Abstact- There exist many methods of adding damping to a vibrating structure; however, very few can
function without ever coming into contact with the structure. One such method is eddy current damping. This magnetic damping scheme functions through the eddy currents that are generated in a nonmagnetic conductive material when it is subjected to a time changing magnetic field. in this research work a variable eddy current damper is applied for controlling the vibrations of a cantilever beam. An displacement sensor is attached to the setup for measuring the feedback response for controlling system. A PID control algorithm is developed for the controlling system as the eddy current damper is a non-contacting system. Using this system, experiments are performed on a cantilever beam showing the system can effectively suppress each of the first three modes of vibration by upwards of 10 dB, demonstrating the actuator has an increased bandwidth over previously used eddy current methods.
Keywors: Eddy Currents, Magnetic Dampers, FFT