Modeling and study of nonlinear effects in electrodynamic shakers

An electrodynamic shaker is inherently a nonlinear electro-mechanical system. In this work, we have developed a lumped parameter model for the entire electromechanical system, developed an approach to non-destructively determine these parameters, and predict the nonlinear response of the shaker. This predicted response has been validated using experimental data. Through such an approach, we have been able to accurately predict the resulting distortions in the response of the shaker and other nonlinear effects like DC offset in the displacement response. Our approach offers a key advantage vis-à-vis other approaches which rely on techniques involving Volterra Series expansions or techniques based on blackbox models like neural networks, which is that in our approach, apart from predicting the response of the shaker, the model parameters obtained have a physical significance and changes in the parameters can be directly mapped to modification in key design parameters of the shaker. The proposed approach is also advantageous in one more way: it requires measurement of only four parameters, voltage, current, displacement and acceleration for estimating shaker model parameters non-destructively. The proposed model can be used for the design of linearization controllers, prototype testing and simulation of new shaker designs as well as for performance prediction of shakers under testing conditions.