Unitary transducer control system
OwnerPaul Francis Ierymenkoinventor
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A control system controls the motion of a physical subject such as a mechanical system to damp or enhance the motion via a single transducer which alternates in a time-discrete manner between the task of reading a signal indicative of the state of the subject and the task of influencing said state by the application of a force. Control of motion or vibration is achieved through a series of actuating pulses interleaved with sensing operations. The same single transducer alternately acts as input to the control system from the subject and output from the control system to the subject. The control system provides full and individual control of all important harmonic modes of vibration of a subject mechanical system.
Claims38
In a control system for controlling the motion of a physical subject, the combination comprising:
- a unitary transducer adapted to be coupled to the physical subject, the transducer being arranged to provide a sensing output signal in accordance with the motion of the subject and to effect a change in said motion in accordance with an actuating signal applied thereto;
- and
- a controller coupled to the transducer, the controller being programmed to respond to the sensing output signal during a sensing time channel portion of successive time frames and apply an actuating signal to the transducer during a separate actuating time channel of the time frames, whereby the sensing and actuating functions of the transducer are separated in time, the rate of occurrence of successive time frames being independent of the motion of the subject.
In a control system for controlling the motion of a physical subject, the combination comprising:
- a unitary transducer having a sensor/actuator circuit, the transducer being adapted to be coupled to the physical subject for providing a sensing output signal on the sensor/actuator circuit in accordance with the motion of the subject and for effecting a change in the motion of the subject in accordance with an actuating input signal applied to the sensor/actuator circuit;
- a controller coupled to the transducer sensor/actuator circuit, the controller being arranged to respond to sensing output signal during a first or sensing portion of a time frame and to apply an actuating input signal to transducer during a second or actuating portion of the time frame for the purpose of separating and isolating sensing events from actuating events in time and for selectively damping or enhancing the motion of the subject over a succession of said time frames.
In a method for controlling the motion of a physical subject in accordance with the motion prescribed by a reference signal, the combination comprising:
- a transducer coupled to the physical subject, the transducer having a sensor/actuator circuit which provides a sensing output signal during a sensing portion of a single time frame representative of the motion of the physical subject and in response to an actuating input signal applied to the sensor/actuator circuit during a separate actuating portion of said time frame provides an actuating force to the physical subject;
- comparing the transducer sensor output signal with the reference signal to provide an error signal;
- and
- processing the sensor output signal as a function of the error signal to create a correction signal;
- and
- modulating with the correction signal to form the actuating signal;
- and
- applying the actuating signal to the transducer sensor/actuator circuit during the actuating portion of said time frame.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.