Rotary knife with active vibration control

• US 6,032,558 A
• Filed: 03/20/1998
• Issued: 03/07/2000
• Est. Priority Date: 03/20/1998
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Marquip, Inc. (Barry-Wehmiller Group Incorporated)
• Original Assignee: Marquip, Inc. (Barry-Wehmiller Group Incorporated)
• Inventors: Michler, James R.
• Primary Examiner(s): Rada, Rinaldi I.
• Assistant Examiner(s): Goodman, Charles
• Application Number:
  US09/045,466
• Time in Patent Office: 718 Days
• Field of Search: 384/448, 101/216, 72/10.1, 72/13.4, 72/237, 83/72, 83/74, 83/75, 83/342, 83/344, 83/576, 83/745, 83/698.21
• US Class Current: 83/74
• CPC Class Codes: B26D 7/08 Means for treating work or cutting member to facilitate cutting tensioning band cutters B26D1/48
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 2219/34047 Dsp digital signal processor
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 2219/37434 Measuring vibration of machine or workpiece or tool
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 2219/49054 Active damping of tool vibration
• CPC Class Codes: Y10T 83/148 Including means to correct the sensed operation
• CPC Class Codes: Y10T 83/4827 With helical cutter blade
• CPC Class Codes: Y10T 83/8765 Magnet- or solenoid-actuated tool
• CPC Class Codes: Y10T 83/9459 Magnetic connection

Abstract

A rotary knife incorporates the use of an electronically controlled, tuned mass active damping system to control vibrations of the knife cylinder. The system preferably uses one or more electromagnetic actuators to provide force on a tuned mass which is mechanically coupled to the knife cylinder. Vibration sensors, preferably accelerometers, are used to monitor vibrations of the respective knife cylinders and tuned masses. A digital signal processor implementing a state space control system controls the electromagnetic actuators to remove vibration energy from the system. An active damping system in accordance with the invention is more effective in removing vibration energy than passive systems, especially in heavy-duty applications.

Claims

1. A rotary knife for cutting a plurality of individual sheets in succession from a longitudinally traveling continuous web of material, the rotary knife comprising:

a frame;

a first tubular rotatable knife cylinder and a second tubular rotatable knife cylinder, each of the tubular knife cylinders having a blade mounted on an outer cylindrical wall of the respective knife cylinder, the blades engaging each other as the tubular knife cylinders rotate to cut the web;

a first stationary support shaft located concentrically within the first tubular knife cylinder and fixed to the frame;

support bearings located between the first stationary support shaft and the first tubular knife cylinder to rotatably support the first tubular knife cylinder on the first stationary support shaft; and

an active tuned mass damping system for the first knife cylinder including

a tuned mass,

a spring arm having one end coupled to the tuned mass and another end coupled to the first stationary support shaft,

a knife vibration sensor that monitors vibration of the first knife cylinder and generates a signal in response thereto,

a tuned mass vibration sensor that monitors vibration of the tuned mass and generates a signal in response thereto,

an electronic control unit that inputs the signals from the first knife vibration sensor and the tuned mass vibration sensor and outputs one or more command signals, and

an actuator that provides a force on the tuned mass in response to the one or more command signals from the electronic control unit.

2. A rotary knife as recited in claim 1 wherein the electronic control unit for the active tuned mass damping system is a digital signal processor.

3. A rotary knife as recited in claim 1 wherein:

the recited knife vibration sensor is a primary first knife vibration sensor that monitors vibrations of the first knife cylinder occurring in a primary direction which is perpendicular to a rotation axis of the first knife cylinder,

the recited tuned mass vibration sensor is a primary tuned mass vibration sensor that monitors vibrations of the tuned mass occurring in the same primary direction as the primary first knife vibration sensor,

the recited actuator is a first actuator that provides force on the tuned mass in the same primary direction as monitored by the primary first knife vibration sensor and the primary tuned mass vibration sensor, and

the active tuned mass damping system for the first knife cylinder further includes;

a secondary first knife vibration sensor that monitors vibrations of the first knife occurring in a secondary direction which is perpendicular to the rotation axis of the first knife cylinder and is rotated from the primary direction by at least 45°

, and generates a signal in response thereto;

a secondary tuned mass sensor that monitors vibrations of the tuned mass occurring in the same secondary direction as the secondary first knife vibration sensor, and generates a signal thereto;

wherein the electronic control unit also receives the signals from the secondary first knife vibration sensor and the secondary tuned mass vibration sensor, and the tuned mass damping system for the first knife cylinder further includes a second actuator that provides a force on the tuned mass in the secondary direction in response to one or more command signals from the electronic control unit.

4. A rotary knife as recited in claim 3 wherein mechanical tuning of the tuned mass is a compromise between optimum tuning for the primary direction and optimum tuning for the secondary direction.

5. A rotary knife as recited in claim 3 wherein the primary direction is generally vertical and the secondary direction is generally horizontal.

6. A rotary knife as recited in claim 3 wherein both the primary and secondary first knife vibration sensors are located within the first stationary support shaft and measure vibration of the first stationary support shaft to monitor the vibration of the first knife cylinder.

7. A rotary knife as recited in claim 6 wherein the first stationary support shaft has a first end and a second end both fixed to the frame and both the primary and secondary first knife vibration sensors are placed within the first stationary support shaft at a location 20% to 80% between a location at which the first end of the shaft is fixed to the frame and a location at which the second end of the shaft is fixed to the frame.

8. A rotary knife as recited in claim 6 wherein the primary and secondary first knife vibration sensors are placed within the first stationary support shaft at a location approximately equidistant between a location at which the first end of the shaft is fixed to the frame and a location at which the second end of the shaft is fixed to the frame.

9. A rotary knife as recited in claim 1 wherein the first knife vibration sensor is located within the first stationary support shaft and measures vibration of the first stationary support shaft to monitor vibration of the first knife cylinder.

10. A rotary knife as recited in claim 9 wherein the first stationary support shaft has a first end and a second end both fixed to the frame and the first knife vibration sensor is placed within the first stationary support shaft at a location 20% to 80% between the location at which the first end of the shaft is fixed to the frame and the location at which the second end of the shaft is fixed to the frame.

11. A rotary knife as recited in claim 10 wherein the first vibration sensor is placed within the first stationary support shaft at a location approximately equidistant between the location at which the first end of the shaft is fixed to the frame and the location at which the second end of the shaft is fixed to the frame.

12. A rotary knife as recited in claim 1 wherein the actuator in the active tuned mass damping system for the first knife cylinder is an electromagnet that is actuated to provide force on the tuned mass.

13. A rotary knife as recited in claim 12 wherein a plurality of permanent magnets are affixed to the tuned mass.

14. A rotary knife as recited in claim 12 wherein the tuned mass comprises a plurality of thin metal sheets laminated together to form the tuned mass, the thin metal sheets being aligned generally along the direction of a magnetic field generated by the electromagnetic actuator.

15. A rotary knife as recited in claim 1 wherein the tuned mass and the spring arm are selected so that a tuned frequency of the tuned mass is slightly less than a natural resonance frequency of the system for the first knife cylinder absent the tuned mass and spring arm.

16. A rotary knife as recited in claim 1 wherein:

a retainer mount for a first end of the first stationary support shaft is mounted to the frame and the first end of the first stationary support shaft is fixed to the frame by mounting the first end of the shaft to the retainer mount; and

the spring arm is coupled to the first stationary support shaft by bolting a mounting flange on the spring arm tightly to the retainer mount for the first stationary support shaft.

17. A rotary knife as recited in claim 1 wherein the spring arm has a tapered stem.

18. A rotary knife as recited in claim 1 wherein the knife vibration sensor is an accelerometer and the tuned mass vibration sensor is an accelerometer.

19. A rotary knife as recited in claim 1 wherein the electronic control unit implements a state space control system to generate the command signal.

20. A rotary knife as recited in claim 19 wherein the state space control system includes:

a knife cylinder observer that inputs a discrete signal from the knife vibration sensor during each sampling period and outputs state signals for the first knife cylinder for the subsequent sampling period;

a tuned mass observer that inputs a discrete signal from the tuned mass vibration sensor during each sampling period and outputs state signals for the tuned mass for the subsequent sampling period; and

a controller that inputs the state signals for each sampling period and outputs a respective command signal for each sampling period that is used to control the actuator.

21. A rotary knife as recited in claim 20 wherein:

the knife vibration sensor and the tuned mass vibration sensor are accelerometers;

the state signals outputting the knife cylinder observer are a knife cylinder velocity signal for the subsequent sampling period and a knife cylinder position signal for the subsequent sampling period; and

the state signals outputting the tuned mass observer are a tuned mass velocity signal for the subsequent sampling period and a tuned mass position signal for the subsequent sampling period.

22. A rotary knife as recited in claim 20 wherein the observers are selected in a manner to provide a suitable convergence time for estimating accurate state signal output yet provide slow enough adaptation to effectively filter random noise in the signals from the vibration sensors from substantially affecting the estimated state signal output for the subsequent sampling period.

23. A rotary knife as recited in claim 20 wherein the controller is selected preliminarily in accordance with the Ricatti Equation to provide a linear combination that models behavior of the rotary knife with the spring arm and tuned mass attached thereto, and is adjusted to account for phase shifts in the system.

24. A rotary knife as recited in claim 20 wherein the knife cylinder observer and the tuned mass observer are mathematically identical.

25. A rotary knife as recited in claim 20 wherein the knife vibration sensor is an accelerometer, the state signal outputting the knife cylinder observer are a knife cylinder velocity signal for the subsequent sampling period and a knife cylinder position signal for the subsequent sampling period, and the knife cylinder observer is given by the following expressions:

space="preserve" listing-type="equation">CylPos(k+1)=K.sub.P1,cyl *CylPos(k)+K.sub.P2,cyl *CylVel(k)+K.sub.P3,cyl *CylAcc(k)

space="preserve" listing-type="equation">CylVel(k+1)=K.sub.V1,cyl *CylPos(k)+K.sub.V2,cyl *CylVel(k)+K.sub.V3,cyl *CylAcc(k)

where CylAcc(k) represents the value of the cylinder acceleration as measured by the knife vibration sensor for sample period k, CylVel(k) represents the calculated cylinder velocity for sample period k, CylPos(k) represents the calculated cylinder position for sample period k, coefficients K_P1,cyl, K_P2,cyl, K_P3,cyl, K_V1,cyl, K_V2,cyl, K_V3,cyl are preselected constant values, CylPos(k+1) represents the calculated cylinder position for the subsequent sampling period k+1, and CylVel(k+1) represents the calculated cylinder velocity for the subsequent sampling period k+1.

26. A rotary knife as recited in claim 20 wherein the tuned mass vibration sensor is an accelerometer, the state signals outputting the tuned mass observer are a tuned mass velocity signal for the subsequent sampling period and a tuned mass position signal for the subsequent sampling period, and the tuned mass observer is given by the following expressions:

space="preserve" listing-type="equation">TMPos(k+1)=K.sub.P1,TM *TMPos(k)+K.sub.P2,TM *TMVel(k)+K.sub.P3,TM *TMAcc(k)

space="preserve" listing-type="equation">TMVel(k+1)=K.sub.V1,TM *TMPos(k)+K.sub.V2,TM *TMVel(k)+K.sub.V3,TM *TMAcc(k)

where TMAcc(k) represents the value of the tuned mass acceleration as measured by the knife vibration sensor for sample period k, TMVel(k) represents the calculated tuned mass velocity for sample period k, TMPos(k) represents the calculated tuned mass position for sample period k, coefficients K_P1,TM, K_P2,TM, K_P3,TM, K_V1,TM, K_V2,TM, K_V3,TM are preselected constant values, TMPos(k+1) represents the calculated tuned mass position for the subsequent sampling period k+1, and TMVel(k+1) represents the calculated tuned mass velocity for the subsequent sampling period k+1.

27. A rotary knife as recited in claim 25 wherein the tuned mass vibration sensor is an accelerometer, the state signals outputting the tuned mass observer are a tuned mass velocity signal for the subsequent sampling period and a tuned mass position signal for the subsequent sampling period, and the tuned mass observer is given by the following expressions:

space="preserve" listing-type="equation">TMPos(k+1)=K.sub.P1,TM *TMPos(k)+K.sub.P2,TM *TMVel(k)+K.sub.P3,TM *TMAcc(k)

space="preserve" listing-type="equation">TMVel(k+1)=K.sub.V1,TM *TMPos(k)+i K.sub.V2,TM *TMVel(k)+K.sub.V3,TM *TMAcc(k)

where TMAcc(k) represents the value of the tuned mass acceleration as measured by the knife vibration sensor for sample period k, TMVel(k) represents the calculated tuned mass velocity for sample period k, TMPos(k) represents the calculated tuned mass position for sample period k, coefficients K_P1,TM, K_P2,TM, K_P3,TM, K_V1,TM, K_V2,TM, K_V3,TM are preselected constant values, TMPos(k+1) represents the calculated tuned mass position for the subsequent sampling period k+1, and TMVel(k+1) represents the calculated tuned mass velocity for the subsequent sampling period k+1; and

further wherein K_P1,cyl is substantially equal to K_P1,TM, K_P2,cyl is substantially equal to K_P2,TM, K_P3,cyl is substantially equal to K_P3,TM, K_V1,cyl is substantially equal to K_V1,TM, K_V2,cyl is substantially equal to K_V2,TM, and K_V3,cyl is substantially equal to K_V3,TM.

28. A rotary knife as recited in claim 20 wherein the controller is given by the following expression:

space="preserve" listing-type="equation">Cmd(k)=C.sub.P,cyl CylPos(k)+C.sub.P,TM TMPos(k)+C.sub.V,cyl CylVel(k)+C.sub.V,TM TMVel(k)

where Cmd(k) is the command signal output from the controller for sampling period K, CylPos(k) is the cylinder position for sample period k calculated by the knife cylinder observer, TMPos(k) is the tuned mass position for sample period k calculated by the tuned mass observer, CylVel(k) is the velocity of the cylinder for sample period k as calculated by the knife cylinder observer, TMVel(k) is the velocity of the tuned mass at sample period k as calculated by the tuned mass observer, and coefficients C_P,cyl, C_P,TM, C_V,cyl and C_V,TM are preselected constants.

29. A rotary knife as recited in claim 28 wherein the command signal Cmd(k) is scaled before being output to drive the actuator.

30. A rotary knife as recited in claim 20 wherein the knife cylinder observer outputs two state signals and the tuned mass observer outputs two state signals, and the controller implements a linear combination of the two state signals from the knife cylinder observer and the two state signals from the tuned mass observer to calculate the respective command signal.

31. A rotary knife as recited in claim 1 further comprising:

a second stationary support shaft located concentrically within the second tubular knife cylinder and fixed to the frame;

support bearings located between the second stationary support shaft in the second tubular knife cylinder to rotatably support the second tubular knife cylinder on the second stationary support shaft; and

an active tuned mass damping system for the second knife cylinder including;

a tuned mass,

a spring arm having one end coupled to the tuned mass and another end coupled to the second stationary support shaft,

a knife vibration sensor that monitors vibration of the second knife cylinder and generates a signal in response thereto,

a tuned mass vibration sensor that monitors vibration of the tuned mass in the active damping system for the second knife cylinder and generates a signal in response thereto, and

an actuator that provides a force on the tuned mass in the active damping system for the second knife cylinder in response to one or more command signals calculated from the signals from the knife vibration sensor and the tuned mass vibration sensor for the second knife cylinder.

32. A rotary knife as recited in claim 31 wherein the signals generated by the knife vibration sensor that monitors the vibrations of the second knife cylinder and the tuned mass vibration sensor that monitors the vibrations of the tuned mass in the active damping system for the second knife cylinder input the same electronic control unit as the signals from the knife vibration sensor monitoring the vibrations of the first knife cylinder and the tuned mass vibration sensor monitoring the vibrations of the tuned mass in the active damping system for the first knife cylinder.

33. A rotary knife for cutting a plurality of individual sheets in succession from a longitudinally traveling continuous web of material, the rotary knife comprising:

a frame;

a first rotatable knife cylinder and a second rotatable knife cylinder, each of the rotatable knife cylinders having a blade mounted on an outer cylindrical wall of the respective knife cylinder, the blades engaging each other as the knife cylinders rotate to cut the web; and

an active tuned mass damping system for the first knife cylinder including;

a tuned mass coupled to the first rotatable knife cylinder,

a knife vibration sensor that monitors vibration of the first knife cylinder and generates a signal in response thereto,

a tuned mass vibration sensor that monitors vibration of the tuned mass and generates a signal in response thereto,

an electronic control unit that inputs the signals from the knife vibration sensor and the tuned mass vibration sensor and outputs one or more command signals, and

an actuator that provides a force on the tuned mass in response to the one or more command signals from the electronic control unit.

34. A rotary knife as recited in claim 33 wherein:

the recited knife vibration sensor is a primary first knife vibration sensor that monitors vibrations of the first knife cylinder occurring in a primary direction which is perpendicular to a rotation axis of the first knife cylinder, the recited tuned mass vibration sensor is a primary tuned mass vibration sensor that monitors vibrations of the tuned mass occurring in the same primary direction as the primary first knife vibration sensor, the recited actuator is a first actuator that provides force on the tuned mass in the same primary direction as monitored by the primary first knife vibration sensor and the primary tuned mass vibration sensor, and the active tuned mass damping system for the first knife cylinder further includes;

a secondary first knife vibration sensor that monitors vibrations of the first knife occurring in a secondary direction which is perpendicular to the rotation axis of the first knife cylinder and is rotated from the primary direction at least 45°

, and generates a signal in response thereto;

a secondary tuned mass sensor that monitors vibrations of the tuned mass occurring in the same secondary direction as the secondary first knife vibration sensor, and generates a signal in response thereto;

wherein the electronic control unit also receives the signals from the secondary first knife vibration sensor and the secondary tuned mass vibration sensor, and the tuned mass damping system for the first knife cylinder further includes a second actuator that provides a force on the tuned mass in the secondary direction in response to the one or more command signals from the electronic control unit.

35. A rotary knife as recited in claim 34 wherein the primary direction is generally vertical and the secondary direction is generally horizontal.

36. A rotary knife as recited in claim 33 wherein the actuator in the active tuned mass damping system for the first knife cylinder is an electromagnet that is actuated to provide force on the tuned mass.

37. A rotary knife as recited in claim 36 wherein a plurality of permanent magnets are affixed to the tuned mass.

38. A rotary knife as recited in claim 36 wherein the tuned mass comprises a plurality of thin metal sheets laminated together to form the tuned mass, the thin metal sheets being aligned generally along the direction of a magnetic field generated by the electromagnetic actuator.

39. A rotary knife as recited in claim 33 wherein the tuned mass is coupled to the first knife cylinder such that a tuned frequency of the tuned mass is slightly less than a natural resonance frequency of the system for the first knife cylinder absent the tuned mass.

40. A rotary knife as recited in claim 33 wherein the electronic control unit implements a state space control system to generate the command signal.

41. A rotary knife as recited in claim 40 wherein the state space control system includes:

a knife cylinder observer that inputs a discrete signal from the knife vibration sensor during each sampling period and outputs state signals for the first knife cylinder for the subsequent sampling period;

a tuned mass observer that inputs a discrete signal from the tuned mass vibration sensor during each sampling period and outputs state signals for the tuned mass for the subsequent sampling period; and

a controller that inputs the state signals for each sampling period and outputs a respective command signal for each sampling period that is used to control the actuator.

42. A rotary knife as recited in claim 41 wherein:

the knife vibration sensor and the tuned mass vibration sensor are accelerometers;

the state signals outputting the knife cylinder observer are a knife cylinder velocity signal for the subsequent sampling period and a knife cylinder position signal for the subsequent sampling period; and

the state signals outputting the tuned mass observer are a tuned mass velocity signal for the subsequent sampling period and a tuned mass position signal for the subsequent sampling period.

43. A rotary knife as recited in claim 41 wherein the observers are selected in a manner to provide a suitable convergence time for estimating accurate state signal output yet provide slow enough adaptation to effectively filter random noise in the signals from the vibration sensors from substantially affecting the estimated state signal output for the subsequent sampling period.

44. A rotary knife as recited in claim 41 wherein the controller is selected preliminarily in accordance with the Ricatti Equation to provide a linear combination that models the behavior of a rotary knife with the spring arm and tuned mass attached thereto, and is adjusted to account for phase shifts in the system.

45. A rotary knife as recited in claim 41 wherein the knife vibration sensor is an accelerometer, the state signal outputting the knife cylinder observer are a knife cylinder velocity signal for the subsequent sampling period and a knife cylinder position signal for the subsequent sampling period, and the knife cylinder observer is given by the following expressions:

space="preserve" listing-type="equation">CylPos(k+1)=K.sub.P1,cyl *CylPos(k)+K.sub.P2,cyl *CylVel(k)+K.sub.P3,cyl *CylAcc(k)

space="preserve" listing-type="equation">CylVel(k+1)=K.sub.V1,cyl *CylPos(k)+K.sub.V2,cyl *CylVel(k)+K.sub.V3,cyl *CylAcc(k)

where CylAcc(k) represents the value of the cylinder acceleration as measured by the knife vibration sensor for sample period k, CylVel(k) represents the calculated cylinder velocity for sample period k, CylPos(k) represents the calculated cylinder position for sample period k, coefficients K_P1,cyl, K_P2,cyl, K_P3,cyl, K_V1,cyl, K_V2,cyl, K_V3,cyl are preselected constant values, CylPos(k+1) represents the calculated cylinder position for the subsequent sampling period k+1, and CylVel(k+1) represents the calculated cylinder velocity for the subsequent sampling period k+.

46. A rotary knife as recited in claim 41 wherein the tuned mass vibration sensor is an accelerometer, the state signals outputting the tuned mass observer are a tuned mass velocity signal for the subsequent sampling period and a tuned mass position signal for the subsequent sampling period, and the tuned mass observer is given by the following expressions:

space="preserve" listing-type="equation">TMPos(k+1)=K.sub.P1,TM *TMPos(k)+K.sub.P2,TM *TMVel(k)+K.sub.P3,TM *TMAcc(k)

space="preserve" listing-type="equation">TMVel(k+1)=K.sub.V1,TM *TMPos(k)+K.sub.V2,TM *TMVel(k)+K.sub.V3,TM *TMAcc(k)

where TMAcc(k) represents the value of the tuned mass acceleration as measured by the knife vibration sensor for sample period k, TMVel(k) represents the calculated tuned mass velocity for sample period k, TMPos(k) represents the calculated tuned mass position for sample period k, coefficients K_P1,TM, K_P2,TM, K_P3,TM, K_V1,TM, K_V2,TM, K_V3,TM are preselected constant values, TMPos(k+1) represents the calculated tuned mass position for the subsequent sampling period k+1, and TMVel(k+1) represents the calculated tuned mass velocity for the subsequent sampling period k+1.

47. A rotary knife as recited in claim 45 wherein the tuned mass vibration sensor is an accelerometer, the state signals outputting the tuned mass observer are a tuned mass velocity signal for the subsequent sampling period and a tuned mass position signal for the subsequent sampling period, and the tuned mass observer is given by the following expressions:

space="preserve" listing-type="equation">TMPos(k+1)=K.sub.P1,TM *TMPos(k)+K.sub.P2,TM *TMVel(k)+K.sub.P3,TM *TMAcc(k)

space="preserve" listing-type="equation">TMVel(k+1)=K.sub.V1,TM *TMPos(k)+K.sub.V2,TM *TMVel(k)+K.sub.V3,TM *TMAcc(k)

where TMAcc(k) represents the value of the tuned mass acceleration as measured by the knife vibration sensor for sample period k, TMVel(k) represents the calculated tuned mass velocity for sample period k, TMPos(k) represents the calculated tuned mass position for sample period k, coefficients K_P1,TM, K_P2,TM, K_P3,TM, K_V1,TM, K_V2,TM, K_V3,TM are preselected constant values, TMPos(k+1) represents the calculated tuned mass position for the subsequent sampling period k+1, and TMVel(k+1) represents the calculated tuned mass velocity for the subsequent sampling period k+1; and

further wherein K_P1,cyl is substantially equal to K_P1,TM, K_P2,cyl is substantially equal to K_P2,TM, K_P3,Cyl is substantially equal to K_P3,TM, K_V1,cyl is substantially equal to K_V1,TM, K_V2,Cyl is substantially equal to K_V2,TM, and K_V3,cyl is substantially equal to K_V3,TM.

48. A rotary knife as recited in claim 41 wherein the controller is given by the following expression:

space="preserve" listing-type="equation">Cmd(k)=C.sub.P,cyl CylPos(k)+C.sub.P,TM TMPos(k)+C.sub.V,cyl CylVel(k)+C.sub.V,TM TMVel(k)

where Cmd(k) is the command signal output from the controller for sampling period K, CylPos(k) is the cylinder position for sample period k calculated by the knife cylinder observer, TMPos(k) is the tuned mass position for sample period k calculated by the tuned mass observer, CylVel(k) is the velocity of the cylinder for sample period k as calculated by the knife cylinder observer, TMVel(k) is the velocity of the tuned mass at sample period k as calculated by the tuned mass observer, and coefficients C_P,cyl, C_P,TM, C_V,cyl and C_V,TM are preselected constants.

49. A rotary knife as recited in claim 48 wherein the command signal Cmd(k) is scaled before being output to drive the actuator.

50. A rotary knife as recited in claim 41 wherein the knife cylinder observer outputs two state signals and the tuned mass observer outputs two state signals, and the controller implements a linear combination of the two state signals from the knife cylinder observer and the two state signals from the tuned mass observer to calculate the respective command signal.

51. A rotary knife as recited in claim 33 further comprising:

a second stationary support shaft located concentrically within the second tubular knife cylinder and fixed to the frame;

support bearings located between the second stationary support shaft in the second tubular knife cylinder to rotatably support the second tubular knife cylinder on the second stationary support shaft; and

an active tuned mass damping system for the second knife cylinder including;

a tuned mass,

a spring arm having one end coupled to the tuned mass and another end coupled to the second stationary support shaft,

a knife vibration sensor that monitors vibration of the second knife cylinder and generates a signal in response thereto,

a tuned mass vibration sensor that monitors vibration of the tuned mass in the active damping system for the second knife cylinder and generates a signal in response thereto, and

an actuator that provides a force on the tuned mass in the active damping system for the second knife cylinder in response to one or more command signals calculated from the signals from the knife vibration sensor and the tuned mass vibration sensor for the second knife cylinder.