Implementation of an Absorber Design for Vibration Control in Automation Systems

Vibration problems occur in automation and robotics systems frequently. Automation systems often have components that rotate at high speeds. When rotating equipment is unbalanced, it could cause a lot of vibration. This type of forced vibration not only will create mechanical noise, it could cause accuracy issues and affect production yield in precision equipment. Even if the source of the vibration can be identified, sometimes it is difficult to fix the issue due to cost or schedule concerns. In such cases, vibration absorbers can be used to control the vibration amplitude and allow production to continue. A passive vibration absorber is a mechanical device with no electrical components. It is designed or tuned to a certain oscillation frequency, typically, one of the systems resonance frequencies. A vibration absorber is only effective when the excitation frequency is close to the resonance frequency of the system. In a system with multiple modes of vibrations, vibration absorbers can only be designed specifically to a single mode of vibration. In this paper, an example will be examined to understand how vibration absorbers can be implemented and their limitations.