Implementation of H-infinity controller in experimental active vibration control of a cantilever beam

Noise and vibration causes many problems in most of the industrial applications and they have grown in recent years. Active methods of controlling vibration has been of great interest for applications requiring low weight, lower energy consumption, ease of handling, safer operation due to reduced inertia, and high speed applications. Active control involves the use of sensors to sense the vibratory motion of the structure, a controller to generate a control signal, an amplifier to amplify the control signal, and an actuator for applying controlling force on the structure to control the vibrations. The present work deals with the controlling the vibration of a cantilever beam actively using piezoelectric transducers. An experimental setup is made, consisting of the aluminum (Al) cantilever beam with the Lead Zirconate Titanate (PZT) transducers bonded in the collocated manner at the root of the beam. H-infinity controller is designed in LabVIEW
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to generate the required control signal. Experiments are performed for the active control of vibration, and it is observed that there is significant reduction in the settling time. H-infinity controller the stability and robustness of linear system within prescribed limits.