Advanced isolation design for avionics on launch vehicles

Bradley R. Allen; Eric Ruhl; Bryce L. Fowler; Dino Sciulli

doi:10.1117/12.384585

27 April 2000 Advanced isolation design for avionics on launch vehicles

Bradley R. Allen, Eric Ruhl, Bryce L. Fowler, Dino Sciulli

Proceedings Volume 3989, Smart Structures and Materials 2000: Damping and Isolation; (2000) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.384585
Event: SPIE's 7th Annual International Symposium on Smart Structures and Materials, 2000, Newport Beach, CA, United States

Abstract

Research to create advanced vibration isolator designs and practical design techniques for Launch Vehicle (LV) manufacturers is discussed. Avionics of launch vehicles have unique requirements for isolation since many generate heat and cannot use convection cooling for dissipation. Nearly all isolation systems are ineffective thermal conductors unless expensive custom modifications are performed. The cost of a custom isolation design can rarely be justified, particularly with expendable vehicles. While viscoelastic isolators offer simplicity and affordability, such materials with high loss factors (greater than 0.25) also exhibit aggressive changes in stiffness with both temperature and frequency. Materials having new and unique formulations are introduced which have an order of magnitude higher thermal conductivity than today's materials of similar stiffness. This enables appreciable heat conduction with nominal temperature increases to isolated packages. The formulation of nearly all elastomeric vibration isolators creates heavy coupling between their loss factors and the rate of change in their storage moduli. High loss factors result in an aggressive temperature-dependent shift in the resonant frequencies of an isolated element. New compounds introduced in this paper address this limitation. A software utility has also been developed that greatly simplifies isolation design. The utility solves the equations of motion for a rigid body on flexible mounts and allows performance predictions using base vibration inputs. New progress in material technology and design techniques enables LV manufacturers to implement affordable designed vibration isolation systems on avionics and similar systems.

Citation Download Citation

Bradley R. Allen, Eric Ruhl, Bryce L. Fowler, and Dino Sciulli "Advanced isolation design for avionics on launch vehicles", Proc. SPIE 3989, Smart Structures and Materials 2000: Damping and Isolation, (27 April 2000); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.384585

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