Practical aspects of design, tuning and application of dynamic vibration absorbers

Abstract

Theory of dynamic vibration absorbers is a classic topic that has been thoroughly researched. Nevertheless, implementing the dynamic system in a structure and applying it properly still meet some challenges that have not been adequately addressed in the technical literature. Some of practical problems include achieving thermal stability, building a damped device with the desired undamped frequency, providing mechanisms for tuning or adjusting the dynamic absorbers in situ, and effective tuning of multiple absorbers. The paper describes a new patented design of dynamic vibration absorber for optical tables together with the new method of tuning. The tuning procedure uses only one sensor and does not require access to the moving mass. Applications include suppressing flexural resonance vibrations of standard optical tables and the recent project on vibration control of a large support bench for unique petawatt laser system at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.