Abstract
Despite its unique characteristics, having a large displacement and recovery force per unit volume even compared to traditional electro-hydraulic servo mechanical actuators or to famous small-sized and high-output exciting actuators, PZT, there are not so many studies on SMA 'actuator for vibration control. The main reasons are considered to be : (1) its difficulty of temperature control, (2) its slow response speed, and (3) its one-way transformation. The purpose of this paper is to realize SMA 'active' actuator solving the above-mentioned problems for vibration suppression. First of all, actuators using SMA wires, partly embedded in CFRP, were fabricated in consideration of SMA/matrix interfacial strength. Their thermo-mechanical behavior had been studied in combination with a filtered x-LMS control system including a cooling system. These lightweight actuators were mounted on beam structure which is to be put to vibration control. Recovery force of the beam structure itself was used as reactive force against that generated by SMA. As a result, actuator which is favorable for low frequency vibration modes suppression, i.e. having a large displacement and a large force, was obtained.
