A vibration isolation system includes at least one first region and at least one second region that are positioned mutually, at least one first hinge member engaged with said first region, at least one second hinge member engaged with said second region and at least one lever connected with said first hinge member and said second hinge member to be at least partially movable in the direction of at least one first axis. Accordingly, at least one lever guiding element is used to minimize vibration transmission between the first region and the second region and said lever guiding element is configured to bring an instantaneous center of rotation depending on the input vibration frequency of the first region to be aligned with the second hinge element attached to the second region which is required to be protected from vibration.

A porous gas bearing is disclosed. The porous gas bearing includes a housing having a fluid inlet and an aperture. A porous surface layer is disposed within the housing surrounding the aperture in a circumferential direction. The porous surface layer is in fluid communication with the fluid inlet. A damping system includes a damping system including a biasing member, the biasing member being disposed in a passageway that extends along the longitudinal direction of the aperture and circumferentially about the aperture, wherein the biasing member is arranged radially outward from the porous surface layer.

A bearing system including a frequency independent damper assembly and a bearing pad assembly. The damper assembly includes a housing, a plunger, a moving central post and a support spring. The plunger is movable within a housing to define a first primary damper cavity and a second primary damper cavity. The moving central post has defined therein a fluid channel for a pressurized working fluid flow. The support spring includes a plurality of flexible elements coupled to the housing and disposed radially outward of the first and second primary damper cavities. The support spring defines first and second accumulator cavity. A flow-through channel couples the first accumulator cavity to the second accumulator cavity. In an embodiment, the flow-through channel may be disposed within the moving central post. The bearing pad assembly includes a bearing pad including a plurality of bearing pad orifices coupled to the fluid channel in the moving central post.

A solar tracker assembly is provided which includes a support column, a torque tube or torsion beam connected to the support column, a mounting mechanism attached to the torque tube or torsion beam, a drive system connected to the torque tube or torsion beam, and a spring counter-balance assembly connected to the torque tube or torsion beam. An exemplary spring counter-balance assembly comprises a bearing housing and a bushing disposed within the bearing housing and configured to be slideably mounted onto the torque tube or torsion beam, and one or more compressible cords made of a flexible material. The compressible cords are located between the bushing and the bearing housing and provide damping during rotational movement of the solar tracker assembly. An exemplary spring counter-balance assembly is provided including at least one top bracket and at least one bottom bracket, at least one spring, a damper, and a bracket. An exemplary spring counter-balance assembly comprises a bearing housing and a bushing disposed within the bearing housing and configured to be slideably mounted onto the torque tube or torsion beam. The spring counter-balance assembly may include at least one coil spring and a rotational stop. The bushing may be made of an elastomeric material and define one or more air spaces.

A supporting device including an installation assembly; a first supporting arm assembly having a longitudinal direction, a first end, and a second end; a switching bracket; a bearing unit pivotally connected to the switching bracket; and at least one gas spring is provided. The first end is pivotally connected to the installation assembly. The switching bracket is pivotally connected to the second end of the first supporting arm assembly. The gas spring is disposed in the first supporting arm assembly and is respectively connected to the switching bracket and the installation assembly to provide a supporting force. Each gas spring has a hollow tube, a piston rod, and a compression spring. The piston rod is slidably disposed through the hollow tube and has a head. The head may be varied between maximum and minimum protruding positions relative to the hollow tube. The compression spring is sleeved on the piston rod.

A parameter setting method includes a parameter value changing step of, when the magnitude of a deviation that is a difference between a command position and an actual position of a movable portion is greater than or equal to a prescribed value during operation of an active damper, selecting an unselected set of candidate values from among a plurality of sets of candidate values and changing the values of respective types of parameters of the active damper to the selected set of candidate values, and when the magnitude of the deviation is less than the prescribed value, not changing the values of the respective types of the parameters. After the parameter value changing step is finished, the parameter value changing step is repeated until the magnitude of the deviation becomes less than the prescribed value.

An apparatus for dampening at least one optical instrument on a military platform. The apparatus includes a plate adapted to hold at least one optical instrument. The apparatus also includes at least one dampening assembly having a first end operably engaged with the plate and an opposing second end operably engaged with a platform. The at least one dampening assembly is also adapted to reduce the movement of the plate and optical device from a ballistic event created by a ballistic device on the platform.

The invention relates to an assembly for damping vibrations of a structure (I), having a wall element (5a, 5b, 5c, 5d) to be fitted in a upright position, a casing element (Sa, Sb, Sc, 8d) and a damping device (22a, 22b, 22c, 22d), which is connected to the casing element (Sa, Sb, Sc, 8d) and to the wall element (5a, 5b, 5c, 5d) such that a relative movement between the wall element (5a, 5b, 5c, 5d) and the casing element (Sa, Sb, Sc, 8d) is transmitted to the damping device (22a, 22b, 22c, 22d). The damping device (22a, 22b, 22c, 22d) is designed to damp a vibrating movement of the wall element (5a, 5b, 5c, 5d) in a damping direction and is arranged such that the damping device is oriented substantially parallel to a surface of the wall element (5a, 5b, 5c, 5d). The invention further relates to a method for damping vibrations of a structure.

Shock and vibration isolators and their use to isolate loads from vibration and shock, where the isolators include a fluid spring assembly and a mechanical spring assembly, where the fluid spring assembly and the mechanical spring assembly are arranged in series. The mechanical spring assembly includes a first spring and a second spring arranged so that compression of the mechanical spring assembly simultaneously directly compresses the first spring and indirectly compresses the second spring via an intermediate actuator, such that the first and second spring are compressed in parallel.

A crossbar assembly for facilitating isolation of a sensor assembly from vibration of a payload mounting system on a vehicle comprising an outer crossbar segment, an inner crossbar segment, an isolator, and a damper. The outer crossbar segment comprises a payload mount interface operable to mount to a payload mount, and an outer isolator interface operable to mount to an isolator. The inner crossbar segment comprises a structure interface to mount to a structure, and an inner isolator interface operable to mount to the isolator. The isolator can be supported by the outer and inner crossbar segments. The damper is adjacent the isolator. The isolator is operable to deform in response to relative movement between the outer and inner crossbar segments. The isolator operates to partially decouple the outer crossbar segment from the inner crossbar segment and the damper dampens vibrations propagating between the outer and inner crossbar segments.