Flexible mechanical systems experience undesirable vibration in response to environmental and operational forces. The very existence of vibrations can limit the accuracy of sensitive instruments or cause significant errors in applications where high-precision positioning is essential so in many situations control of vibrations is a necessity.

Piezoelectric transducers have been used in countless applications as sensors, actuators, or both. When traditional passive vibration control techniques fail to meet requirements, piezoelectric transducers in conjunction with feedback controllers can be used effectively to suppress vibrations.

Piezoelectric Transducers for Vibration Control and Damping presents recent developments in vibration control systems that employ embedded piezoelectric sensors and actuators. In particular, it covers various ways in which active vibration control systems can be designed for piezoelectric laminated structures, paying distinct attention to how such control systems can be implemented in real time. The text contains numerous examples and experimental results obtained from laboratory-scale apparatus, with details of how similar setups can be built.

Features and topics:

• An overview of piezoelectricity.
• Modelling of flexible structures with embedded piezoelectric sensors and actuators.
• Feedback control of structural vibration using PPF and resonant controllers.
• A comprehensive treatment of piezoelectric shunt damping systems using systems-theoretic tools.
• A paradigm for designing active high-performance piezoelectric shunts.
• Innovative techniques to deal with the problem of hysteresis inpiezoelectric transducers.
• Instrumentation for piezoelectric sensors and actuators.
• Applications in atomic force and scanning tunneling microscopy.

An essential text and reference for graduates, researchers, and professionals working in mechanical engineering, aerospace engineering and mechatronics disciplines, this book will be a specially useful resource for scientists and engineers engaged in vibration control research.

This book comprises a selection of the presentations made at the "Workshop on Dynamics and Control of Micro and Nanoscale Systems" held at IBM Research - Zurich, Switzerland, on the 10th and 11th of December 2009. The aim of the workshop was to bring together some of the leading researchers in the field of dynamics and control of micro- and nanoscale systems. It proved an excellent forum for discussing new ideas and approaches.

This book presents recent developments in vibration control systems that employ embedded piezoelectric sensors and actuators, reviewing ways in which active vibration control systems can be designed for piezoelectric laminated structures, paying distinct attention to how such control systems can be implemented in real time. Includes numerous examples and experimental results obtained from laboratory-scale apparatus, with details of how similar setups can be built.

This book is based on a workshop entitled "Robust Control workshop 2000". The workshop was held in Newcastle, Australia, from the 6th to the 8th December 2000. Chapters of the book are written by some of the leading researchers in the field of Robust Control. They cover a variety of topics all related to Robust Control and analysis of uncertain systems.