Active platform for suppressing train-induced microvibration of high tech facilities

In this paper, active platform is proposed for high tech facilities to keep high tech equipment almost free from microvibration induced by traffic disturbance. In an active platform, a lightweight platform is installed on a building floor through an active control actuator and a passive mount to stop floor vibration to transfer to the platform where a batch of high tech equipment are mounted. The control force required to derive the platform is much smaller than that to control the building floor directly. A sub-optimal control strategy is adopted to control the active platform. To verify the feasibility and efficiency of the active platform, computer simulations are performed on a three-story building with an active platform installed on its first floor. Two sets of active platform with different parameters installed on the first floor of the building under four levels of ground motion intensities are investigated to see the control performance of the active platform. The velocity response of the platform is compared with that of the first floor of the building without control, and its performance is evaluated using the BBN vibration criteria. Simulation results show that the active platform is very effective in providing an almost vibration-free environment for high tech equipment and only small control power is required. The results also illustrate that the proposed control algorithm makes the active platform less sensitive to the platform with different parameters and the ground motion of different intensities. The active platform can be effectively applied to the design of intelligent vibration-free floor for high tech equipment.