Design and experimental validation of a vibration isolator with high-static low-dynamic stiffness and operating point variable property

Vibration isolator with high-static low-dynamic stiffness property has been researched extensively, but the isolator’s stability and performance will be deteriorated with the operation point variation. In this article, a vibration isolator that operation point can be variable was proposed, and it was constructed by combining a coil spring and flexible leaf springs with a negative stiffness magnet spring in parallel. Unlike previous studies, this article focuses on the realization of the high-static low-dynamic stiffness characteristic of the isolator, and the operation point of the vibration isolator can be varied in a certain range. The effects of configuration parameters on the negative stiffness are investigated in detail. Furthermore, the designing procedure to realize the linear negative stiffness with the expected magnitude and range was also developed. A prototype was installed and the vibration transmissibility of the system at different operation points was measured, the experimental results indicated that the isolator can be kept stable in different operation points, and the performance does not deteriorate with the variation of the operation point. The effectiveness of the designing procedure of the realization of linear negative stiffness with the expected magnitude and range and the variable of the operation point of the isolator was validated.