Solar tracker systems include a torque tube, a column supporting the torque tube, a solar panel attached to the torque tube, and a damper assembly. The damper assembly includes an outer shell surrounding an inner shell. A piston is at least partially positioned within the inner shell and moveable relative thereto. An active lock of the damper assembly includes a housing positioned within the outer shell. The housing defines a cavity and a housing channel extending from the cavity to an outer fluid channel. A shaft extends into the cavity and a valve assembly is attached to the shaft. The shaft is rotatable within the cavity between an unsealed position in which the housing channel is in fluid communication with the cavity, and a sealed position in which the valve assembly is rotationally aligned with the housing channel and obstructs fluid communication between the cavity and the housing channel.

A system and method that pertain to a rotating vehicle display unit that can automatically or manually rotate between landscape and portrait orientations, depending on the particular display format or media being shown to the vehicle occupants. The rotating vehicle display unit uses an electro-mechanical rotating and locking mechanism with smart fluid, such as magnetorheological fluid (MR), to facilitate easy and precise rotational movement between different display orientations. The rotating vehicle display unit may be coupled to a corresponding human-machine interface (HMI) that responds to the different display orientations and helps facilitate easy transition from one orientation to another in order to optimize the particular display format or media being shown at that time.

The vibration damping device for an elevator rope includes: an actuator, which is placed in a hoistway, and is configured to generate a forced displacement in response to a drive input and apply a force generated by the forced displacement to an elevator rope; a lateral vibration measuring unit configured to measure a lateral vibration generated in the elevator rope and output the measured lateral vibration as lateral vibration information; a lateral vibration estimation unit configured to estimate a lateral vibration of the elevator rope at a position of the actuator based on the lateral vibration information and output the lateral vibration as an estimated lateral vibration; and an actuator drive unit configured to output the drive input to the actuator to drive the actuator so that the forced displacement has a phase reverse to a phase of the estimated lateral vibration output from the lateral vibration estimation unit.

A method for operating a drivetrain of a motor vehicle having at least one centrifugal pendulum, in which the centrifugal pendulum comprises at least one primary part rotatable about an axis of rotation, at least one secondary part movable relative to the primary part, and at least one damping medium by which relative movements are hydraulically dampened between the primary part and the secondary part, wherein at least one temperature of the damping medium is calculated by an electronic calculating device of the drivetrain with the aid of a mathematical model.

An active anti-vibration device 10 includes a pair of elastic connecting parts 20 and 30, a rod body 40 that connects the pair of elastic connecting parts, an inertial mass 52 that is supported by the rod body, a drive part 58 that reciprocates the inertial mass in an axial direction of the rod body, and a controller 90 that is configured to be able to perform acceleration feedback control to control the drive part so that a first force proportional to an axial acceleration of the rod body is generated.

Described and shown are passive variable stiffness devices, which are of compact design and configured to produce a restoring force that varies optimally with the isolator displacement when subjected to vibration-inducing loading.

The present invention discloses a multi-dimensional eddy current tuned mass damper, which belongs to the technical field of structural vibration control. A main body of the multi-dimensional eddy current tuned mass damper is composed of two hollow cylinders, wherein an inner hollow cylinder is located in an outer hollow cylinder, ball grooves are formed in the opposite upper and lower walls of the inner and outer hollow cylinders, rolling balls are installed in the ball grooves, and the inner hollow cylinder is rotated in the outer hollow cylinder through the rolling balls; the inner hollow cylinder is provided with an inner cover plate, and the outer hollow cylinder is provided with an outer cover plate, forming a relatively closed box body structure; an orthogonal bidirectional mass element, a stiffness element and an eddy current damping element are arranged in the inner hollow cylinder, and a torsional stiffness element and an eddy current damping element are arranged between the inner hollow cylinder and the outer hollow cylinder. The multi-dimensional eddy current tuned mass damper of the present invention is not only convenient to adjust in terms of mass, stiffness and damping parameters, but also has regular and beautiful appearance, simple structure, and very simple connection with a main structure.

The present application relates to self-adjusting damping vibration absorbers, in particular to a self-adjusting damping vibration absorber for while-drilling instruments and an adjusting method thereof. The self-adjusting damping vibration absorber includes a vibration monitor and controller tool and a vibration absorber body. The vibration monitor and controller tool is mounted inside the downhole while-drilling instrument, one end of the vibration absorber body is connected to the vibration monitor and controller tool through an insulating connector, the joint is provided with an insulating pad, the other end is connected to a sensor or circuit board tool that needs vibration damping, and the inside of the vibration absorber body is provided with a damping adjustment layer made of an electroactive polymer. By controlling the magnitude of an applied voltage, the damping adjustment can be realized, and the damping adjustment layer has the characteristics of high response speed and high control precision. The self-adjusting damping vibration absorber of the present application can adjust the vibration absorber damping according to the changes of the downhole vibration and temperature, so that the vibration absorber inherent frequency avoids or is far away from the vibration frequency of the downhole while-drilling instrument so as to avoid resonance, and thereby, the vibration absorber achieves the best vibration damping effect.

Apparatus include a reaction mass and an actuator coupled to the reaction mass. The actuator is configured to couple to a payload and to move the reaction mass in response to a movement error of the payload to reduce the movement error of the payload. Robotic systems using actuated reaction masses, as well as related methods of reducing movement errors, are also disclosed.

An energy absorption system, for absorbing an impact energy imparted to a subject upon landing on a surface, includes a mass containment vessel fixed to the subject and a plurality of electromagnets disposed at fixed positions relative to the mass containment vessel. The mass containment vessel may contain one or more mass elements movably disposed therein. A controller may be configured to charge one or more of the electromagnets upon an impact of the subject with the surface to move the mass element(s) toward the surface by electromagnetic force. Alternatively, the energy absorption system may include a pulley system operable to mechanically move one or more mass elements along an axis, a multi-axis joint connecting the pulley system to the subject, and a controller configured to operate the pulley system upon an impact of the subject with the surface to mechanically move the mass element(s) toward the surface.