A Constant Force Mechanism based Vibration Isolator for Low-Frequency Excitations

Abstract

In this work a constant force mechanism (CFM) is proposed to regulate the contact force of a robot end effectors. A robotic arm is designed that possess constant force for certain range of displacement, and the vibration can be isolated in the specified displacement range. A numerical study is proposed in this work for studying the static and dynamic behaviour. Firstly, the static characteristic is performed to obtain the operational displacement range where the reaction force is maintained nearly constant. The static analysis results are then used as the input for the studying the dynamic characteristics. The nonlinear dynamic performance is evaluated using the harmonic and transient modules. A parametric study is also performed to evaluate the effects of varying damping ratio. The results suggest a constant reaction force for certain displacement range, and the effective isolation is also obtained for the low-frequency ranges.