Suppose we are designing a vibration absorber and obviously it will be installed on a host structure, and we should propose a lightweight design.
Do experts consider electronics* for the mass budget when designing a mechanical vibration absorber?
(*electric motor, control board, processor, etc.)
Dear Sina S. , are you considering a lightweight design from the perspective of the mechanical components that relate to the vibration absorber or lightweight design as it relates to the vibration absorber as a subsystem (in which case the electronics play the role of controller)?
As long as you are thinking about a passive vibration absorber, I do not understand why there is any electronics included.
If you would think about an active solution, then, yes, the mass of the electronics probably need to be taken into account as the electronics is part of the absorber system. Think for example about an aerospace application: The electronics need to be on board, so yes, their weight is important.
Dear Sina, if the electronics are part of the mass element of the TVA, they will be permanently in a resonance mode and might suffer fatigue issues... Dense elements such as batteries or big capacitors are well suitable to play this role, but not PCBs as a general rule! A TVA shall remain a "pure" mass-spring system if you aim at a straightforward implementation and easy tuning
Mechanical vibration absorbers (tuned mass dampers) do not require control electronics. Their performance is defined by the mass ratio (moving mass of the absorber to the effective mass of the host structure), so the moving mass should be high enough. The mass of the auxiliary elements (elastic and damping elements, casings, etc.) is subject to minimization. Electronics is present in active vibration dampers. They may use inertial actuator, but the moving mass can be very small. Size and weights of sensors, actuators and control electronics are defined, essentially, by the power requirements. More on the passive vibration absorbers in Vibration Control for Optomechanical Systems, by V.M. Ryaboy, World Scientific, 2021, ISBN 9789811237331, pages 170 - 177, 193-199; active dampers pages 240-245. Book Vibration Control for Optomechanical Systems
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