Research on the influence of spring stiffness on the electrorheological isolator

The problem of electrorheological (ER) technology's application in the vibration isolation system is emphatically studied. Based on the particular characteristics of the electrorheological fluid (ERF) tunable damping, a metal-spring ER isolator is designed and its working principle is mainly discussed. By theoretical analysis of its simplified physical model, the dynamic response of an ER isolator is sensitive to the system equivalent spring stiffness K and ERF damping coefficient C. According to the dynamic performance tests, the result confirms that applying different electric field strength can change the dynamic peculiarity of the metal-spring ER isolator. The configuration design parameters of the ER equipment, such as the stiffness ratio of two fluid chambers and the size of the electric field, are important factors for the tunable range of ER isolator.