Experimental Vibration Control of a Two-Degree of Freedom, State-Switched Absorber System Available to Purchase

A State-Switched Absorber (SSA) is a device capable of instantaneously changing its stiffness, thus it can switch between resonance frequencies, increasing its effective bandwidth as compared to classical tuned vibration absorbers for vibration control. Previous theoretical simulations show that for a system subjected to a multi-harmonic disturbance, using an appropriate logic for switching states, the SSA reduces vibration more effectively than classical tuned vibration absorbers (TVA). This paper considers the experimental performance of the SSA for vibration suppression of an elastically mounted lumped mass base. State switching is achieved using magneto-rheological fluid to connect or disconnect a coil spring in parallel with other coil springs. The stiffness state is controlled by applying or removing a magnetic field across of the MR fluid. Experiments were performed over a range of forcing and tuning frequencies. The SSA system, optimally tuned, outperformed the optimal classical TVA system for all combinations of forcing frequencies.