Suspension Component with Internal Mechanical Resonator

This work presents theory for a passive vibration isolation component for which the effective stiffness changes with the frequency of steady-state operation. The effective stiffness can be passively adjusted, or tuned, to be a minimum at a particular frequency, thereby reducing transmitted vibratory forces at or near that frequency. The new suspension component offers performance similar to a lowly-damped, long-inertia-track hydraulic mount but with fewer components and with no fluid. Prototypes of the new suspension component have been built and tested. The results demonstrate that the new suspension component isolates vibratory forces for a relatively wide frequency range.