An Origami-Inspired Quasi-zero Stiffness Structure for Low-Frequency Vibration Isolation

Purpose This paper aims to propose a novel origami structure with the characteristic of geometric nonunique relation, and apply it to the design of a new quasi-zero stiffness (QZS) vibration isolator. Methods A tube-like structure is proposed by combining four six-panel non-Euclidean rigid origami patterns. According to the kinematic analysis, the geometric nonunique relation of the tube-like structure is discussed. By introducing eight mechanical tension springs, the tube-like structure can be transformed into a QZS structure, which is used to design a QZS vibration isolator. Then the force-compression relationship and stiffness of the vibration isolator are derived utilizing the energy method. To verify the vibration isolation performance, the displacement transmissibility under the harmonic displacement excitation is derived using the harmonic balance method and numerical simulation. Results There is an obvious geometric nonunique relation between the height and side-opening width of the tube-like structure. Static analysis shows that three design parameters have significant influences on the mechanical response of the tube-like structure with springs. The result of the dynamic analysis verifies the low-frequency vibration isolation performance of the proposed QZS isolator outperforms the corresponding linear isolator. Conclusions The proposed tube-like structure has the characteristic of geometric nonunique relation, which can be used to design the structure with QZS mechanical response. The proposed QZS vibration isolator based on the tube-like structure can be used for low-frequency vibration isolation.