System design for isolation of a neonatal transport unit using passive and semi-active control strategies

A need for vibration isolation in neonatal transport cart is recognized by the medical community. This study is a first step in the feasibility analysis and design of such vibration isolation system. For this application, an effective system can be defined as an isolation unit that reduces the level of vibration and mechanical shock experienced by the patient. A goal of this work is to provide the patient with a higher quality level of care relative to the existing neonatal transport system. Insight into the design of a vibration isolation system for a neonatal transport cart is presented with a simple 2 dof system model. The vibration isolation is done by adding air-spring-based passive and active systems. The air springs stiffness is a nonlinear function of pressure. Parametric studies performed with these models show that a passive isolation system provides stable dynamic behavior without sufficient damping. It is shown that with suitable combination of these parameters an effective vibration isolation of the neonatal transport cart is possible thus providing better quality of care.