Csa Engineering, Inc.

Moog Gmbh

David A Kienholz

Bernard R Jahn

A tuned mass damper may be formed using one or more rotary magnetic dampers () coupled to a pendulous mass (). The tuned mass damper thus formed may be used to suppress the motion of a man-made structure. The mass () of the tuned mass damper may be adjusted by adjusting the magnitude of the pendulous mass. The natural frequency of the tuned mass damper may be tuned by adjusting the distance from the mass center of the pendulous mass to the pivot point of the pendulum. The motion being suppressed may be generated by environmental factors such as waves, earthquakes, or wind, for example.

Structural damping system and method

The invention disclosed is a compact and lightweight hybrid pneumatic-magnetic isolator-actuator capable of large force, substantial stroke and bandwidth actuation with near frictionless operation and vibration isolation with very low break frequency. Pneumatic and magnetic forces are applied to a single carriage comprised primarily of a coaxially arranged air piston and coil. The carriage is driven relative to a frame or housing including an internally mounted cylindrical piston sleeve and magnetic actuator body. A combination of air bearings and air bearing piston construction provide for frictionless motion of the carriage relative to the frame. The pneumatic piston provides the actuation force for both static loads and low frequency dynamic loads. An integrally mounted sensor and control unit determine the pressure error resulting at the pneumatic piston. The control unit utilizes the pressure error to drive a high bandwidth magnetic actuation capability in parallel with the pneumatic actuation capability. An air tank of prescribed volume may be connected to the pneumatic piston for effecting a desired air-spring stiffness upon the isolator-actuator.

Hybrid pneumatic-magnetic isolator-actuator

The present invention provides a vibration isolation system. The Airborne Stabilization/Vibration Isolation System (AS/VIS) is a combination of advanced pneumatic passive suspension, high-capacity voice-coil actuators, integrated sensors, a control processor and a commercial system of software development tools. The entire vertical weight load is borne by the pneumatic mounts. Vertical payload motion is accommodated with little or no friction through the use of air bearings at all sliding surfaces of the mounts. The high-force voice-coil actuators provide a variety of performance enhancements to the passive isolation system. Primarily, they allow control of the payload mean position in the presence of low-frequency quasistatic load variations due to aircraft maneuvering. Horizontal and vertical displacement sensors detect the position of each actuator moving element relative to ground. The controller sends a signal to power amplifiers, which drive the horizontal and vertical voice-coil actuators. The active system can add damping, add or subtract stiffness, and can reduce isolator stroke requirements by feeding forward the low frequency portion of base acceleration.

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San Jose, CA, United States of America

David A Kienholz