Optimal design of a six-axis vibration isolator via Stewart platform by using homogeneous Jacobian matrix formulation based on dual quaternions

A six-axis vibration isolation system is essential to high-precision space systems for attenuating vibrations on precise instruments. The kinematic optimal design is researched for the space six-axis vibration isolator via Stewart mechanism. Jacobian matrix is the basis of the kinematic performance index. However, the conventional Jacobian matrix is not usually dimensionally homogeneous due to the inhomogeneous physical units, caused by the different mathematical representations of the rotation and translation. In this paper, we propose a dual quaternion approach to derive the dimensionally homogeneous Jacobian matrix of a general six-axis parallel mechanism. Two quaternions are used to parameterize the rotation and translation of the platform. The dimensionally scaling factor for the generalized Jacobian matrix is defined as the ratio of the norms of the two quaternions. The dimensionally homogenous Jacobian matrix is then obtained and applied to the optimal design of the six-axis vibration isolator. The performance index of isotropy is considered to make the isolator minimum kinematic coupling in its working configuration.