EXPERIMENTAL-VERIFICATION OF OPTIMAL ACTUATOR LOCATION AND CONFIGURATION BASED ON ACTUATOR POWER-FACTOR

The actuator power factor is defined as the ratio of the total dissipa tive mechanical power of a PZT actuator to the total supplied electric al power to the PZT actuator. If measured experimentally, it can be us ed to optimize the actuator location and configuration for complex str uctures. The concept of actuator power factor is based on the ability of an integrated induced strain actuator such as a PZT to transfer sup plied electrical energy into structural mechanical energy. For a given structure such as a beam or a plate, the location and configuration o f an actuator will directly influence the authority of the actuator to wards driving the structure. Presented in this paper are the experimen tal as well as the theoretical results for the case of a cantilever be am as a proof-of-concept of this technique. The design of a fixture wh ich allows for the relocation of a PZT patch which can be used for bot h actuation and sensing is presented as well. For the experimental cas e, the electromechanical PZT admittance was measured by an HP 4194A im pedance analyzer for the power factor analysis. The experimental and t he theoretical power factor results were subsequently compared and sho wed good qualitative similarities over the frequency range analyzed. T his initial comparison between the experimental and the theoretical po wer factor results will be used to analyze the capabilities and limita tions of the actuator power factor algorithm as a tool for determining the optimal configuration and location for a PZT actuator for simple as well as complex structural vibration control applications.