Study on Multifunctional Base Isolation System Using Air-Floating Technique

Abstract Vibration isolation devices are generally applied to equipment that dislikes vibration installed in buildings. Since the vibration isolator is intended for small vibration input, the damage has been frequently confirmed with excessive vibration input such as an huge earthquake motion. Therefore, the development of a seismic isolation device with a vibration isolation function is desired for important equipment and expensive manufacturing equipment. However, the vibration region targeted by the vibration isolator and the vibration region of the seismic input are at completely different levels. In this study, the authors propose a seismic isolation system using air floating technique to cope with such different vibration levels. In this paper, basic concept, basic performance, preliminary performance evaluation by nonlinear time response analysis, and performance evaluation by shaking table test.