Design of a compliant lever-type passive vibration isolator with quasi-zero-stiffness mechanism

Abstract

This paper focuses on design and analysis of a hybrid passive vibration isolation system that uses both compliant lever-type and quasi-zero-stiffness (QZS) mechanisms. By using the lever-type mechanism, an inertial coupling induced antiresonance frequency is generated and the effective mass of the system is increased, which improve low-frequency vibration isolation performance. The QZS mechanism is used to provide very low stiffness, which in turn lowers the resonance and antiresonance frequencies of the system. Hence, the lower limit of the isolation bandwidth can be significantly reduced. After examining the system analytically, a finite element model is formed. Finally, the design is manufactured and tested. The tests validate the analytical and numerical calculations, thereby confirming that lower limit of the isolation frequency range can be substantially decreased by adjusting the effective mass and the effective stiffness of the system.