Application of self-sensing actuator to control of a cantilever beam

A self-sensing actuator is a new concept for intelligent material, where a single piece of piezoelectric element simultaneously performs as both a sensor and an actuator. This idea should be advantageous especially for control of flexible structures. The key of this device is an electric bridge circuit that includes a piezoelectric element as a component. This circuit could give significant information about strain in the element if it were well-balanced. Our aim is to design controllers which enable practical self-sensing actuation in the presence of uncertainty that loses the balance of the circuit. In this paper, we proposed two approaches to realize self-sensing actuation which deal with this uncertainty differently. Experimental results proved the effectiveness of self-sensing actuation in both vibration suppression and tracking control of a cantilever.