No abstract

Due to increased interest in comfort features, considerable effort has been spent on the modification of brake prototypes in order to suppress brake squeal. Recently, piezoelectric transducers have been investigated as an innovative way of controlling the vibrations of a brake. This paper presents an efficient mechanical model for the description of a brake with embedded transducers. Different control strategies are discussed and compared. Measurements on a brake test rig validate the obtained results.

Due to increased interest in comfort features, considerable effort is spent by brake manufacturers in order to suppress brake squeal. This process can be shortened by eliminating the remaining squealing with shunted piezoceramics that are embedded into the brake system. The piezoceramics offers the unique ability to convert mechanical energy into electrical energy and vice versa. The damping performance is determined by the connected shunt. This paper presents a multibody system model of a brake, which is capable of reproducing important features of brake squeal. It includes the dynamics of a piezoceramics that is shunted with a passive LR shunt or a negative capacitance LRC shunt. Analytical stability analysis is carried out to obtain optimal shunt parameters. The performance increase with a negative capacitance is studied in detail. The simulations are validated with measurements on an automotive disk brake.

In technical applications, Tuned Mass Dampers (TMDs) are commonly used to reduce the vibrations of a system subjected to disturbance excitations. An alternative to TMDs are passive shunted piezo elements. Because of the ability to transfer mechanical energy into electrical energy and vice versa, an electromechanical vibration damper can be created by connecting a suitable passive resonance circuit. In this paper, criterions for optimal performance of both mechanical and electromechanical systems are derived, and maximum damping performances are compared. Further, a method to increase the damping performance of piezo elements by adding a negative capacitance is examined. (© 2005 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)

The paper deals with the Engineering Design that is a general methodology of a design process. It is assumed that a designer has to solve a design task as an inverse problem in an iterative way. After each iteration, a decision should be taken on the information that is called a centre of integration in a systematic design system. For this purpose, poly-optimal solutions may be used. The poly-optimization is presented and contrasted against the Multi Attribute Decision Making, and a set of the poly-optimal solutions is defined. Then Mechatronics is defined and its characteristics given, to prove that mechatronic design process vitally needs CAD tools. Three examples are quoted to demonstrate a key role of the poly-optimization in the mechatronic design.