The development of a 6 degree of freedom quasi-zero stiffness Maglev vibration isolator with adaptive-passive load support

Abstract

Vibration isolation systems are widely used in many engineering applications. In some of the advanced fields, stringent isolation requirements are often necessary for achieving satisfactory results, such as in semiconductor manufacturing and gravitational wave monitoring. This paper presents a novel design of a 6-DOF maglev isolation system. This design incorporates the quasizero stiffness levitation principle to achieve low resonance frequency and high isolation performance without sacrificing the load capacity of the isolation system. An onboard adaptive-passive load support system maintains the vertical levitation force to be identical to the actual payload weight so that zero constant power consumption is required to counteract the isolator gravity force. In this paper, design principles of each system component are described, followed by the implementation of each design concept. Experimental results of isolator acceleration transmissibility are also presented.