An Ultra-Low Frequency Active Vertical Vibration Isolator With Geometric Anti-Spring Structure

Vibration isolators have been widely used to keep the target object from the ground vibration in order to improve the measurement accuracy. Nowadays, the ultra-low frequency vibration isolator based on a two-stage structure shows the best performance. Traditionally, vertically suspended springs are usually applied as the second-stage. As the requirement of the low stiffness, the springs need to be long, which brings the disadvantages of relatively large size and small allowable load. A novel ultra-low frequency active vertical vibration isolator is proposed in this paper, which applies geometric anti-spring (GAS) instead of the second-stage suspended springs. The isolated object (the second stage) is supported by GAS fixed on an inner frame (the first stage), and the inner frame is hung with supporting springs from the base of the vibration isolator. The inner frame is driven by a voice coil to track the motion of the isolated object according to the relative motion signal detected by a photoelectric detector. Ideally, GAS provides zero restoring force for the object, thus realizing a long natural resonance period. Experimental results show that the isolator can achieve a resonance period of 14.7 s, compared with a simulated result of 20.7 s. Therefore, it is accessible to reduce the isolator’s volume and increase the allowable load by replacing the traditional second-stage suspended springs with GAS, without harming the vibration isolation effect. Promisingly it will be applied in free-falling and atomic-interference absolute gravimeters, and other precise measurements.