The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
May. 16, 2000
Filed:
Aug. 06, 1998
Daniel R Morgenthaler, Littleton, CO (US);
Lockheed Martin Corporation, Bethesda, MD (US);
Abstract
A vibration attenuation system (10) is disclosed for at least partially isolating a structure (16) from a vibrating source (14). The system (10) generally includes a differential stiffness assembly (12) interposed between the vibration source (14) and the structure (16), a vibration sensor (18) for sensing a vibration from the source (14), a controller (20) for controlling operation of the differential stiffness assembly (12) based on a sensed vibration from the source (14), and an actuator for varying a load applied to the differential stiffness assembly (12) in response to control signals from the controller (20). The differential stiffness assembly (12) includes an element such as a metallic tube (30), that provides a variable frequency-related vibration transmission/attenuation response depending on a load applied to the member. In one embodiment, a shape memory alloy wire (28) is interconnected to the tube (30) to apply a varying load to the tube (30) depending on a temperature of the wire (28).