UNIVERSAL BUMPERED VIBRATION ISOLATOR FOR SEVERE ENVIRONMENT

Abstract Modern compact design often does not permit the effective use of linear vibration isolation in the case of the intense environmental disturbances. Demands for limitation of the dynamic deflections lead to the use of heavy damped vibration isolators, sometimes in combination with the bumpers installed with the maximal free travel. The increase in isolator damping improves the low frequency resonant response at the expense of an inferior isolation performance in the high-frequency range. The installation of bumpers with enlarged travel reduces the probability of the accidental impacts and effectively trims the excessive deflections in an emergency. However, it turns the isolator into a vibro-impact structure, where the appearance of intense impulsive accelerations and high-powered non-linear resonance becomes the subject of concern. The idea of the present novel concept is based on co-operative use of an undamped, low frequency vibration isolator in combination with optimally damped bumpers installed with minimal free travel . Such as isolator demonstrates the advantages of the linear undamped isolator under low level ambient and operational high frequency excitation. However, under severe ambient disturbances, for any excessive deflections, it becomes strongly non-linear and takes on the quality of an optimal shock absorber. The approach formulated has been applied successfully to a design of a gimballed electro-optical device based on the linear split Sterling cryocooler for a focal array.