Experimental investigations on the active vibration control of chain drives

This paper describes an active control system to reduce transverse vibrations in power transmission chain drives. An adaptive signal processing technique and a nonlinear velocity feedback control are applied to an experimental test stand of a moving chain with adjustable tension. The on-line control is performed through a digital signal processing (DSP) board and the control actuation is provided by noncontact electromagnetic forces. Experimental results show that the averaged vibration amplitudes can be suppressed by as much as 90% under low to moderate chain tension. Effects of this active vibration control on the noise reduction are also examined. Results show that chain noise can be reduced by about 3.3 dB. The experimental apparatus is simple and the technology is readily transferable to an industrial environment. (C) 1998 Institute of Noise Control Engineering.