Design of Advanced Piezoelectric Vibration Control Electronics

Abstract

This paper presents the development and experimental validation of an advanced electronic system for vibration control using piezoelectric elements. The proposed system is based on the Synchronized Switch Damping on Voltage source (SSDV) principle, a semi-active method well-suited for enhancing damping in mechanical structures. A key focus of this study is the influence of phase shift between the structural response and the switching signal, which significantly affects piezoelectric damping performance. A digital control board based on the STM32F303 microcontroller was designed to overcome the limitations of earlier analogue implementations. This new setup enables precise control of the switching phase and applied voltage, and supports future implementation of adaptive and self-sensing algorithms. The erformance of the digital system was evaluated through chirp-based frequency response measurements on a hybrid piezoelectric-based energy harvester. Results show that the digital solution improves agreement with simulations and offers greater flexibility in tuning phase shift, which is crucial for effective vibration control. Two output drivers—a discrete H-bridge and an integrated haptic driver—were compared, highlighting trade-offs in voltage range and damping efficiency. The work demonstrates the potential of compact, low-cost electronics for embedded piezoelectric damping systems and lays the groundwork for applications in machine tool vibration suppression and structural health monitoring.