The Effect of Spring Parameters on Isolator Insertion Loss

One of the more useful metrics to characterize the high frequency performance of an isolator is insertion loss. Insertion loss is defined as the difference in transmitted vibration in decibels between the non-isolated and isolated cases. Insertion loss takes into account the compliance on the source and receiver sides. Accordingly, it has some advantages over transmissibility especially at higher frequencies. In the current work, the transfer matrix of a spring isolator is determined using finite element simulation. A static analysis is performed first to preload the isolator so that stress stiffening is accounted for. This is followed by modal and forced response analyses to identify the transfer matrix of the isolator. In this paper, the insertion loss of spring isolators is examined as a function of several geometric parameters including the spring diameter, wire diameter, and number of active coils. Results demonstrate how modifications to these parameters affect the insertion loss and the first surge frequency.