scholarly journals A bistable mechanism with linear negative stiffness and large in-plane lateral stiffness: design, modeling and case studies

2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 75-89 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zhanfeng Zhou ◽  
Yongzhuo Gao ◽  
Lining Sun ◽  
Wei Dong ◽  
Zhijiang Du

Abstract. To overcome the limitations of conventional bistable mechanisms, this paper proposes a novel type of bistable mechanism with linear negative stiffness and large in-plane lateral stiffness. By connecting the novel negative-stiffness mechanism in parallel with a positive-stiffness mechanism, a novel quasi-zero stiffness compliant mechanism is developed, which has good axial guidance capability and in-plane lateral anti-interference capability. Analytical models based on a comprehensive elliptic integral solution of bistable mechanism are established and then the stiffness curves of both conventional and novel bistable mechanisms are analyzed. The quasi-zero stiffness characteristic and High-Static-Low-Dynamic-Stiffness characteristic of the novel compliant mechanism are investigated and its application in constant-force mechanism and vibration isolator is discussed. A prototype with adjustable load-carrying capacity is designed and fabricated for experimental study. In the two experiments, the effectiveness of the proposed quasi-zero stiffness mechanism used in the field of constant-force output and vibration isolation is tested.

Author(s):  
Qingsong Xu

This paper presents the design and analysis a flexure-guided compliant micropositioning stage with constant force and large stroke. The constant force output is achieved by combining a bistable flexure mechanism with a positive-stiffness flexure mechanism. In consideration of the constraint of conventional tilted beam-based bistable mechanism, a new type of bistable structure based on tilted-angle compound parallelogram flexure is proposed to achieve a larger range of constant force output while maintaining a compact physical size. To facilitate the parametric design of the flexure mechanism, analytical models are derived to quantify the stage performance. The models are verified by carrying out nonlinear finite-element analysis. Results demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed ideas for a long-stroke, constant-force compliant mechanism dedicated to precision micropositioning applications.


2019 ◽  
Vol 25 (19-20) ◽  
pp. 2667-2677 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zhenhua Zhou ◽  
Shuhan Chen ◽  
Dun Xia ◽  
Jianjun He ◽  
Peng Zhang

A negative stiffness element is always employed to generate high-static–low-dynamic stiffness characteristic of the vibration isolator, reduce the resonance frequency of the isolator, and improve the vibration isolation performance under low and ultra-low frequency excitation. In this paper, a new compact negative stiffness permanent magnetic spring (NSPMS) that is composed of two axial-magnetized permanent magnetic rings is proposed. An analytical expression of magnetic negative stiffness of the NSPMS is deduced by using the Coulombian model. After analyzing the effect of air-gap width, air-gap position, height difference between the inner ring and outer ring on the negative stiffness characteristic, a design procedure is proposed to realize the negative stiffness characteristic with a global minimum linear component and uniformity stiffness near the equilibrium position. Finally, an experimental prototype is developed to validate the effectiveness of the NSPMS. The experimental results show that combining a vibration isolator with the NSPMS in parallel can lower the natural frequency and improve the isolation performance of the isolator.


2016 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Qingsong Xu

To overcome the constraint of conventional tilted beam-based bistable mechanism, this paper proposes a novel type of bistable structure based on tilted-angle compound parallelogram flexure to achieve a larger stroke of negative stiffness region while maintaining a compact physical size. As an application of the presented bistable mechanism, a flexure constant-force micropositioning stage is designed to deliver a large stroke. The constant force output is obtained by combining a bistable flexure mechanism with a positive-stiffness flexure mechanism. To facilitate the parametric design of the flexure mechanism, analytical models are derived to quantify the stage performance. The models are verified by carrying out nonlinear finite-element analysis (FEA). A metal prototype is fabricated for experimental study. Results demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed ideas for a long-stroke, constant-force compliant mechanism dedicated to precision micropositioning applications. Experimental results also show the appearance of two-stage constant force due to the manufacturing errors of the bistable beams.


2021 ◽  
pp. 107754632110005
Author(s):  
Yonglei Zhang ◽  
Guo Wei ◽  
Hao Wen ◽  
Dongping Jin ◽  
Haiyan Hu

The vibration isolation system using a pair of oblique springs or a spring-rod mechanism as a negative stiffness mechanism exhibits a high-static low-dynamic stiffness characteristic and a nonlinear jump phenomenon when the system damping is light and the excitation amplitude is large. It is possible to remove the jump via adjusting the end trajectories of the above springs or rods. To realize this idea, the article presents a vibration isolation system with a cam–roller–spring–rod mechanism and gives the detailed numerical and experimental studies on the effects of the above mechanism on the vibration isolation performance. The comparative studies demonstrate that the vibration isolation system proposed works well and outperforms some other vibration isolation systems.


2015 ◽  
Vol 137 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Yuhu Shan ◽  
Wenjiang Wu ◽  
Xuedong Chen

In the ultraprecision vibration isolation systems, it is desirable for the isolator to have a larger load bearing capacity and a broader isolation bandwidth simultaneously. Generally, pneumatic spring can bear large load and achieve relatively low natural frequency by enlarging its chamber volume. However, the oversized isolator is inconvenient to use and might cause instability. To reduce the size, a miniaturized pneumatic vibration isolator (MPVI) with high-static-low-dynamic stiffness (HSLDS) is developed in this paper. The volume of proposed isolator is minimized by a compact structure design that combines two magnetic rings in parallel with the pneumatic spring. The two magnetic rings are arranged in the repulsive configuration and can be mounted into the chamber to provide the negative stiffness. Then dynamic model of the developed MPVI is built and the isolation performances are analyzed. Finally, experiments on the isolator with and without the magnetic rings are conducted. The final experimental results are consistent with the dynamical model and verify the effectiveness of the developed vibration isolator.


2016 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. e1500778 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christopher B. Churchill ◽  
David W. Shahan ◽  
Sloan P. Smith ◽  
Andrew C. Keefe ◽  
Geoffrey P. McKnight

Variable stiffness structures that enable a wide range of efficient load-bearing and dexterous activity are ubiquitous in mammalian musculoskeletal systems but are rare in engineered systems because of their complexity, power, and cost. We present a new negative stiffness–based load-bearing structure with dynamically tunable stiffness. Negative stiffness, traditionally used to achieve novel response from passive structures, is a powerful tool to achieve dynamic stiffness changes when configured with an active component. Using relatively simple hardware and low-power, low-frequency actuation, we show an assembly capable of fast (<10 ms) and useful (>100×) dynamic stiffness control. This approach mitigates limitations of conventional tunable stiffness structures that exhibit either small (<30%) stiffness change, high friction, poor load/torque transmission at low stiffness, or high power active control at the frequencies of interest. We experimentally demonstrate actively tunable vibration isolation and stiffness tuning independent of supported loads, enhancing applications such as humanoid robotic limbs and lightweight adaptive vibration isolators.


2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (23) ◽  
pp. 11539
Author(s):  
Cong Hung Nguyen ◽  
Cong Minh Ho ◽  
Kyoung Kwan Ahn

This research introduces an air spring vibration isolator system (ASVIS) based on a negative-stiffness structure (NSS) to improve the vehicle seat’s vibration isolation performance at low excitation frequencies. The main feature of the ASVIS consists of two symmetric bellows-type air springs which were designed on the basis of a negative stiffness mechanism. In addition, a crisscross structure with two straight bars was also used as the supporting legs to provide the nonlinear characteristics with NSS. Moreover, instead of using a vertical mechanical spring, a sleeve-type air spring was employed to provide positive stiffness. As a result, as the weight of the driver varies, the dynamic stiffness of the ASVIS can be easily adjusted and controlled. Next, the effects of the dimension parameters on the nonlinear force and nonlinear stiffness of ASVIS were analyzed. A design process for the ASVIS is provided based on the analytical results in order to achieve high static–low dynamic stiffness. Finally, numerical simulations were performed to evaluate the effectiveness of the ASVIS. The results obtained in this paper show that the values of the seat displacement of the ASVIS with NSS were reduced by 77.16% in comparison with those obtained with the traditional air spring isolator without NSS, which indicates that the design of the ASVIS isolator with NSS allows the effective isolation of vibrations in the low-frequency region.


2020 ◽  
Vol 23 (8) ◽  
pp. 1739-1755 ◽  
Author(s):  
Huan Li ◽  
Yancheng Li ◽  
Jianchun Li

In recent years, negative stiffness vibration isolation device with nonlinear characteristic has become an emerging research area and attracted a significant amount of attentions in the community due to the promising potentials it brought into the field. Its high-static-low-dynamic stiffness property endows the capacity to realize effective vibration isolation and in the meantime to maintain the system stability. This article presents a comprehensive review of the recent research and developments on negative stiffness vibration isolation device. It begins with an introduction on the concept of negative stiffness and then provides a summary and discussion regarding the realization and characteristics of negative stiffness vibration isolation device. The article places its special interest on the principles, structure design, and device characterisation of different types of negative stiffness vibration isolation devices, including spring type, pre-bucked beam type, magnetism type, geometrically nonlinear structural type, and composite structural type. Besides, the applications of negative stiffness vibration isolation device, as well as negative stiffness damper, are summarized and discussed based on the current state-of-the-art. Finally, the conclusions and further discussion provide highlights of the investigation.


Author(s):  
Rami Alfattani ◽  
Craig Lusk

This paper presents a new design concept for a morphing triangle-shaped compliant mechanism. The novel design is a bistable mechanism that has one changeable side. These morphing triangles may be arrayed to create shapemorphing structures. The mechanism was based on a six-bar dwell mechanism that can fit in a triangle shape and has stable positions at the motion-limit (dead-center) positions. An example of the triangle-shaped compliant mechanism was designed and prototyped: an isosceles triangle with a vertex that changes from 120 degrees to 90 degrees and vice versa. Three of these in the 120-degree configuration lie flat and when actuated to the 90-degree configuration become a cube corner. This design may be of use for folding and packaging assistance. The force analysis and the potential energy analysis were completed to verify the stability of the triangle-shaped compliant mechanism. Because of its dead-center motion limits the vertex angle cannot be extended past the range of 90 degrees to 120 degrees in spite of the mechanism’s compliant joints. Furthermore, because it is a dwell mechanism, the vertex angle is almost immobile near its stable configurations, although other links in the mechanism move. This makes the stable positions of the vertex angle robust against stress relaxation and manufacturing errors. We believe this is the first demonstration of this kind of robustness in bistable mechanisms.


Actuators ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (4) ◽  
pp. 126
Author(s):  
Eduardo Palomares ◽  
Angel L. Morales ◽  
Antonio J. Nieto ◽  
Jose M. Chicharro ◽  
Publio Pintado

This paper presents a Negative Stiffness System (NSS) for vibration isolation and comfort improvement of vehicle seats, which enhances the performance of optimized traditional passive seat suspensions. The NSS is based on a set of two Pneumatic Linear Actuators (PLAs) added to a seat supported by a pneumatic spring. One end of each PLA is joined to the seat while the other end is joined to the vehicle frame. In static conditions, the PLAs remain horizontal, whereas in dynamic conditions, their vertical forces work against the pneumatic spring, reducing the overall dynamic stiffness and improving passenger comfort. The paper presents a stability analysis of the highly nonlinear dynamic system, as well as the numerical determination of the optimum PLA pressure for a given passenger mass that maximises comfort without instabilities. Finally, the performance of the proposed NSS is compared to that of a traditionally optimized passive seat suspension via simulations of an eight-degree-of-freedom vehicle model traversing several road profiles and speed bumps. Comfort improvements between 10% and 35% are found in all tests considered.


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