Vibration control is essential when it comes to mechanical engineering. As most machines in mechanical engineering rotate to do the work the they are supposed to.
We are in work when a machines rotates. And if the machine rotates this means that vibrations is something you will experience.
Vibrations have their advantages and disadvantage, you can check the article below to know more about that.
You might like this: Advantages & Disadvantages Of Vibration In Machines.
So, if you don’t want to get the disadvantage of these machines vibrations then you will have to do something about it.
You will have to control these vibrations so that you find a conducive working environment.
If you will not control the vibrations of the machines in then you will experience some problems while working with it.
With that much said, let me share with you two main methods you can use to control vibrations in machine.
Methods of vibration control in mechanical engineering;
There are two main methods of vibrations control in mechanical engineering namely:-
- Passive method of controlling vibrations.
- Active method of controlling vibrations.
Passive method of controlling vibrations.
This method of controlling vibration uses mechanical devices to control the vibrations of the machines.
There are several materials that are fixed under the machine foundation that will aid to control the vibrations of the machines.
In most cases, cork, rubber, steel spring, wood, grout and concrete are usually used as a vibration controlling materials.
The use of these material largely depend on the type of work the machine does.
We have those machines that will require steel spring to control their vibrations.
These are the machines that work on medium shock or impacts load, while machines that rotate with a high speed with no impact load will need cork as it’s main vibration control material.
So, the type of material used to control the vibration will depend on the type of process the machine works on.
Something else impact to note about this method of vibration control is this; passive vibration control method is very effective in controlling vibrations of a higher frequency.
As the materials are effective in damping the vibrations with higher frequency, the problems come in when it’s to handle vibrations of lower frequency.
And that is where the other method comes in.
Active method of controlling vibrations.
This method is very different from the passive method since it control vibrations by reacting to the incoming vibrations.
Which mostly relies on a closed loop system with a feedback.
This system consist of a spring, feedback and feed-foward control measures with actuators and sensors.
The sensors in AVC systems are mostly of piezoelectric type, actuators can be piezoelectric, electrodynamic and hydraulic.
The feedback control uses sensors that detects the incoming vibrations from the machine and it sends signal to the actuator, which introduces control force that are equal and opposite to the vibrations to cancel out the disturbance.
At the same time, the feed-foward control system uses measurements of external vibrations for controller input to reduce the ground vibration.
This method controls vibrations of a lower frequency compared to passive method.
The active vibration control system lowers the natural frequency of the system to the sub hertz which makes it effective in canceling these vibrations.
Which is something the the passive vibration method can’t achieve.
From the information I have shared with you, we can end up saying that active method of controlling vibrations mostly involves the use of technology.
All these methods are important, but the use of either of them depends on the type of vibrations you are handling.
Apart from using these methods, you also have to make sure your machine is in a good working conditions for you to be able to control these vibrations.
That is by ensuring your foundations bolts are fastened, your shaft is in the correct alignment, the bearing are rigidly fixed and the rotating masses are well balanced.
None of these methods will work if your machines has issues that causes the vibrations are not fixed.
After all for your machine to work effectively you will have to make sure these things are put into consideration, since vibrations of the machine often limit performance factor of the machines.
Thanks for stopping by, if you have any questions leave your comment. See you in my next article.
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