IP Library › Granted Patent US 12,300,207
Granted Patent B2
US 12,300,207 · App. 17/848,757 · Granted May 13, 2025

Flexural wave absorbers for wave and vibration isolation in thin walled structures

Inventors: Xiaopeng Li (Ann Arbor, MI); Ziqi Yu (Ann Arbor, MI); Taehwa Lee (Ann Arbor, MI)
Assignees: Toyota Motor Engineering & Manufacturing North America, Inc.; Toyota Jidosha Kabushiki Kaisha
G10K11/172G10K11/162
View Patent ↗
Loading inventors, assignments & file history…
Monitor This Case
Get email alerts when status or documents change.
Order Certified Copies
Most orders are placed with the USPTO same day — all within 24 business hours.
Order via The Patent Place →
Pre-filled with this patent's details
Quick Facts
Patent No.
US 12,300,207
App. No.
17/848,757
Granted
May 13, 2025
Kind
B2
Abstract

A flexural wave absorber includes a metasurface with an inner portion, an outer portion, and a plurality of beam strips extending between the inner portion and the outer portion. The metasurface also includes a plurality of coupled resonators disposed on the plurality of beam strips. The plurality of coupled resonators can include a lossy resonator and a lossless resonator, two lossy resonators and a lossless resonator, or a lossy resonator and two lossless resonators. In addition, each of the plurality of beam strips can have multiple pairs of coupled resonators disposed thereon that work at or absorb different frequency ranges.

Claims (99)

1. A flexural wave absorber comprising:

a metasurface with an inner portion rigidly attached to a thin wall structure, an outer portion free to vibrate, a plurality of beam strips extending between the inner portion and the outer portion, and a plurality of vacant spaces extending through the metasurface between respective adjacent beam strips of the plurality of beam strips; and

a plurality of coupled resonators disposed directly on the plurality of beam strips, the coupled resonators spaced apart by a predefined distance equal to 0.2λ, where λ equals a flexural wave wavelength at a resonant frequency propagating along the plurality of beam strips.

2. The flexural wave absorber according to claim 1 , wherein the plurality of coupled resonators comprise a lossy resonator and a lossless resonator on each of the plurality of beam strips.

3. The flexural wave absorber according to claim 1 , wherein the plurality of coupled resonators comprise two lossy resonators and a lossless resonator on each of the plurality of beam strips.

4. The flexural wave absorber according to claim 1 , wherein the inner portion is an inner circular disc.

5. The flexural wave absorber according to claim 1 , wherein the outer portion is an outer circular ring and the inner portion is an inner circular disc.

6. The flexural wave absorber according to claim 1 , wherein the plurality of beam strips are mechanically coupled to the inner portion and the outer portion.

7. The flexural wave absorber according to claim 1 , wherein the inner portion, the outer portion, and the plurality of beam strips are a monolithic structure.

8. The flexural wave absorber according to claim 1 , wherein the plurality of coupled resonators each comprise two lossy resonators and a lossless resonator and the metasurface is configured to absorb flexural waves independent of direction of incidence.

9. The flexural wave absorber according to claim 8 , wherein the metasurface absorbs greater than 80% of a 0.2ƒ o frequency range of the flexural waves where

f

o

=

1

2

⁢

π

⁢

k

o

/

m

o

,

k o is the spring constant of each of the two lossy resonators and the lossless resonator, and m o =mass of each of the two lossy resonators and the lossless resonator.

10. The flexural wave absorber according to claim 1 , wherein the plurality of coupled resonators each comprise a lossy resonator and two lossless resonators and the metasurface is configured to asymmetrically absorb flexural waves propagating in a first direction.

11. The flexural wave absorber according to claim 10 , wherein the metasurface absorbs greater than 95% of an 0.15ƒ 0 frequency range of the flexural waves propagating in the first direction, where

f

o

=

1

2

⁢

π

⁢

k

o

/

m

o

,

k o the spring constant of each of the lossy resonator and the two lossless resonators, and m o =mass of each of the lossy resonator and the two lossless resonators.

12. The flexural wave absorber according to claim 1 , wherein the outer portion is rigidly attached to a panel and the inner portion is free to vibrate independent of the panel.

13. The flexural wave absorber according to claim 1 , wherein the inner portion is rigidly attached to a panel and the outer portion is free to vibrate independent of the panel.

14. The flexural wave absorber according to the claim 1 , wherein the metasurface is a plurality of metasurfaces disposed on a surface, each of the plurality of metasurfaces comprising the inner portion, the outer portion, the plurality of beam strips extending between the inner portion and the outer portion, and the plurality of coupled resonators disposed on the plurality of beam strips.

15. The flexural wave absorber according to claim 14 , wherein:

the plurality of metasurfaces comprises a first subset of metasurfaces configured to absorb greater than 95% of a first frequency range of flexural waves equal to 0.15ƒ 01 for and propagating in a first direction;

a second subset of metasurfaces configured to absorb greater than 95% of a second frequency range of flexural waves equal to 0.15ƒ 02 and propagating in the first direction, where the second frequency range is not equal to first frequency range;

f

o

⁢

1

=

1

2

⁢

π

⁢

k

o

⁢

1

/

m

o

⁢

1

,

k o1 is the spring constant of each resonator in the first subset of metasurfaces, and m o1 is mass of each of the resonators in the first subset of metasurfaces; and

f

o

⁢

2

=

1

2

⁢

π

⁢

k

o

⁢

2

/

m

o

⁢

2

,

k o2 is the spring constant of each resonator in the second subset of metasurfaces, and m o2 is mass of each of the resonators in the second subset of metasurfaces.

16. A flexural wave absorber comprising:

a metasurface with an inner portion rigidly attached to a thin wall structure, an outer portion free to vibrate, a plurality of beam strips extending between the inner portion and the outer portion, and a plurality of vacant spaces extending through the metasurface between respective adjacent beam strips of the plurality of beam strips; and

a lossy resonator and a lossless resonator disposed on each of the plurality of beam strips, the lossy resonator and the lossless resonator spaced apart by a predefined distance equal to 0.2λ, where λ equals a flexural wave wavelength at a resonant frequency propagating along the plurality of beam strips.

17. The flexural wave absorber according to claim 16 further comprising another lossy resonator disposed on each of the plurality of beam strips.

18. The flexural wave absorber according to claim 16 further comprising another lossless resonator disposed on each of the plurality of beam strips.

19. A flexural wave absorber comprising:

a plurality of metasurfaces attached to a panel, the plurality of metasurfaces each comprising an inner portion rigidly attached to the panel, an outer portion free to vibrate, a plurality of beam strips extending between the inner portion and the outer portion, a plurality of vacant spaces extending through the plurality of metasurfaces between respective adjacent beam strips of the plurality of beam strips, and a lossy resonator and a lossless resonator disposed directly on each of the plurality of beam strips, the lossy resonator and the lossless resonator spaced apart by a predefined distance equal to 0.2λ, where λ equals a flexural wave wavelength at a resonant frequency propagating along the plurality of beam strips.

20. The flexural wave absorber according to claim 19 further comprising another resonator disposed on each of the plurality of beam strips, the another resonator selected from the group consisting of an another lossy resonator and an another lossless resonator.

Assignments (2)
ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNOR'S INTEREST Recorded May 22, 2025
From: TOYOTA MOTOR ENGINEERING & MANUFACTURING NORTH AMERICA, INC.
To: TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHA
Reel/Frame 071192/0381 →
ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNOR'S INTEREST Recorded Jun 29, 2022
From: LI, XIAOPENG; YU, ZIQI; LEE, TAEHWA
To: TOYOTA MOTOR ENGINEERING & MANUFACTURING NORTH AMERICA, INC.; TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHA
Reel/Frame 060348/0104 →
Continuity (1)
Related Publication 20230419939A1 · Dec 28, 2023
References Cited (21)
US 4373608A · Holmes · 1983 [cited by examiner]
US 4736701A · Kondo · 1988 [cited by examiner]
US 6373956B1 · Varla · 2002 [cited by examiner]
US 8752667B2 · McKnight · 2014 [cited by examiner]
US 9418646B2 · Daley · 2016 [cited by examiner]
US 9444403B2 · Yamada · 2016 [cited by applicant]
US 9466283B2 · Yang · 2016 [cited by examiner]
US 9520121B2 · Sheng et al. · 2016 [cited by applicant]
US 9631692B2 · Carcaterra · 2017 [cited by examiner]
US 20060169557A1 · Goetchius · 2006 [cited by examiner]
Suppression of bending waves in a beam using resonators with different separation lengths. (Year: 2016). [cited by examiner]
Acoustic metamaterial plates for elastic wave absorption and structural vibration suppression. (Year: 2019). [cited by examiner]
Limits of flexural wave absorption by open lossy resonators: reflection and transmission problems. (Year: 2019). [cited by examiner]
Non-symmetric flexural wave scattering and one-way extreme absorption. (Year: 2019). [cited by examiner]
Pai, P., “Metamaterial-based Broadband Elastic Wave Absorber,” Journal of Intelligent Materal Systems and Structure, vol. 21, Mar. 2010, pp. 517-528. [cited by applicant]
Li et al., “An active meta-layer for optimal flexural wave absorption and cloaking,” Mechanical Systems and Signal Processing 149 (2021) 107324 pp. 1-13. [cited by applicant]
Chen et al., “A metamaterial structure capable of wave attenuation and concurrent energy harvesting,” Journal of Intelligent Material Systems and Structures (2019), vol. 30(20) pp. 2973-2981. [cited by applicant]
Cummer et al., “Controlling sound with acoustic metamaterials,” Nature Reviews/Materials, www.nature.com/natrevmats, Feb. 16, 2016, pp. 1-13. [cited by applicant]
Neuwerk et al., “Soud Absorption by textile resonators,” Vibroengineering Procedia, May 2020, vol. 31, pp. 103-108. [cited by applicant]
Anigbogu et al., “Layered Metamaterial Beam Structures With Local Resonators for Vibration Attenuation: Model and Experiment,” Frontiers in Mechanical Engineering, Oct. 25, 2021, vol. 7, Article 768508, pp. 1-13. [cited by applicant]
Zhu et al., “Experimental study of vibration isolation in thin-walled structural assemblies with embedded total-internal-reflection metasurfaces,” Journal of Sound and Vibration, vol. 456, Sep. 15, 2019, pp. 162-172. [cited by applicant]
Cited By (1)
US 12,499,862