Stanley E. Smith

Component mount assembly providing active control of vehicle vibration

A mount assembly is provided for mounting a component, such as an engine, to a vehicle for active control of vibration. The assembly includes first and second mounting members and, an intermediate insert with first and second elastomeric systems connecting said first and second mounting members with the intermediate insert in between. An actuator in parallel with said first elastomeric system provides vertical force to said first elastomeric system to provide a relatively soft vertical rate. A controller operates the actuator in response to sensed vibration so that the vertical force tends to avoid or cancel it. A relatively high fore/aft and lateral dynamic rate of the first system protects the actuator. The second elastomeric system connects the second mounting member with the intermediate insert and exhibits a relatively high vertical rate and a relatively soft fore/aft and lateral rate. One or more sensors feeds data to a controller that analyzes the vibrations to determine the harmonics thereof. The controller then constructs one or more output waveforms and feeds them to the actuator so that a force is applied across the first elastomeric system between the first mounting member and the intermediate insert, thereby tending to produce the relatively soft vertical rate for component isolation and noise suppression.