Vibration isolators are used to dampen the vibrations of all kinds of machines. They can be found in washing machines to keep the drums from shaking, and in larger machinery to keep pieces still.
When it comes to vibration isolation, there are different ways to do it. One is to use passive isolation. This kind of vibration isolator doesn’t do anything to alleviate the vibrations. That includes things like springs or rubber pads. Those isolators don’t do anything so fulfill their jobs. These are primarily found in things like motors, washing machines, and HVAC systems.
Another kind of vibration isolators are active isolators. These isolators will include things like springs to alleviate the vibrations of the machinery around them, but they also use other things to help them do their job. Those include things like a feedback circuit. The vibrations trigger that circuit, which is made with an accelerometer, electromagnetic transducer, and a controller. They amplify the signal, and make the vibration isolator work. This leads to a better and stronger isolation of any vibrations than a passive isolations system would.
Other isolation types include negative stiffness isolation, horizontal isolation, and six degree of freedom isolation. What kind of isolation gets chosen depends on what kind of machinery it is being used for.