Driving an active vibration balancer to minimize vibrations at the fundamental and harmonic frequencies

A method for balancing the vibration of a principal vibrating machine that operates at a fundamental operating frequency, the principal vibrating machine being mechanically coupled to an active vibration balancer that is driven by a drive motor, the method minimizing vibration of the coupled principal machine and balancer at the fundamental operating frequency and at any harmonic of the fundamental operating frequency and comprising:

• (a) sensing the vibration of the coupled principal machine and balancer to provide a sensed vibration signal representing the sensed vibration;
• (b) generating a balancing signal for the fundamental operating frequency and for at least a selected harmonic of the fundamental operating frequency by processing the sensed vibration signal with an adaptive filter algorithm of an adaptive filter for the fundamental operating frequency and for each selected harmonic frequency, the adaptive filter algorithm having a reference input at the fundamental operating frequency and at each selected harmonic frequency;
• and
• (c) summing the generated balancing signals and applying the summed signal to the active vibration balancer drive motor and thereby driving the drive motor with a drive voltage component for the fundamental operating frequency and for each selected harmonic frequency in opposition to the vibration at the fundamental operating frequency and at each selected harmonic frequency.