve any uncertain parameters except for those of interest,
i.e., and . Therefore, it can be conveniently used for the pur-
pose of the system identification. Assuming that the inaccurate
control parameters and have been applied, this equa-
tion takes the form
(27)
In the Laplace domain, the transfer function between the accel-
eration of the th segment of the primary structure,
, and the acceleration of the absorber mass,
, can be written as
(28)
The corresponding frequency response is given by
(29)
Provided that the frequency response is known at the fre-
quency of oscillation , (29) can be solved for the ab-
sorber parameters and . See (30) and (31) at the bottom of
the next page.
In practice, the frequency response can be estimated
based on the measurements of the acceleration at the absorber
base, , and acceleration of the absorber mass, . The signals
are recorded over a certain time interval and the DFT is per-
formed on the data gathered (e.g., [20])
(32)
(33)
HOSEK AND OLGAC: A SINGLE-STEP AUTOMATIC TUNING ALGORITHM 249

The following notation is used in (32) and (33): denotes the Replacing by and by in (30) and (31), the ab-
sampling interval, is the number of the samples recorded, sorber parameters are identified. See (37) and (38) at the bottom
and is the number of the frequency points where the DFT of the page. Introducing these estimates into (25) and (26), the
is computed. These parameters determine the frequency range, optimum values of the control parameters are obtained as
physical resolution and computational resolution of the DFT,
respectively. Their effects and guidelines for their selection are (39)
discussed in Appendix. The th frequency point of the DFT is
given by
(34)
(40)
The frequency of oscillation is identified as the dominant
harmonic component detected in the DFT of acceleration of the This completes the single-step auto-tuning process of control
absorber mass parameters.
When applied periodically, the described procedure can be
such that used for automatic tuning of the DR absorber to varying fre-
quency . In this case, the control parameters are updated re-
(35) cursively according to modified (37)–(40)
The frequency is present in the DFT of the absorber signal
even when the vibration of the primary structure is suppressed. (41)
Therefore, the use of is preferred in (35) rather
than . Once is determined, the corresponding
frequency response is estimated as
(42)
(36) where we have (43) and (44) for and shown at the
bottom of the page. The time period between two consecutive

(30)

(31)

(37)

(38)

(43)

(44)
250 IEEE/ASME TRANSACTIONS ON MECHATRONICS, VOL. 7, NO. 2, JUNE 2002

(a)

(b)
Fig. 3. Computer-simulated automatic tuning of the DR absorber. (a) Acceleration of the absorber. (b) Acceleration of the primary structure.

auto-tuning steps must allow the system to settle after the last Since the acceleration measurements at the absorber mass and
modification of the control parameters, and it must also provide base are the only signals used in the automatic tuning algorithm,
a sufficient amount of data recorded for evaluation of the DFT the control process is completed within the absorber section of
the system with no external information from the primary struc-
(45) ture. That is, the DR absorber operates as an independent unit
where is the settling time for the combined system. The mounted at the point where the vibration needs to be suppressed.
time needed for the data recording, , is given by (47) in the
Appendix. IV. SIMULATION EXAMPLE
In summary, the proposed automatic tuning procedure in-
cludes the following sequence. The effect of the automatic tuning procedure as a means of
increasing robustness of the control algorithm is simulated on
• Using (25) and (26), feedback gain and delay are deter-
an example 3-DOF primary structure. The system consists of a
mined based on estimates of the mechanical properties of
trio of lumped masses which are connected through linear
the absorber that are currently available.
springs and damping members , . The same con-
• The gain and delay are utilized in the control loop. Once
figuration is considered as depicted in Fig. 2. A DR absorber is
the system reaches steady state, samples of and
implemented on the mass located in the middle of the system,
signals are recorded. i.e., in Fig. 2. The parameters of the primary structure
• The DFTs of the and signals are calculated using and absorber arrangement are selected as follows: kg,
(32) and (33). A computationally more efficient algorithm, N/m, and kg/s, ;
such as FFT, can also be utilized for this step. kg, N/m, and kg/s.
• The frequency of oscillation, , is identified according A disturbance force in the form of is applied to
to (35) as the dominant harmonic component detected in the mass number 1. The amplitude and frequency of disturbance
acceleration of the absorber mass. are selected as N and Hz, respectively.
• Once is determined, the corresponding frequency re- It is assumed that the only available estimates of the absorber
sponse, , is estimated using (36). parameters differ by 5 from their actual values. In partic-
• Utilizing (37) and (38), new estimates of the absorber pa- ular, kg/s and
rameters and are found. The corresponding con- N/m. The corresponding feedback gain and delay
trol parameters are determined according to (39) and (40). for the second branch of the root loci are calculated
HOSEK AND OLGAC: A SINGLE-STEP AUTOMATIC TUNING ALGORITHM 251

TABLE I
EFFECT OF FREQUENCY DETECTION ERROR ON VIBRATION SUPPRESSION LEVEL FOR SIMULATION EXAMPLE OF SECTION IV; ! = 1200 Hz, L = 1024

according to (25) and (26) as kg and

s, respectively, and implemented in the
control law. The corresponding time response is shown in Fig. 3,
where the disturbance force is triggered at time . After a
short initial transient, a steady-state behavior is achieved. How-
ever, the primary structure is not quieted completely—it exhibits
undesired residual oscillations due to inaccuracy of the control
parameters and .
In order to improve the performance of the absorber, the au-
tomatic tuning procedure is applied. The acceleration of the ab-
sorber mass, , and acceleration at the absorber base, , are
recorded with the sampling interval s. Once a suf- Fig. 4. Side view of the test structure.
ficient number of samples are available, the DFT is performed
on the signals. In this particular case, the numbers
and are selected. The reasoning behind isfactory for the example case, a set of frequency er-
the selection of , and is discussed in detail at rors in the range of 10 Hz is introduced into (35), and the
the end of this section. Using (38), the frequency of oscillation corresponding levels of vibration suppression are examined via
(36)–(40) and (21). A summary of results is presented in Table I .
is identified as Hz. Introducing this estimate into
The level of vibration suppression in the second row of the table
(39) to (41), the damping coefficient and the stiffness constant
is expressed relative to the case when the control feedback is dis-
are obtained as kg/s and N/m.
connected. In order to achieve a guaranteed level of vibration
Finally, according to (37) and (38), the control parameters are
suppression, e.g., 97%, the maximum allowable error of the es-
calculated as kg and s.
timated frequency of oscillation can be determined from Table I,
At time s the feedback gain and delay are updated, i.e.,
in this particular case as 3 Hz. This requirement corresponds
the values and are replaced by and in the con- to the computational resolution of 6 Hz or 37.7 rad/s. Applying
trol law. The residual oscillations are eliminated and the primary (48) of the Appendix, and rounding the result to the closest
structure is brought to complete rest (at the point where the DR power of 2, the corresponding number of frequency points is
absorber is attached). obtained as .
As indicated in Section III, and with reference to the Ap- The number of samples, , determines the physical reso-
pendix, a proper selection of the sampling interval, , the lution of the DFT, as defined in Appendix. It relates to the max-
number of samples recorded, , and the number of fre- imum error between the actual frequency of oscillation and the
quency points, , is essential for satisfactory performance
frequency of the corresponding peak in the DFT. The error is
of the automatic tuning algorithm. In this particular example,
attributed to other frequency components that may be present in
the acceleration of the absorber mass, , and acceleration at
the signals, especially in the neighborhood of the frequency of
the absorber base, , are recorded with the sampling interval
operation. Since the objective of the DR absorber in the example
of 4 s, i.e., at the rate of 25 kHz. The selected sampling
case is to handle single-frequency disturbance, there are no ad-
rate is approximately ten times higher than the Nyquist sam-
ditional frequency components of concern present in the signals
pling rate for the operating frequency of 1200 Hz, and extends
subject to the DFT. Consequently, the physical resolution of the
the frequency range of the DFT to 12.5 kHz. As a result,
DFT can be relaxed in comparison to the computational reso-
an anti-aliasing low-pass filter for a real-world application
lution, resulting in a reduced number of points recorded, and a
could be implemented with a cutoff frequency up to ten times
shorter time in which the absorber reacts to changes in operating
higher than the frequency of operation (the cutoff frequency is
conditions [see (46) and (47) in the Appendix]. In the simula-
typically set well above the range of frequencies of operation
tion example, is selected as 1024, which corresponds to
to prevent amplitude and phase distortion of the signal in the approximately 41 ms or 50 cycles of vibration.
frequency range of interest).
As explained in Appendix, the number of frequency points,
, controls the computational resolution of the DFT and, V. EXPERIMENTAL RESULTS
consequently, the maximum error between the estimated value In addition to computer simulations, the automatic tuning
of the frequency of oscillation and the location of the corre- algorithm is tested experimentally on a distributed-parameter
sponding peak in the DFT. In order to identify the smallest sat- structure represented by a clamped-clamped flexible beam. A
252 IEEE/ASME TRANSACTIONS ON MECHATRONICS, VOL. 7, NO. 2, JUNE 2002

Fig. 5. Block diagram of the DR controller.

(a)

(b)
Fig. 6. Time response of the test structure to a harmonic disturbance at 1200 Hz. (a) Acceleration of the absorber. (b) Acceleration of the beam.

side view of the test setup is depicted in Fig. 4. It is built on a
heavy granite bed 1 which represents the ground. The primary
system consists of a steel beam 2 clamped at both ends. The
dimensions of the beam are as follows (height width effec-
tive length): 10 mm 25 mm 300 mm or . gorithm and to monitor vibration of the beam for evaluation pur-
A piezoelectric actuator 3 with a reaction mass 4 is mounted on
the beam to generate excitation forces. The absorber arrange-
ment comprises another piezoelectric actuator 5 with a reaction
mass 6. The exciter and absorber actuators are located symmet-
rically at one quarter of the length of the beam from the center. A
piezoelectric accelerometer 7 is mounted on the absorber mass
6 to provide signal for the feedback control. Another piezoelec-
tric accelerometer 8 is attached to the beam at the base of the
absorber to provide measurements for the automatic tuning al-
poses. For the sake of simplicity, standard connecting elements,
such as screws, nuts and washers, are depicted only schemati-
cally or not shown at all in Fig. 4.
The control system for the experimental setup performs two
tasks: harmonic signal generation for the exciter and delayed-
HOSEK AND OLGAC: A SINGLE-STEP AUTOMATIC TUNING ALGORITHM
(a)
(b)
Fig. 7. Experimental demonstration of automatic tuning of the DR absorber. (a) Residual oscillations g
feedback control of the absorber. Both of the tasks are imple-
mented in a discrete-time form on a digital-signal-processor
(DSP) board hosted by a personal computer (PC). The sampling
rate of 50 kHz is used. The measurements of the absorber mass
acceleration are passed through a signal conditioner to an A/D
converter of the DSP board. The digitized signal is processed
(along with the acceleration of the absorber base) in the absorber
controller. The internal structure of the controller is depicted
schematically in Fig. 5. The core computational procedures in-
clude detection of the frequency of oscillation, determination of
the control parameters and implementation of the time delay.
The output of the controller is routed through a D/A converter
to a power amplifier. The amplifier powers a piezoelectric actu-
ator which drives the absorber mass.
The measured signals, i.e., acceleration of the absorber mass
and acceleration of the beam at the base of the absorber, are
monitored using a digital waveform analyzer. In order to reduce
noise, the signal from the latter accelerometer is passed through
an analog low-pass filter with an adjustable cutoff frequency
before monitoring. As an alternative to the built-in digital har-
monic generator, an external analog signal device can be con-
nected to the control system to provide different types of excita-
tion forces, such as square-wave or variable-frequency signals.
In the first test, a harmonic disturbance force at the frequency
of 1200 Hz is applied, and the actual parameters of the absorber
arrangement are used for the tuning purposes. Their values are
obtained by system identification prior to the test as
kg, N/m and kg/s.
Based on these values, the corresponding feedback gain and
253
; . (b) Improved performance g ; .
delay for the second branch of the root loci are set to
kg and s, respectively. The corre-
sponding time response is shown in Fig. 6. The diagrams (a) and
(b) represent plots of acceleration of the absorber mass, , and
acceleration of the beam at the absorber base, , respectively.
The signals are captured directly from a digital waveform ana-
lyzer. The control feedback is disconnected for the first 0.01 s
of the test. After its activation, the amplitude of oscillation of
the beam is reduced to the level of noise in the signal (by more
than 99%).
The second test demonstrates the process of automatic tuning
of the DR absorber. The frequency of disturbance remains at
1200 Hz. The initial values of the control parameters, however,
are calculated based on the stiffness and damping which
are contaminated by an error of approximately 5 . That is,
kg and s are used
instead of the correct kg and
s. The time response of the beam is shown in Fig. 7(a). The
control is activated at the time of 0.01 s. After an initial transient
period, the amplitude of oscillation is reduced. However, the
beam is not quieted completely and exhibits residual oscillations
due to the error in the control parameters and .
In the next step, the automatic tuning procedure is applied.
The acceleration of the absorber mass, , and the accelera-
tion of the beam at the point of attachment of the absorber,
, are recorded with the sampling interval of 2 s. Once
a sufficient number of samples are available, the DFT is per-
formed on the signals. In this particular case, and
are selected, resulting in the same resolution of
254
the DFT and the same time interval needed to record the signals
as in the simulation example of Section IV [see (46)–(48)]. The
frequency of oscillation is identified as Hz, the
damping coefficient and spring stiffness of the absorber are ob-
tained as kg/s, N/m, and
the corresponding control parameters are calculated as
kg, s. Finally, the feedback
gain and delay are updated, i.e., the initial values and
are replaced by the new and . This change takes place
at the time of 0.01 s in Fig. 7(b). It is observed that the level of
residual oscillation of the beam is suppressed substantially due
to the new control parameters. For all practical purposes, the
point where the absorber is attached is brought to complete rest.
VI. CONCLUSION
The proposed automatic tuning algorithm represents a simple
means of increasing robustness of the delayed resonator (DR)
vibration control strategy. Its contribution to the existing con-
cept can be summarized as follows.
• It eliminates negative effects of uncertainties and varia-
tions in the mechanical properties of the absorber arrange-
ment. The stiffness constant and damping coefficient of
the absorber are of particular interest since they often fluc-
tuate with the amplitude and frequency of oscillation, and
may also vary with other external factors, such as the tem-
perature of the environment.
• Compared to the existing iterative automatic tuning al-
gorithm, the proposed procedure is accomplished in one
step. The single-step approach approach avoids conver-
gence concerns and reduces the time required to achieve
optimum tuning of the absorber.
• When applied periodically, the proposed algorithm can be
used for automatic tuning of the DR absorber to time-
varying frequency of oscillation.
• The control/tuning process is completed within the ab-
sorber section of the system with no additional informa-
tion from the primary structure. That is, the DR absorber
remains an independent unit mounted at the point where
the vibration needs to be suppressed.
Other favorable properties of the DR vibration control ap-
proach are also preserved. Due to the simple structure of the
feedback, a relatively small number of operations are performed
within the control loop. When the control system fails to operate
and/or the feedback is disconnected, the device turns itself into
a passive absorber with partial effectiveness, which can be con-
sidered as a fail-safe feature.
APPENDIX
RANGE AND RESOLUTION OF DFT
The frequency range and resolution of the DFT in (32) and
(33) are determined by the sampling interval, , the number of
samples recorded, , and the number of points where the
DFT is computed, . Proper selection of these parameters
is essential for satisfactory performance of the automatic tuning
algorithm.
IEEE/ASME TRANSACTIONS ON MECHATRONICS, VOL. 7, NO. 2, JUNE 2002
The frequency range of the DFT is limited by the upper bound
of the Nyquist interval, , where is the sampling rate, i.e.,
. This limit corresponds to the maximum frequency
that can be detected in the signal subject to the DFT analysis.
Consequently, the sampling interval needs to be selected so that
the frequency range of the DFT includes the expected frequen-
cies of operation of the DR absorber, i.e., ,
where refers to the maximum frequency of disturbance. In
practical applications, to avoid frequency aliasing, analog mea-
surement signals should be fed through an anti-aliasing low-pass
filter before being converted into a digital form. The cutoff fre-
quency of the filter is typically set well above the range of fre-
quencies of operation to prevent amplitude and phase distortion
in the frequency range of interest. The sampling interval is then
selected so that the frequency range of the DFT agrees with the
bandwidth of the anti-aliasing filter, i.e., ,
where denotes the cutoff frequency (or bandwidth) of the
filter.
The number of samples controls the physical resolu-
tion of the DFT, defined as the minimum resolvable frequency
separation between two harmonic components in a given signal
[20]. As a practical implication, the physical resolution indicates
the maximum error between the actual frequency of a harmonic
component of a signal and the corresponding peak in the DFT.
A limited physical resolution may affect accuracy of the fre-
quency detection and parameter identification steps of the auto-
matic tuning algorithm if additional frequency components are
present in the signals subject to the DFT, especially in the neigh-
borhood of the frequency of operation. In such a case, the phys-
ical resolution needs to be selected so that the maximum ex-
pected error results in an acceptable vibration absorption level.
However, since the primary objective of the DR absorber is to
handle vibration problems with a single-frequency disturbance
or suppress a frequency component of a dominant amplitude,
the effect of the rest of the frequency contents is not significant
in typical applications. It can be shown that the following rela-
tion holds for the physical resolution of the DFT (e.g., [20]):
(46)
where denotes the physical resolution in rad/s and is
the sampling rate in Hz. The time interval required in order to
record a sufficient number of samples can be determined as
(47)
Considering (46) and (47), the number of samples recorded,
, improves the physical resolution of the DFT at the cost of
an increased time for data recording. It may affect the level of
vibration suppression (if additional frequency components are
present in the signals, as explained above), and determines the
time in which the DR absorber is capable of reacting to changes
in operating conditions. In practice, the value of should
be selected so that an acceptable compromise of the two perfor-
mance measures is achieved.
Typically, the DFT is evaluated at frequency points spaced
equally over the positive half of the Nyquist interval.3 In this
3The Nyquist interval is defined as 2 [ 0f =2; f =2] where f is the sam-
pling rate in Hz.
HOSEK AND OLGAC: A SINGLE-STEP AUTOMATIC TUNING ALGORITHM
case, the number of frequency points, , determines the
computational resolution of the DFT, i.e., the spacing between
the frequencies at which the DFT is computed, as
(48)
The computational resolution controls the maximum error be-
tween the estimated value of the frequency of oscillation and the
location of the corresponding peak in the DFT, effecting directly
the accuracy of the frequency detection and parameter identifi-
cation steps of the automatic tuning algorithm. For a specific ap-
plication, a maximum allowable frequency detection error can
be identified based on the level of vibration suppression required
(e.g., an error can be introduced into (35), and its effect can be
examined via (36)–(40) and (21). The corresponding computa-
tional resolution can be used to determine the number of fre-
quency points, , in accordance with (48). An example of
this approach is presented in Section IV. It should be stressed
that improving the computational resolution beyond the level of
the physical resolution generally does not increase the accuracy
of a DFT analysis. However, due to the reasons explained above,
it may be found beneficial in the case of a pure harmonic signal,
as illustrated by a simulation example and experimental results
in Sections IV and V, respectively. A detailed discussion of the
DFT can be found, e.g., in [20].
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
The authors appreciate contribution of Mr. M. Renzulli and
Mr. R. Ghosh-Roy who were of invaluable help in setting up the
test structure for laboratory experiments.
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Martin Hosek was born in Prague, the Czech
Republic, in 1970. He received the Dipl. Ing.
(M.S.) degree in automatic control and engineering
informatics, in 1993 and the Dr. degree in controlled
mechanical systems, in 1998, both from the Czech
Technical University of Prague, and the Ph.D. degree
in dynamics and control from the University of
Connecticut, Storrs, in 1997.
As a Research Assistant at the University of
Connecticut, he participated in the development of
a novel feedback control concept which utilized
adjustable time delay as a means of pole placement for an active vibration
absorber. Currently, he is a Senior Control Engineer with Brooks Automation,
Inc., Chelmsford, MA, where he is responsible for the development of control
systems for robotic manipulators for semiconductor and flat-panel-display
manufacturing applications. His research interests include advanced trajectory
planning and motion control methods for robotic manipulators, synthesis
and control of parallel mechanisms, time-delay control systems, and active
vibration suppression. He is an author of a number of technical publications
and patents in these areas.
Dr. Hosek is a member of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers
(ASME) and the International Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE).
He serves on the ASME Dynamic Systems and Control Division Robotics
Technical Panel.
Nejat Olgac (M’92) received the Dr. Eng. Sci. degree
from Columbia University, New York, in 1976 and
the M.Sc. degree from the Technical University of Is-
tanbul, Istanbul, Turkey, in 1972, both in mechanical
engineering.
Since 1981, he has been a faculty member with
the University of Connecticut, where he is currently
a Professor in the Mechanical Engineering Depart-
ment. From 1988 to 1989, he was a Visiting Professor
at INRIA, Sophia Antipolis, France, and from 1995
to 1996, a SEW Eurodrive Fellow–Guest Professor
at the Technical University of Munich, Munich, Germany. Currently, he is also
the Director of the Advanced Laboratory for Robotics, Automation and Manu-
facturing (ALARM) at the University of Connecticut. His research interests are
in robust nonlinear controls, active vibration absorption, micromanipulation in
bioengineering. He holds three patents (1995, 1996, and 1999) on the delayed
resonator active vibration suppression technique. He is an Associate Editor of
the ASME Transactions of Dynamic Systems, Measurement and Control, and the
Guest Editor of the ASME Special Issue on Time Delayed Systems (scheduled
for 2003).
Dr . Olgac is a Fellow of the American Society of Mechanical Engi-
neers (ASME). He served on the organizing committee of the IEEE/ASME
Conference on Control Applications, in 1997 and was the ASME–DSC division
program chair for the International Mechanical Engineering Congress and
Exposition (IMECE), in 1999.