Development of a real-time tunable stiffness and damping vibration isolator based on magnetorheological elastomer

A tunable stiffness and damping vibration isolator based on magnetorheological elastomers (MREs) is developed. In this isolator, four MRE elements are used as the tunable springs, whose stiffness can be controlled by varying the magnetic field. A voice coil motor, which is controlled by the relative velocity feedback of the payload, is used as the tunable damper of the isolator. Under the combined ON–OFF control, the proposed vibration isolator shows satisfying isolation effect. The experimental results indicate that the responses of the payload are suppressed significantly in comparison to the passive system. The transmissibility of the payload around the resonant frequency is decreased by 61.5%. The root mean square (RMS) value and the maximum value of the displacement responses of the payload are decreased by 36.0% and 50.0%, respectively. In addition, the RMS values and maximum values of the velocity responses are decreased by 45.4% and 52.5%, respectively.