State of the Art Vibration Isolation Internal to Large Aerospace Vacuum Chambers for Space Simulation Testing Jack

Dankowski, P.E. Fabreeka International (United States and Europe) Abstract Progress of the aerospace and other industries requires higher resolution for precision measurement resulting in creation of the need for low vibration environments in thermal vacuum chambers. Development of space applications for such systems requires ground-based simulation of space environments. It became evident that ground vibrations play a significant role in payload performance degradations, as precision measurement increased. This created the need for unique equipment which would provide a virtual vibration free environment that functions in a hard vacuum. This paper presents a brief overview of design considerations and test results of a vacuum compatible, soft vibration isolation system that would be subjected to various inputs caused by the ever present cultural ground vibrations and typical induced environmental vibrational sources including earthquakes. Introduction Consideration will be given to two different approaches to attenuate any shock and ground vibration or base inputs into a thermal vacuum. Normally, a structure or platform(s) are required to be attached to the isolation system. Three or more isolators may be required depending on the payload weight. The physical size of the isolators will also vary. Isolator load ranges will also vary along with their moments of inertia. There are many additional factors, which will be examined, that must be considered. The approaches used in this paper are of completed programs and all are operational. Design Philosophy and Considerations In almost all cases where isolator low naturals are required, the choice of employing pneumatics is far superior to any other types of

spring element. Using this as a basic criteria, it enables isolator manufacturers to be versatile in establishing a design which will fit almost any reasonable configuration which will interface with the payload internal to the chamber. Most applications require an interface platform(s) internal to the chamber to support the payloads. However, under rare circumstances the payload and/or the payload fixtures supporting a payload could interface with the isolator directly. This latter approach is not used often since it limits the versatility when using the chamber for future consideration. Again, the primary concern is decoupling ground shock and vibrations, so since the payload is internal to the vacuum chamber, acoustical coupling considerations become nil. One of the most important but often not considered details is the placement of the isolators such that the effect elastic plane passes through the total composite center of gravity of whatever is to be isolated, such as the payload, platform and fixture which, when combined, has a total composite center of gravity (TCCG) all with its mass moment of inertia. When properly applying these known factors, the isolator interface is defined. The reason for this approach is that any pitching or rolling effects are vertically eliminated so only the vertical and horizontal effects can be considered for optimum isolation. There are a few cases where TCCG is not at or near the elastic plane of the isolators, the compensation for the pitch and roll must be introduced, in such a way that the isolation system can compensate for these additional payload responses. The obvious approach is to increase the isolator stiffness. However, the isolator natural frequencies will increase to the point where isolation is compromised. The remaining approach is to let the isolator system provide this need. However, there is a point of no return where the payload will then just oscillate for a longer period of time, which is in most cases very undesirable when the isolation system is too soft. The choice of the spring element is pneumatic and can be clean dry air or gaseous nitrogen, but other safety compatible gases can be used but may also affect the isolation system performance. Because of the ratio of the specific heat and constant pressure, the basic concept of a pneumatic isolator may be considered simple in a pure state, however it will be shown that many complexities arise and are accommodated.

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Assuming a polytropic adiabatic process, when the weight is increased, the pressure in the isolator must also increase while servo valves control the piston height. The vertical natural frequency of such an ideal air spring supporting a weight would then be given by,

f nv =

where k = spring rate, g = gravity, W = weight, A = piston area, n = EFF specific heat ratio of the gas and V = effective volume. For such an air spring, the damping would essentially be zero. It would, therefore, be desirable to add some damping mechanism to the pneumatic isolator. This was accomplished through the addition of a damping chamber which is integral with the isolator assembly. A schematic representation of an air spring isolator is shown in fig. 1. The piston action is provided by a diaphragm clamped to a circular cylinder. The diaphragm is also attached to a circular piston which supports the weight to be isolated since the spring chamber is pressurized. A structural separation containing a flow restriction separates the spring chamber from the Figure 1 damping chamber. The type and size of the restriction is primarily a function of the linearity and amount of damping desired in the isolator. When finding the vertical natural frequency of a typical pneumatic 1 isolator such as in fig. 1, an assumption must be made. Since the isolator uses an integral plate which separates the spring chamber from the damping chamber, the restriction must be of small open area so that the damping chamber volume does not become part of the isolator stiffness equation. Therefore, an effective spring EFF chamber volume (V ) is used, and then the vertical natural frequency may be expressed as shown in equation 1 which shows two springs in series and therefore the transmissibility is 12 2 db/octave roll off . The use of these constraints has rendered an effective vertical natural frequency accuracy of "10%.
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1 2p

kg 1 = W 2p

nPA2 g WV EFF

(1)
2

Since this isolator used a restriction between the damping chamber and spring chamber, the gas was displaced by piston movement forcing the gas from the spring chamber into the damping chamber. The restriction may vary using discrete diameters or a series of added baffles resulting in laminar flow which yields constant damping with frequency. This system required low to moderate damping in the vertical direction. This approach tends to be partially amplitude sensitive, but since the change in damping is usually small, it did not have a significant effect on the system performance. Considering damping in the vertical direction, it would appear that for micro-inch amplitudes the damping should be essentially zero. However, this does not mean that damping provided by the entire isolator will be negligible. Even at micro-inch amplitudes, the diaphragm has flex and/or strain. The damping ratio for the diaphragm material (Viton) is about .03 to .05. The horizontal natural frequency is determined much more simply and is accomplished by using a dual pendulum approach, two pendulums in series. The remaining consideration is the tuned pendulum apparent stiffness. A tuned rod which has a modified shape to reduce bending stiffness. When designing to the overall horizontal stiffness, it is found that the effective pendulum stiffness is much less for moderate to heavy loads, but should be considered in most cases. When considering the light load case, the stiffness becomes significant and must be used to establish the total horizontal stiffness. Horizontal damping is accomplished by using a non-friction corrosion resistant steel pad which is of a doughnut shape. When larger displacements occur, such as during test set up or loading and unloading, the damper provides damping up to 10 percent of critical. The diaphragm is a preconvoluted design which produces a small spring gradient and a centering effect that tends to return the diaphragm to its neutral radial position. The diaphragm composite is made up of a layer of specially woven Dacron fabric, impregnated with a thin layer of elastomer. The total thickness of the convolute is .1 cm. The Dacron fabric gives high tensile strength to the diaphragm. A thin diaphragm was selected to minimize any hysteresis effect, since thicker or multi-ply diaphragms, bladders and
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air bags do transmit vibrations of low amplitude. Viton was selected and subsequently approved by the NASA Materials Group for this application. The diaphragms were baked at 250EC (482EF) for 20 hours to accomplish the required postcure. This procedure removes virtually all volatiles which would eventually out gas and cause contamination to be introduced in the vacuum chamber. Under hard vacuum conditions, this material, which is a Viton impregnated Dacron fabric, exhibits a Total Mass Loss (TML) of only .85 percent and a Collected Volatile Condensable Material (CVCM) of .09 percent indicating that it is virtually immune to out gassing. Each isolator incorporates an integral pneumatic servo valve which is mounted to the bottom of the piston. Small sealed ports house valve arm adjustment screws which control the valve gain and system floating height. Vacuum sealed screws are removed from each port for adjustment access. The flexible valve supply and exhaust lines feed through the lower portion Figure 2 of the tank. External corrosion resistant flex lines attach to the tank and terminate at the upper portion of the outer housing for ease of connection to the vacuum chamber bulkhead by means of supplied rigid lines. Each isolator base is bolted to a common frame external to the chamber for a fixed orientation. The test bench rests on the isolator tapered surfaces for registration. The isolator piston does not contact the table when non-pressurized at the rest condition. The loading and unloading of the bench payload is accomplished when the system is at rest. When the system is pressurized in the vacuum chamber, each isolator piston engages the table and within minutes raises the table one centimeter which is the preadjusted floating height. Depressurization occurs in a reverse fashion but at a slower rate. Counter balances are used to maintain the isolator elastic plane at the TCCG.
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The system is controlled and monitored from a control panel external to the vacuum chamber. The panel houses the pressurization and depressurization valves, gas filter, pressure regulator and pressure gages which indicate the pressure in each isolator and the regulated supply pressure. A second approach currently used is a dual diaphragm spaced about one centimeter apart, leaving a void between the diaphragms and vented to a vacuum external to the chamber. This way, the system is -8 compatible with 10 torr conditions. Heater blankets are also used (see fig. 2). Isolator loading varies from one metric ton to 70 metric tons.

1.

Dankowski, J. C.; A Trade-Off Study and Math Model Development of a Pneumatic Vibration Isolation System, Measurement Analysis Corporation, 1980 (Rev. 1). Dankowski, J. C.; Low Frequency Shock and Vibration Isolation of Precision Engineering and Nano Technology, Paper at Euspen Conference I, Bremen, 1999.

2.

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