BRITE-EURAM II project ASPEN: Active control of structural vibration using power transmission method

In this international research project financed by the EU (BRITE EURAM II), a new method for active noise control has been examined. The method is based on minimising the total vibrational power supplied to a receiving structure. The main task of the Department of Acoustic Technology (AT) has been to develop and test an adaptive control algorithm for minimising a sum of measured power quantities and to implement this algorithm on a TMS320C30 signal processor. AT has tested the developed real-time control system at the Centre Technique des Industries Mécaniques (CETIM) in France. Based on the resulting experience the software has been further developed to include a calibration facility for the complete measurement system. Other control strategies have also been implemented, because all experimental tests showed that the performance of the power control system is very sensitive to phase errors between force and velocity. These alternative control strategies include minimising sums of squared velocities, sums of squared forces or a weighted sum of these quantities, as suggested by the Institute of Sound and Vibration Research (ISVR). The project was completed in the beginning of 1997 with a final experimental demonstration at CETIM of the performances of the different strategies for a source and receiver system with active vibration isolators, designed by ISVR.
The project has been carried out in cooperation with Stephen Elliott, ISVR, and Goran Pavic, CETIM. The industrial partners of the project were Brüel & Kjær, Thomson Sintra ASM, Sophia-Anti-polis, France, and Centro Ricerche Fiat, Torino, Italy.