SBIR Phase I: Materials for Structural Vibration Avoidance

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*** 9761032 Haynes This Small Business Innovation Research Phase I project will detail a method to fabricate structurally strong materials where the stiffness of the material can be varied electrically. If this innovative new type of material is used to build structures, then changing the stiffness of the material changes the vibrational characteristics of the structures. By continually changing the stiffness of key structural components, vibrations will never be able to build up at any resonance frequency because the resonance frequencies will continually change. Current active damping systems use actuators and advanced control theory to actively interfere with vibrations. A fundamental problem with these systems is that they can add energy to the system, and can go unstable. They are based on some level of prediction of the noise characteristics and/or a model of the structure being controlled, and can increase instead of decrease vibrations when the predictions or models do not correctly represent the current situation. In this approach, the fundamental advantage is that energy cannot be added to the system, and thus it cannot go unstable. In addition there are practical advantages of requiring no actuators and requiring far less power than conventional systems. A technology to minimize vibrations would have commercial value in aircraft, cars, space structures, and high precision manufacturing equipment such as machine tools or lithography machines. An investor has been identified who is interested in funding an application of this technology, if the research is successful, to scanning probe microscopes where vibration precludes using these manometer resolution instruments on the factory floor for in-process control. ***