A bio-inspired system for simultaneous vibration isolation and energy harvesting in post-capture spacecraft

Vibrations and drifting motions of a post-capture spacecraft may lead to its instability and safety risk, which therefore need to be absorbed or isolated. However, it is expected that the vibrational energy is not wasted but harvested to power the wireless sensors. Motivated by this concept and inspired by the movement of a bird, a quadrilateral shape isolation system with an energy harvester is proposed for the simultaneous broadband vibration isolation and energy harvesting of the post-capture spacecraft. The governing equations of the proposed system are derived based on Hamilton’s principle. The corresponding dimensionless approximate analytical model is deduced based on the harmonic balance method and validated through the comparison with the numerical Runge–Kutta method. Simulation results demonstrate that compared with its counterpart without the energy harvester, the proposed system can further improve the broadband vibration isolation performance, and achieve the energy harvesting function simultaneously. The operation principle is the energy localization effect, which is demonstrated through the investigation on system dynamics. The guideline for improving the dual performances is proposed according to the parametric studies on the mass ratios, the equivalent stiffness and damping induced by the quadrilateral shape structures, and the mechanical and electrical parameters of the energy harvester.