Piezoelectric shunt damping by synchronized switching on negative capacitance and adaptive voltage sources

Synchronized switch damping (SSD) techniques have recently been developed for structural vibration control using piezoelectric materials. In these techniques, piezoelectric materials are bonded on the vibrating structure and shunted by a network of electrical elements. These piezoelectric materials are switched according to the amplitude of the excitation force to damp vibration. This paper presents a new SSD technique called ‘synchronized switch damping on negative capacitance and adaptive voltage sources’ (SSDNCAV). The technique combines the phenomenon of capacitance transient charging and electrical resonance to effectively dampen the structural vibration. Also, the problem of stability observed in the previous SSD techniques is effectively addressed by adapting the voltage on the piezoelectric patch according to the vibration amplitude of the structure. Analytical expressions of vibration attenuation at the resonance frequency are derived, and the effectiveness of this new technique is demonstrated, for the control of a resonant cantilever beam with bonded piezoelectric patches, by comparing with SSDI, SSDVenh, and SSDNC techniques. Theoretical predictions and experimental results show the remarkable vibration damping capability of SSDNCAV technique, which was better than the previous SSD techniques. The broadband vibration control capabilities of SSDNCAV technique are also demonstrated, which exceed those of previous SSD techniques.