Phase-Exact Adaptive Feedforward Control with Reduced Computational Complexity for Modulated Gear Mesh Vibration at 4.7 kHz

The implementation of an active vibration control system for high speed planetary gearboxes is challenging because of the high mechanical frequencies to be controlled. Furthermore, gear mesh vibration in planetary gearboxes is amplitude and frequency modulated which results in a rich sideband structure. State of the art control approaches using feedforward control are able to achieve significant reductions at the target frequencies. However, sidebands around the nominal gear mesh frequency are typically amplified in the controlled case. This paper proposes a setup for active vibration control to suppress transmission of gear mesh vibration to the surrounding structure using piezoelectric inertial mass actuators. The proposed control algorithm uses multiple adaptive feedforward controllers. The gear mesh vibration can be suppressed on the test rig at frequencies up to 4.7 kHz. To achieve the desired sampling frequency in real time several optimizations are introduced. A detailed analysis of the control approach is conducted using both simulation and experiment.