Dynamic analysis of a novel multilink-spring mechanism for vibration isolation and energy harvesting

Due to technical limitations,existing vibration isolation and energy harvesting(VIEH)devices have poor performance at low frequency.This paper proposes a new multilink-spring mechanism(MLSM)that can be used to solve this problem.The VIEH performance of the MLSM under harmonic excitation and Gaussian white noise was analyzed.It was found that the MLSM has good vibration isolation performance for low-frequency isolation and the frequency band can be widened by adjusting parameters to achieve a higher energy harvesting power.By comparison with two special cases,the results show that the MLSM is basically the same as the other two oscillators in terms of vibration isolation but has better energy harvesting performance under multistable characteristics.The MLSM is expected to reduce the impact of vibration on high-precision sensitive equipment in some special sites such as subways and mines,and at the same time supply power to structural health monitoring devices.

Prediction of Damping Capacity Demand in Seismic Base Isolators via Machine Learning

Base isolators used in buildings provide both a good acceleration reduction and structural vibration control structures.The base isolators may lose their damping capacity over time due to environmental or dynamic effects.This deterioration of them requires the determination of the maintenance and repair needs and is important for the long-termisolator life.In this study,an artificial intelligence prediction model has been developed to determine the damage and maintenance-repair requirements of isolators as a result of environmental effects and dynamic factors over time.With the developed model,the required damping capacity of the isolator structure was estimated and compared with the previously placed isolator capacity,and the decrease in the damping property was tried to be determined.For this purpose,a data set was created by collecting the behavior of structures with single degrees of freedom(SDOF),different stiffness,damping ratio and natural period isolated from the foundation under far fault earthquakes.The data is divided into 5 different damping classes varying between 10%and 50%.Machine learning model was trained in damping classes with the data on the structure’s response to random seismic vibrations.As a result of the isolator behavior under randomly selected earthquakes,the recorded motion and structural acceleration of the structure against any seismic vibration were examined,and the decrease in the damping capacity was estimated on a class basis.The performance loss of the isolators,which are separated according to their damping properties,has been tried to be determined,and the reductions in the amounts to be taken into account have been determined by class.In the developed prediction model,using various supervised machine learning classification algorithms,the classification algorithm providing the highest precision for the model has been decided.When the results are examined,it has been determined that the damping of the isolator structure with the machine learning method is predicted successfully at a level exceeding 96%,and it is an effective method in deciding whether there is a decrease in the damping capacity.

A bio-inspired spider-like structure isolator for low-frequency vibration

This paper proposes a quasi-zero stiffness(QZS)isolator composed of a curved beam(as spider foot)and a linear spring(as spider muscle)inspired by the precise capturing ability of spiders in vibrating environments.The curved beam is simplified as an inclined horizontal spring,and a static analysis is carried out to explore the effects of different structural parameters on the stiffness performance of the QZS isolator.The finite element simulation analysis verifies that the QZS isolator can significantly reduce the first-order natural frequency under the load in the QZS region.The harmonic balance method(HBM)is used to explore the effects of the excitation amplitude,damping ratio,and stiffness coefficient on the system’s amplitude-frequency response and transmissibility performance,and the accuracy of the analytical results is verified by the fourth-order Runge-Kutta integral method(RK-4).The experimental data of the QZS isolator prototype are fitted to a ninth-degree polynomial,and the RK-4 can theoretically predict the experimental results.The experimental results show that the QZS isolator has a lower initial isolation frequency and a wider isolation frequency bandwidth than the equivalent linear isolator.The frequency sweep test of prototypes with different harmonic excitation amplitudes shows that the initial isolation frequency of the QZS isolator is 3 Hz,and it can isolate 90%of the excitation signal at 7 Hz.The proposed biomimetic spider-like QZS isolator has high application prospects and can provide a reference for optimizing low-frequency or ultra-low-frequency isolators.

A Closed-Loop Dynamic Controller for Active Vibration Isolation Working on A Parallel Wheel-Legged Robot

Serving the Stewart mechanism as a wheel-legged structure,the most outstanding superiority of the proposed wheel-legged hybrid robot(WLHR)is the active vibration isolation function during rolling on rugged terrain.However,it is difficult to obtain its precise dynamic model,because of the nonlinearity and uncertainty of the heavy robot.This paper presents a dynamic control framework with a decentralized structure for single wheel-leg,position tracking based on model predictive control(MPC)and adaptive impedance module from inside to outside.Through the Newton-Euler dynamic model of the Stewart mechanism,the controller first creates a predictive model by combining Newton-Raphson iteration of forward kinematic and inverse kinematic calculation of Stewart.The actuating force naturally enables each strut to stretch and retract,thereby realizing six degrees-of-freedom(6-DOFs)position-tracking for Stewart wheel-leg.The adaptive impedance control in the outermost loop adjusts environmental impedance parameters by current position and force feedback of wheel-leg along Z-axis.This adjustment allows the robot to adequately control the desired support force tracking,isolating the robot body from vibration that is generated from unknown terrain.The availability of the proposed control methodology on a physical prototype is demonstrated by tracking a Bezier curve and active vibration isolation while the robot is rolling on decelerate strips.By comparing the proportional and integral(PI)and constant impedance controllers,better performance of the proposed algorithm was operated and evaluated through displacement and force sensors internally-installed in each cylinder,as well as an inertial measurement unit(IMU)mounted on the robot body.The proposed algorithm structure significantly enhances the control accuracy and vibration isolation capacity of parallel wheel-legged robot.

Vibration Isolation Characteristics of Impedance-balanced Ship Equipment Foundation under Unbalanced Excitation

A new type of impedance-balanced ship equipment foundation structure based on the principle of impedance balancing using a“discontinuous panel-vibration isolation liquid layer-foundation structure”is proposed to solve the problem of poor low-frequency vibration isolation of the foundation under unbalanced excitation of shipboard equipment.Based on the finite element method,the influence of characteristic parameters of the foundation panel structure on its vibration reduction characteristics under unbalanced excitation is explored.The results show that the vibration isolation level of the impedance-balanced foundation is 10 dB higher than the traditional foundation in the low-frequency band of 10-500 Hz when subjected to combined excitation of concentrated force and moment.Increasing the thickness of the impedance-balanced foundation panel can enhance the isolation effect.Increasing the number of sub-panels can effectively reduce the vibration response of the foundation panel and enhance the isolation performance of the foundation.The connection stiffness between sub-panels has a small effect on the isolation performance of the foundation.

Using a SVM to evaluate damage to vibration isolators in an elastic raft system

Predicting damage to vibration isolators in a raft experiencing heavy shock loadings from explosions is an important task when designing a raft system. It is also vital to be able to research the vulnerability of heavily shocked floating rafts. The conventional approach to prediction has been unreliable,especially when the allowable values or ultimate values of vibration isolators of supposedly uniform standard in a raft actually have differing and uncertain values due to defective workmanship. A new model for predicting damage to vibration isolators in a shocked floating raft system is presented in this paper. It is based on a support vector machine(SVM) ,which uses Artificial Intelligence to characterize complicated nonlinear mapping between the impacting environment and damage to the vibration isolators. The effectiveness of the new method for predicting damage was illustrated by numerical simulations,and shown to be effective when relevant parameters of the model were chosen reasonably. The effect determining parameters,including kernel function and penalty factors,has on prediction results is also discussed. It can be concluded that the SVM will probably become a valid tool to study damage or vulnerability in a shocked raft system.

Material Model Research on Rubber Vibration Isolators

A viscohyperelastic constitutive model is proposed to describe the mechanical behaviour of vibration isolation rubber under broad-band vibration. This constitutive model comprises two parts： a component with three parameters to characterize the hyperelastic static properties of rubber materials, and the other component incorporating two relaxation time parameters, corresponding to high and low strain rates, respectively, to describe the dynamic response under vibration and impact loadings. Based on this proposed constitutive model, a series of experiments were performed on two types of rubber materials over a wide strain rate range. The results predicted from this model are in good agreement with the experimental data.

Active Low-frequency Vertical Vibration Isolation System for Precision Measurements

Low-fi＇equency vertical vibration isolation systems play important roles in precision measurements to reduce seismic and environmental vibration noise. Several types of active vibration isolation systems have been developed. However, few researches focus on how to optimize the test mass install position in order to improve the vibration transmissibility. An active low-frequency vertical vibration isolation system based on an earlier instrument, the Super Spring, is designed and implemented. The system, which is simple and compact, consists of two stages： a parallelogram-shaped linkage to ensure vertical motion, and a simple spring-mass system. The theoretical analysis of the vibration isolation system is presented, including terms erroneously ignored before. By carefully choosing the mechanical parameters according to the above analysis and using feedback control, the resonance frequency of the system is reduced from 2.3 to 0.03 Hz, a reduction by a factor of more than 75. The vibration isolation system is installed as an inertial reference in an absolute gravimeter, where it improved the scatter of the absolute gravity values by a factor of 5. The experimental results verifies the improved performance of the isolation system, making it particularly suitable for precision experiments. The improved vertical vibration isolation system can be used as a prototype for designing high-performance active vertical isolation systems. An improved theoretical model of this active vibration isolation system with beam-pivot configuration is proposed, providing fundamental guidelines for vibration isolator design and assembling.

Self-synchronization theory of dual motor driven vibration system with two-stage vibration isolation frame

This paper studies self-synchronization and stability of a dual-motor driven vibration system with a two-stage vibration isolation frame. Oscillation amplitude of the material box large enough can be ensured on the vibration system in order to screen materials. Reduction of the dynamic load transmitted to the foundation can also be achieved for the vibration system. A Lagrange equation is used to set up the motion differential equations of the system, and a dimensionless coupled equation of the eccentric rotors is obtained using a method of modified average small parameter. According to the existence condition of zero solution in the dimensionless coupled equation of the eccentric rotors, the precondition for commencing self-synchronization motion is achieved.The stability condition of self-synchronization is obtained based on the Routh-Hurwitz criterion. The theoretical analysis is validated by simulations and experiments.

Research and application on three-dimensional seismic and vibration isolation for building

This paper presents the study of a three-dimensional(3D) isolation system.Firstly,the authors investigated the effects of an innovative 3D isolator,which was composed of a connecting plate,a rubber pad for vibration isolation in the vertical direction and a horizontal rubber bearing for seismic isolation in both horizontal directions.Secondly,the authors designed such a vibration isolation system and installed it underneath two specific residential buildings which were built directly over an existing subway communication hub platform in Beijing.These buildings required good performance vibration and seismic isolation system to reduce the impact from the running of nearby subway trains.Finally,in situ tests were conducted for both the isolated and the non-isolated buildings for the purpose of comparison.The test results showed that the maximum acceleration response level of the isolated superstructure is reduced by 10% as compared to that of the platform.The maximum attenuation of vibration reaches up to 25 dB.The 3D system explored in this paper is very effective in control and suppression of building vibration induced by earthquakes or running of trains.

Active Vibration Isolation of Micro-Manufacturing Platform Based on Neural Network

The micromation and precision of the Micro-Electromechanical System demand that its manufacturing, measuring and assembling must work in a micro-manufacturing platform with good ability to isolate vibrations. This paper develops a vibration isolation system of micro-manufacturing platform. The brains of many kinds of birds can isolate vibrations well, such as woodpecker’s brain. When a woodpecker pecks the wood at the speed as 1.6 times as the velocity of sound, its brain will tolerate the wallop 1 500 times of the weight of itself without any damage. The isolation mechanics and organic texture of woodpecker’s brain that has good isolation characteristics were studied. A structure model of vibration isolation system for the micro-manufacturing platform is established based on the bionics of the bird’s brain vibration isolation mechanism. In order to isolate effectively the high frequency vibrations from the ground, a rubber layer is used to isolate vibrations passively between the micro-manufacturing platform’s pedestal and the ground. This layer corresponds to the cartilage and muscles in the outer meninges of the bird’s brain. The active vibration isolation technique is adopted to isolate vibrations between the micro-manufacturing platform and the pedestal. Air springs are used as elastic components, which correspond to the interspaces between the outer meninges and the encephala of the bird’s brain. Actuators are made of giant magnetostrictive material, and it corresponds to the nerves and neural muscles linking the meninges and the encephala. The actuators and air springs are arranged vertically in parallel to make use of the giant magnetostrictive actuators effectively. The air springs support almost all weight of the micro-manufacturing platform and the giant magnetostrictive actuators support almost no weight. In order to realize high performance to isolate complex micro-vibration, the control method using a three-layer neural network is presented. This vibration control system takes into account the floor disturbance and the direct disturbance acting on the micro-manufacturing platform. The absolute acceleration of the micro-manufacturing platform is used as the performance index of vibration control. The performance of the control system is tested by numerical simulation. Simulation results show that the active vibration isolation system has good isolation performance against the floor disturbance and the direct disturbance acting on the micro-manufacturing platform in all the frequency range.

Dynamic Analysis and Decoupling Control of Octo-pneumatic Actuator Vibration Isolation Platform

Control of a six-DOF vibration isolation platform is generally difficult which is due to the strong coupling among its input and output channels. The dynamic behavior and decoupling approach of a six-DOF vibration isolation platform with eight pneumatic actuators are investigated. Owing to the symmetric configuration design of the platform, the coupling among different channels is greatly weakened. When the payload＇s principal axes of inertia parallel to the platform＇s axes of symmetry and the payload＇s center of mass is at the extension line of the platform＇s central axis, the motion can be decomposed into two independent single-input single-output channels and two independent two-input two-output subsystems. The second-order subsystems are decoupled further with the simultaneous matrix diagonalization. Thus a decoupling control strategy is developed. Effectiveness of the decoupling approach is verified through experiments of the platform, and the experimental results show that vibrations of the platform are attenuated obviously owing to the active control.

A state-of-the-art review on low-frequency nonlinear vibration isolation with electromagnetic mechanisms

Vibration isolation is one of the most efficient approaches to protecting host structures from harmful vibrations,especially in aerospace,mechanical,and architectural engineering,etc.Traditional linear vibration isolation is hard to meet the requirements of the loading capacity and isolation band simultaneously,which limits further engineering application,especially in the low-frequency range.In recent twenty years,the nonlinear vibration isolation technology has been widely investigated to broaden the vibration isolation band by exploiting beneficial nonlinearities.One of the most widely studied objects is the"three-spring"configured quasi-zero-stiffness(QZS)vibration isolator,which can realize the negative stiffness and high-static-low-dynamic stiffness(HSLDS)characteristics.The nonlinear vibration isolation with QZS can overcome the drawbacks of the linear one to achieve a better broadband vibration isolation performance.Due to the characteristics of fast response,strong stroke,nonlinearities,easy control,and low-cost,the nonlinear vibration with electromagnetic mechanisms has attracted attention.In this review,we focus on the basic theory,design methodology,nonlinear damping mechanism,and active control of electromagnetic QZS vibration isolators.Furthermore,we provide perspectives for further studies with electromagnetic devices to realize high-efficiency vibration isolation.

PERFORMANCE OF ULTRA-LOW FREQUENCY PASSIVE VERTICAL VIBRATION ISOLATION SYSTEM WITH REVERSE PENDULUM

A novel long period passive vertical vibration isolatorconstructed by mounting reverse pendu- lums on two pairs of torsionsprings is presented. By theoretical analysis and numericalcalculation, it is shown that the isolator can achieve much longerresonant period due to gravitational positive feedback and is smallerin size than the current torsion spring isolators with the samegeometric parameters.

A hybrid multi-degree-of-freedom vibration isolation platform for spacecrafts by the linear active disturbance rejection control

The hybrid vibration isolation, which takes advantages of both the passive and active approaches, has been an important solution for space missions. The objective of this paper is to design a vibration isolation platform for payloads on spacecrafts with the robust, wide bandwidth, and multi-degree-of-freedom(MDOF). The proposed solution is based on a parallel mechanism with six voice-coil motors(VCMs) as the actuators. The linear active disturbance resistance control(LADRC) algorithm is used for the active control. Numerical simulation results show that the vibration isolation platform performs effectively over a wide bandwidth, and the resonance introduced by the passive isolation is eliminated. The system robustness to the uncertainties of the structure is also verified by simulation.

Barrier Vibration Isolation to Work-Place Vibration and Its Influence on Uneven Subsidence of Pillar Foundation

Aiming at practice, the wave propagation in soil has been comprehensively studied on the basis of FEM analyzing model being established. An investigation has also been performed on how to solve the problems of simulating transient vibration in actual foundation with FEM, and the result of calculating to the real transient vibration of actual foundation with FEM software ANSYS agrees with that of measuring. The vibration variation in the ground and the uneven subsidence of the factory houses’ pillars, with and without barrier vibration isolation, are calculated by employing FEM. The results show that proper barrier isolation can diminish the ground vibration displacement but likely to magnify the dynamic stress and vibration frequency within a certain region, which would aggravate the uneven subsidence of the factory house pillars.

Performance analysis of high-static-low-dynamic stiffness vibration isolator with time-delayed displacement feedback

The displacement feedback with time delay considered is introduced in order to enhance the vibration isolation performance of a high-static-low-dynamic stiffness(HSLDS) vibration isolator. Such feedback is detailedly analyzed from the viewpoint of equivalent damping. Firstly, the primary resonance of the controlled HSLDS vibration isolator subjected to a harmonic force excitation is obtained based on the multiple scales method and further verified by numerical integration. The stability of the primary resonance is subsequently investigated. Then, the equivalent damping is defined to study the effects of feedback gain and time delay on primary resonance. The condition of jump avoidance is obtained with the purpose of eliminating the adverse effects induced by jumps. Finally, the force transmissibility of the controlled HSLDS vibration isolator is defined to evaluate its isolation performance. It is shown that an appropriate choice of feedback parameters can effectively suppress the force transmissibility in resonant region and reduce the resonance frequency. Furthermore, a wider vibration isolation frequency bandwidth can be achieved compared to the passive HSLDS vibration isolator.

Cascaded quasi-zero stiffness nonlinear low-frequency vibration isolator inspired by human spine

Human motion induced vibration has very low frequency,ranging from 2 Hz to 5 Hz.Traditional vibration isolators are not effective in low-frequency regions due to the trade-off between the low natural frequency and the high load capacity.In this paper,inspired by the human spine,we propose a novel bionic human spine inspired quasi-zero stiffness(QZS)vibration isolator which consists of a cascaded multi-stage negative stiffness structure.The force and stiffness characteristics are investigated first,the dynamic model is established by Newton’s second law,and the isolation performance is analyzed by the harmonic balance method(HBM).Numerical results show that the bionic isolator can obtain better low-frequency isolation performance by increasing the number of negative structure stages,and reducing the damping values and external force values can obtain better low-frequency isolation performance.In comparison with the linear structure and existing traditional QZS isolator,the bionic spine isolator has better vibration isolation performance in low-frequency regions.It paves the way for the design of bionic ultra-low-frequency isolators and shows potential in many engineering applications.

EQUIVALENT EXCITATION METHOD FOR VIBRATION ISOLATION DESIGN:THEORETICAL ANALYSIS AND EXPERIMENTAL RESULTS

In view of difficulties concerned with direct measurement of excitationsinside source equipments and their significant influence on vibration isolation effectiveness, adynamical model, for vibration isolation of a rigid machine with six-degree-of-freedom mounted on aflexible foundation through multiple mounts, is analyzed, in which the complicated and multipledisturbances inside the machine are described as an equivalent excitation spectrum. And a method forthe estimation of the equivalent excitation spectrum according to system dynamic responses isdiscussed for the quantitative prediction of isolation effectiveness. Both theoretical analysis andexperimental results are demonstrated. Further work shows the quantitative prediction of transmittedpower flow in a flexible vibration isolation experiment system using the proposed equivalentexcitation spectrum method, by comparison with its testing results.

Effects of Fatigue Characteristics on Static and Dynamic Performance of Eucommia Rubber Isolators

This study aimed to investigate the effect of fatigue characteristics on the static and dynamic performance of Eucommia ulmoides gum isolators, and to explore the performance changes of Eucommia ulmoides gum isolators with different formulations. For this purpose, we used five formulations of Eucommia ulmoides gum isolators and set different fatigue test methods to study the static and dynamic performance changes of Eucommia ulmoides gum isolators with different formulations by changing the amplitude. The experimental results showed that the addition of Eucommia ulmoides gum had an impact on the performance of the isolator, and the number of fatigue cycles would lead to the hardening of the Eucommia ulmoides gum isolator and changes in its static and dynamic performance. In the range of two million vibrations, the performance change of the isolator was significant in the early stage and then tended to be flat, indicating that the impact of fatigue on the performance of the isolator would not continue to persist. It is worth noting that the study found that the addition of 30% Eucommia ulmoides gum had the least impact on the performance of the isolator under fatigue. Therefore, for long-term use of Eucommia ulmoides gum isolators, attention should be paid to their fatigue characteristics to ensure their stability and reliability. Additionally, this study provides a reference for the design and application of Eucommia ulmoides gum isolators. In summary, this study provides important reference value for a deeper understanding of the fatigue characteristics of Eucommia ulmoides gum isolators and for ensuring their stable and reliable performance. .