Control for flow disturbance suppression of pneumatic anti-vibration apparatus using asymmetric central pattern generator

Abstract

Pneumatic anti-vibration apparatus (AVA) has been used for suppressing the vibration from the floor. Compressed air produced by the air compressor is supplied to air spring, which is used as an actuator in AVA. This paper considers the suppression of flow disturbance, which is caused by pressure variation of compressed air. Based on the internal model principle, the suppression of vibration of AVA due to flow disturbance has been confirmed by using Central Pattern Generator (CPG) in parallel with a displacement controller. In biological study, CPG in bodies playing a significant role in the walking have been learned. Moreover, mathematical models of CPG have been reported, and some researchers have been studying about walking of biped-robots by using CPG to generate desired value. On the other hand, this paper proposes asymmetric CPG as new model for further vibration suppression, compared with the symmetric CPG which is the conventional model. This new model introduces asymmetry by changing its parameters into different values in order to improve reproducibility of waveform which shows the variation of supplied air pressure. Validity of the proposed model is presented by experimental result of AVA. The effectiveness is shown by analyzing and comparing the results of experiment and simulation of symmetric and asymmetric CPGs.