Modeling and Control of an Electro-Mechanical Ballscrew Actuator for Vibration Active Damping

The damping of vibrations on aircrafts and rotorcrafts can provide life extension or weight reduction on those structures on which the vibration load is a significant amount of load endurance spectrum. A hybrid active-passive inertial actuator system is presented focusing the advantages of a ballscrew based actuator and of a non-conventional three phase control drive. The dynamics of the mechanical system, of the electric motor and of the associated electronic control unit has been simulated as an integrated system on a MatLab/Simulink® platform. The design of the damper has been finalized by simulation, including full three-phase bridge drive with independent phases (no star-point) and motor control law and mechanics and elasticity of the system. The test results on a full-scale prototype of the damper are presented.