Viscoelastic Multilayered Blade-Type Passive Vibration Isolation System for a Spaceborne Cryogenic Cooler

Abstract This paper proposes a blade-type passive vibration isolator, realized by multilayered thin metal plates with viscoelastic acrylic tapes, to attenuate the micro-jitter induced by a spaceborne cryogenic cooler. Structural safety of the cooler under severe launch loads is assured without implementing a launch-lock device. One advantage of the isolator is that the implementation of a 1G compensation device is unnecessary during on-ground micro-jitter measurement tests. Moreover, a stable jitter reduction performance could be obtained owing to the unsusceptible alignment sensitivity of the isolator. Free-vibration tests were performed for various temperature conditions to acquire the basic characteristics of the isolator. The effectiveness of the isolator design in launch environments was demonstrated through qualification-level sine vibration and random vibration tests. The micro-jitter isolation capability regarding the isolator alignment shift was confirmed through on-ground micro-jitter estimation test. Besides, the characteristic variations of the viscoelastic multilayered blade isolator in on-orbit thermal vacuum environments were investigated.