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Ultra-Low Frequency Vertical Vibration Isolator Based On Lacoste Spring Linkage
Ultra-Low Frequency Vertical Vibration Isolator Based On Lacoste Spring Linkage
T0 = hFS − MglM cos θ = (kl1 l2 − MglM ) cos θ. (2) Here, ζ is the damping coefficient.
Applying Laplace transformation to the dynamic equa-
If kl1 l2 = MglM , then T0 = 0 for all values of θ and the nature tion, we get the transfer function as
oscillating period of the arm is infinite.
In practice, the natural oscillating period is up to tens of θ (s) −MlM s 2
= . (8)
seconds. According to the vibration theory, a long period sys- yO (s) J s2 + ζ s + K
tem has suppression effect on seismic noise. In order to apply
Here, s is the complex variable of the transfer function.
the spring linkage as a vibration isolator, it is necessary to
Select one point on the arm OB as the output point D. The
analyze its dynamic characteristics. Besides, the theoretical
distance between D and the pivot O is lD .
model should have applicability in the general case, for ex-
The coordinate of D in the y axis is
ample, when l0 = 0 or θ 0 = 0. Some other factors such as the
restoring torque of the pivot should also be taken into account. yD = yO + lD sin θ ≈ yO + lD θ. (9)
The dynamic torque equation of the arm with respect to
the pivot O is The transfer function between yO and yD is
dLor −
→ − → yD (s) (J − MlM lD )s 2 + ζ s + K
= J θ̈ = FS h − MglM cos θ − KO θ − M lM × ÿO . = . (10)
dt yO (s) J s2 + ζ s + K
(3)
Here, J is the rotary inertia of the arm OB with respect to the If the spring linkage performs as a vibration isolator, yO is the
pivot O and K0 is the stiffness coefficient of the pivot and ÿO vibration noise and yD is the isolated response. According to
is the acceleration of the pivot O in the y axis. the transfer function in Eq. (10), for excellent isolation per-
formance, the location of the output point D should satisfy
the following relation:
TABLE I. Meanings of the symbols in Fig. 1.
J − MlM lD = 0. (11)
Symbol Meaning
If the mass of the arm OB is all centralized in the mass point
l1 Distance from Point A to Pivot O M, J = MlM 2
, lD = lM , the right output point D is just the mass
l2 Distance from Point B to Pivot O point M. In practice, however, the right output point should be
lM Distance from the mass point of M to Pivot O
selected according to the calculation about the mass distribu-
θ Angle between the arm and the horizontal
tion of the arm OB.
θ0 Angle between Line AO and the vertical
h Vertical distance from Pivot O to the spring
As the stiffness of the joints such as the pivots contributes
lS Length of the spring to the total stiffness of the system, the extension spring should
l0 Initial length of the spring provide negative stiffness to compensate the existing stiffness.
In Eq. (6), it is shown that there are two ways to adjust the
104502-3 Li et al. Rev. Sci. Instrum. 85, 104502 (2014)
total stiffness coefficient K to a value close to zero, i.e., to of the spring is attached to an adjusting lever. A micrometer
achieve a very long natural oscillating period. One way is to screw is used to turn the adjusting lever and then the spring
increase θ 0 , which means to move the top attachment point force is changed to balance the gravity of the arm. The attach-
of the spring towards the negative direction of the x axis. The ment point of the extension spring to the adjusting lever can
other way is to reduce the initial length l0 of the spring to be moved along the x direction.
a negative value. As the coefficient of θ 0 in Eq. (10) is far The extension spring is made of spring steel. Its initial
greater than that of l0 , the first way to adjust K has obvious length can be determined as follows. A spring oscillator is
effect. In addition, it is necessary to keep K positive because a constructed by hanging a mass vertically with the spring. Its
stiffness coefficient equal to or below zero will lead to system natural oscillating period follows the relation as
instability.
T = 2π m/k. (12)
III. SYSTEM DESCRIPTION Here, k is the stiffness coefficient of the spring and m is the
mass.
A. Mechanical structure Then the initial length of the spring can be determined as
The schematic of the spring linkage is shown in Fig. 2.
l0 = l − mg/k = l − g (T /2π )2 . (13)
The arm is connected to the frame with flexible pivots and
is suspended by a mechanical extension spring. The top end Here, l is the practical length of the spring when the spring
oscillator is motionless, g is the gravity acceleration, and T
is the oscillating period when the spring oscillator oscillates
freely. We measured l = 204 mm and T = 0.985 s. Then the
initial length of the spring was calculated as l0 = −37 mm.
Afterwards, the extension spring is connected into the
linkage with some steel wire. Then the initial length of
the spring became the sum of the original initial length and
the length of the connected steel wire. Therefore, by vary-
ing the length of the connected steel wire, the resultant initial
length can be adjusted.
FIG. 2. (a) and (b) Set up of the zero-length spring linkage (A) flexible piv-
ots, (B) arm, (C) counterweight, (D) corner cube, (E) voice coil, (F) magnet,
(G) mirror, (H) travel limiter, (I) mechanical extension spring, (J) micropo-
sitioner, (K) flexible pivots, (L) adjusting lever, (M) holding spring, (N) mi-
crometer screw, (O) laser collimator, (P) optical detector, (D) spectroscope. FIG. 3. Sensitivity curve of the optical detection module.
104502-4 Li et al. Rev. Sci. Instrum. 85, 104502 (2014)
150 mm, so a deflection angle of 0.3 μrad corresponds to a 0.03 Hz. That is below the dominate frequencies of the verti-
vertical displacement of 45 nm. cal seismic noise caused by human activity and the terrestrial
Fig. 4(a) shows a typical oscillation of the arm detected micro-seismic activity. In theory, the system can suppress the
by the optical detector. Its natural oscillating period is about seismic noise significantly.
15 s. It can be seen that the balance position of the arm suffers The Superspring is of a period up to 40–60 s, correspond-
from drift. The system will stop operating if the arm drifts ing to a resonant frequency below 0.025 Hz. The isolator
out of the work area. As the max magnitude of the output in Ref. 13 which applies an Euler-LaCoste linkage achieves
signal of the optical detector is ±10 V and the sensitivity is a vertical resonance frequency of 0.15 Hz. Compared with
2.3 mV/μrad, the work area in which the arm can be detected these isolators, our isolator has achieved a typical resonant
by the optical detector is about ±4.3 × 10−3 rad. In practice, frequency for ultra-low frequency vertical vibration isolation.
the deflection of the arm is limited in a smaller range. The ex-
tension spring is made of spring steel, whose elastic modulus
has large temperature coefficient. Therefore, the tension force IV. APPLICATION ON ABSOLUTE GRAVIMETRY
of the spring varies with temperature change, which leads to In order to test the isolation performance, the vibra-
systematic drift. tion isolator has been applied in the homemade T-1 absolute
In order to correct the systematic drift, a feedback con- gravimeter (Fig. 5). The T-1 absolute gravimeter is a classical
trol electronics is designed. The signal of the optical detec-
tor is processed by a Proportional-Integral-Derivative Control
(PID) circuit. A voice coil assembled between the arm and
the frame baseplate (shown in Fig. 2) transforms the current
to feedback force. Among the three terms of PID control, the
integral part plays the decisive role in the correction for the
systemic drift. It limits the deflection angle of the arm in a
very small range to keep the stability of the system. The pro-
portional part and the derivative part contribute to K and ζ
of Eq. (7), respectively. As the noise of the current will be
transformed to disturbance force by the voice coil, the output
signal of the feedback circuit should be filtered properly. With
the application of feedback control, the drift problem has been
solved, as what is shown in Fig. 4(b).
By moving the top attachment point of the extension
spring and varying its initial length, the natural oscillating pe-
riod of the spring linkage can be adjusted in a wide range.
The oscillation of the arm shown in Fig. 4(c) reaches a natu-
ral period of 32 s, corresponding to a resonant frequency of FIG. 5. Set up of the T-1 absolute gravimeter.
104502-5 Li et al. Rev. Sci. Instrum. 85, 104502 (2014)
from the source, for example, to control the temperature in- 5 T. M. Niebauer, G. S. Sasagawa, J. E. Faller, and F. Klopping, Metrologia
side the system, and to make the spring with material of low 32, 159 (1995).
6 H. Hu, K. Wu, S. Lei, G. Li, and L. J. Wang, Acta Phys. Sin. 61, 099101
temperature coefficient such as the constant elastic alloy. (2012).
The isolator has been applied in the T-1 absolute 7 R. L. Rinker and J. E. Faller, “Precision measurement and fundamental
gravimeter and a statistical uncertainty of 2 μGal was constants II,” in Proceedings of the Second International Conference (NBS-
achieved with a typical 12 h measurement. The experiment SP-617) (National Bureau of Standards, Washington, DC, 1984), pp. 411–
417.
results demonstrate that the isolator is robust and suitable 8 P. G. Nelson, Rev. Sci. Instrum. 62, 2069 (1991).
for the vertical vibration isolation for high precision absolute 9 L. J. B. LaCoste, Jr., J. Appl. Phys. 5, 178 (1934).
10 L. C. Ye, Acta Geophys. Sin. 24, 415 (1981).
gravimeter.
11 D. Crossley, J. Hinderer, and U. Riccardi, Rep. Prog. Phys. 76, 046101
(2013).
12 S. Grams, Diploma thesis, University Erlangen-Nuremberg, Erlangen,
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
2008.
13 M. A. Hosain, A. Sirr, L. Ju, and D. G. Blair, Rev. Sci. Instrum. 83, 085108
The authors would like to thank the Tsinghua Uni-
(2012).
versity Initiative Scientific Research Program (Grant No. 14 C. H. Rothleitner, S. Scitlov, H. Merimeche, H. Hu, and L. J. Wang,
2013THZ05) for providing support for this research. Metrologia 46, 283 (2009).
15 G. D’Agostino, S. Desogus, A. Germak, C. Origlia, D. Quagliotti, G.
1 F. H. Liao, X. P. Li, X. D. Chen, Z. Y. Yuan, and W. Li, Mech. Sci. Technol. Berrino, G. Corrado, V. d’Errico, and G. Ricciardi, Ann. Geophys. 51, 39
Aerosp. Eng. 31, 1411 (2012). (2008).
2 J. Winterflood and D. G. Blair, Phys. Lett. A 300, 122 (2002). 16 T. M. Niebauer, R. Billson, B. Ellis, B. Mason, D. V. Westrum, and F.
3 D. B. Newell, S. J. Richman, P. G. Nelson, R. T. Stebbins, P. L. Bender, Klopping, Metrologia 48, 154 (2011).
and J. E. Faller, Rev. Sci. Instrum. 68, 3211 (1997). 17 H. Hu, S. Svitlov, C. Rothleitner, J. Schafer, J. Zhang, and L. J. Wang,
4 J. E. Faller, Metrologia 39, 425 (2002). Metrologia 47, 575 (2010).
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