Effects of an absorber on impact characteristics in machine cushion design with area ratio modified guiding structure

A machine cushion with guiding structure can transfer impact and vibration waves into branches of balanced forces along pre-designed paths, to reduce the effects of those waves between the machine and the ground. To improve impact load absorption and vibration wave suppression, we designed a machine cushion with an attached absorber and “area ratio modified” (ARM) guiding structure. We compared variations in vibration using impulse responses of machine cushions as a performance index, of four alternative machine cushion designs: One was an ARM with absorber design; the second was the same machine cushion but without an absorber; the third and fourth were simple passive machine cushions with and without an absorber. The related dynamic equations for these structures were derived and the related transient responses and frequency responses were evaluated. The main objectives of the study were to demonstrate the capacity of our ARM with absorber structure to absorb impact forces and vibration waves, and to measure the effect of parameter variation on the absorption of impact forces and vibration waves. As expected, simulation results showed that under test conditions, the proposed ARM with absorber machine cushion had the best impact and vibration suppression capability.