Position and Vibration Control of Suspended Gondola-Rope Systems with Visual and PSD Image Feedback Systems : Vibration, Control Engineering, Engineering for Industry

Abstract

Vibration and attitude control problems are dealt with for a suspended maneuvering module (SMM), in which a gondola with control functions on board is suspended by a rope from above. Keeping in mind the applications of this type of suspended system for rescue work in the csse of fires in skyscrapers, it is necessary to control the position of the SMM toward the targets and to suppress the vibration of both the gondola and the rope. A visual feedback control system made of a TV camera and a PSD (Position Sensitive Detector) image information system are employed in this study in order to obtain the correct orientstion toward the target automstically and to search out the targets in vibrational environments. Some useful techniques using such feedback systems are demonstrated for estimating the relative positions between the SMM and the target in static states and even during vibration. Also, a vibration control method is proposed that controls air jets by the on-off PWM (Pulse Width Modulation) manner.