Engineering Creativity Award: Piezoelectric Damping of Flexible Structures

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Lightweight flexible manipulators are playing an important role in current and future space activities. An existing example is the Shuttle Remote Manipulator System (RMS) and future plans call for other RMS-like arms to automate space operations, such as assembly. A key problem to be resolved is to dampen the vibrations caused by the necessary long reach and lightweight construction of the RMS system. The objective of this research project is to investigate the potential passive damping characteristics of piezoelectric film coatings when applied to flexible structural members. It is proposed to use a polymer film, PVDF, which has piezoelectric characteristic, to dessipate vibrational energy by means of an electric current. A layer of PVDF film applied to the surface of a vibrating member will generate an electric current due to mechanical deformations. The electric current can be passed through a passive impedance thus dessipating vibrational energy thereby reducing the vibrations. Using PVDF film to passively dampen vibrations is a new idea which has not been investigated. The ultimate goal is to provide an easily implemented modification to the RMS, or similar flexible manipulator that enhances performance without significantly increasing system cost, weight, and complexity of control or computational costs.