Distributed cooperative vibration control of flexible structures using a flywheel array

In this study, a distributed cooperative control scheme utilizing a flywheel array is proposed to suppress vibration of flexible space structure. The theoretical dynamic model of a flexible beam is derived, incorporating the flywheel characteristics and revealing the coupling relationship between the flywheel rotational speeds and the vibration suppression performance. The proposed distributed cooperative control law introduces consensus terms among neighboring controllers, and the connection topology among the controllers is represented by the Laplacian matrix. Subsequently, the stability of the system is analyzed under the condition of collocated sensors and actuators. Both theoretical simulation and experimental validation are conducted across uncontrolled, decentralized, and distributed cooperative control schemes. The numerical simulations confirm the validity of the established model and facilitate the determination of appropriate control parameters. For physical experiments, an integrated control unit comprising a flywheel, an inertial measurement unit, and a microcontroller is designed to facilitate the implementation of the distributed cooperative control system. Both simulation and experimental results demonstrate that the proposed method improves vibration suppression performance and fault tolerance. In experiments, compared to decentralized control, the distributed cooperative control scheme improves the vibration attenuation within 5 s from 88% to 92%, reduces steady-state residual vibration by 25.9%, and maintains 95.7% control efficacy under single sensor failure for flexible space structures.