Classifications

• • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
  • B60—VEHICLES IN GENERAL
  • B60G—VEHICLE SUSPENSION ARRANGEMENTS
  • B60G17/00—Resilient suspensions having means for adjusting the spring or vibration-damper characteristics, for regulating the distance between a supporting surface and a sprung part of vehicle or for locking suspension during use to meet varying vehicular or surface conditions, e.g. due to speed or load
  • B60G17/015—Resilient suspensions having means for adjusting the spring or vibration-damper characteristics, for regulating the distance between a supporting surface and a sprung part of vehicle or for locking suspension during use to meet varying vehicular or surface conditions, e.g. due to speed or load the regulating means comprising electric or electronic elements
• • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
  • B60—VEHICLES IN GENERAL
  • B60G—VEHICLE SUSPENSION ARRANGEMENTS
  • B60G7/00—Pivoted suspension arms; Accessories thereof
  • B60G7/001—Suspension arms, e.g. constructional features
  • B60G7/003—Suspension arms, e.g. constructional features of adjustable length
• • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
  • B62—LAND VEHICLES FOR TRAVELLING OTHERWISE THAN ON RAILS
  • B62D—MOTOR VEHICLES; TRAILERS
  • B62D17/00—Means on vehicles for adjusting camber, castor, or toe-in
• • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
  • B62—LAND VEHICLES FOR TRAVELLING OTHERWISE THAN ON RAILS
  • B62D—MOTOR VEHICLES; TRAILERS
  • B62D7/00—Steering linkage; Stub axles or their mountings
  • B62D7/06—Steering linkage; Stub axles or their mountings for individually-pivoted wheels, e.g. on king-pins
  • B62D7/14—Steering linkage; Stub axles or their mountings for individually-pivoted wheels, e.g. on king-pins the pivotal axes being situated in more than one plane transverse to the longitudinal centre line of the vehicle, e.g. all-wheel steering
  • B62D7/146—Steering linkage; Stub axles or their mountings for individually-pivoted wheels, e.g. on king-pins the pivotal axes being situated in more than one plane transverse to the longitudinal centre line of the vehicle, e.g. all-wheel steering characterised by comprising means for steering by acting on the suspension system, e.g. on the mountings of the suspension arms
• • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
  • B60—VEHICLES IN GENERAL
  • B60G—VEHICLE SUSPENSION ARRANGEMENTS
  • B60G2200/00—Indexing codes relating to suspension types
  • B60G2200/10—Independent suspensions
  • B60G2200/18—Multilink suspensions, e.g. elastokinematic arrangements
• • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
  • B60—VEHICLES IN GENERAL
  • B60G—VEHICLE SUSPENSION ARRANGEMENTS
  • B60G2200/00—Indexing codes relating to suspension types
  • B60G2200/40—Indexing codes relating to the wheels in the suspensions
  • B60G2200/462—Toe-in/out
• • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
  • B60—VEHICLES IN GENERAL
  • B60G—VEHICLE SUSPENSION ARRANGEMENTS
  • B60G2202/00—Indexing codes relating to the type of spring, damper or actuator
  • B60G2202/40—Type of actuator
  • B60G2202/42—Electric actuator
• • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
  • B60—VEHICLES IN GENERAL
  • B60G—VEHICLE SUSPENSION ARRANGEMENTS
  • B60G2204/00—Indexing codes related to suspensions per se or to auxiliary parts
  • B60G2204/40—Auxiliary suspension parts; Adjustment of suspensions
  • B60G2204/419—Gears
• • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
  • B60—VEHICLES IN GENERAL
  • B60G—VEHICLE SUSPENSION ARRANGEMENTS
  • B60G2204/00—Indexing codes related to suspensions per se or to auxiliary parts
  • B60G2204/62—Adjustable continuously, e.g. during driving
• • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
  • B60—VEHICLES IN GENERAL
  • B60G—VEHICLE SUSPENSION ARRANGEMENTS
  • B60G2206/00—Indexing codes related to the manufacturing of suspensions: constructional features, the materials used, procedures or tools
  • B60G2206/01—Constructional features of suspension elements, e.g. arms, dampers, springs
  • B60G2206/10—Constructional features of arms
  • B60G2206/11—Constructional features of arms the arm being a radius or track or torque or steering rod or stabiliser end link
  • B60G2206/111—Constructional features of arms the arm being a radius or track or torque or steering rod or stabiliser end link of adjustable length
  • B60G2206/1116—Actively adjustable during driving

Definitions

• Varying the toe angle of the rear wheels on an automotive vehicle during the operation of the vehicle improves the vehicle's handling and maneuverability.
• the following rear wheel reactions result in better vehicle dynamics under the respective operating conditions: a. braking or deceleration: toe-in b. acceleration: toe-in c. cornering: initial toe-out of the outer wheel that changes to toe-in at a lateral force of 0.4 to 0.5 g.
• the first approach can be called an active design, and the second is called a passive design. Both of these systems add more moving parts, complexity, weight and cost to the rear suspension.
• the present invention involves an Active Toe Control System that is a cost effective and efficient alternative to the two previous approaches as described above. Brief Description of the Drawings
• FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a standard rear suspension system for an automotive vehicle
• FIG. 2 is section view of one embodiment of the present invention
• FIG. 3 is section view of another embodiment of the present invention.
• the majority of the current rear suspension designs include means for manually adjusting the length of a trailing arm or control arm for the rear wheel suspension in order to modify the toe angle of the corresponding wheel.
• That configuration includes a rear upper arm 1 , a forward link 2, and a toe link 3, both of which are connected to the spindle assemblies 4 of each of the two rear wheels on an automotive vehicle 5.
• the present invention of an active toe control system A resides in a control arm or link 6, usually in a trailing position, with a built-in linear actuator that can meet the travel, force, response time and packaging requirements to realize a continuously variable toe angle that can address specifically the various vehicle-operating conditions to obtain significant benefits related to safety, handling and fuel-efficiency.
• the control arm or link 6 has a continuously adjustable length that can be used to directly replace an existing control arm or link such as the toe link 3 of FIG. 1 , without other modifications of the rear suspension design. The optimum toe angle is achieved by relying on the suspension compliance.
• An electronic control unit 10 receives and processes the signals from a wide variety of sensors placed in the automotive vehicle 5 (FIG. 1 ).
• sensors placed in the automotive vehicle 5 For example, one group of typical sensors would include a yaw sensor, a wheel speed sensor, a lateral acceleration sensor, a longitudinal acceleration sensor, and a steering angle sensor. It is appreciated that other sensors may also be included depending upon the application.
• the electronic control unit 10 makes the final decision on the modifications to be made to the overall length of the control arm or link 6 modifications resulting to make the any necessary adjustments to the toe angle.
• FIG. 2 also shows a cross section of one embodiment of the present invention.
• the control arm or link 6 contains an integrated linear actuator 15 comprising an electric motor 16, a ball screw or trapezoidal screw mechanism 17, and a hydraulic system 18 that reduces the axial travel between the connecting points 18 and 19 while amplifying the axial force within the control arm or link 6.
• the rotor 20 of the electric motor 16 is integral with the screw mechanism 17 that controls the axial displacement of the nut 23 and integrated small piston 24 of the small cylinder 25.
• the small piston 24 pushes a fluid into the small cylinder 25 and transmits the axial displacement of the small piston 24 to the large cylinder 26 that is connected to the connecting point 19 that is itself connected to the joint of the suspension arm (not shown) on the automotive vehicle 5.
• the ratio between the axial displacement of the small cylinder 25 and the axial displacement of the large cylinder 26, controls the ratio between the axial force applied on the small cylinder 25 and the axial cross-sections.
• the small cylinder 25 and the large cylinder 26 act as a hydraulic system to function as a force amplifier and displacement reducer, thereby replacing the more costly and less reliable planetary gear mechanisms used as torque amplifiers/speed reducers in some linear actuator designs.
• the rotor 20 of the electric motor 16 rotates the screw mechanism 17 to retract the small piston 24 by drawing the nut 23 toward the electric motor 21. This action will push the fluid 30 behind the small piston 24 of the small cylinder 25 to the cavity 32 behind the large piston 34 of the large cylinder 26, through the channels 33 situated between the actuator housing 36 and the outer diameter of the actuator housing cylinder 36 in which the pistons 24 and 34 operate.
• FIG. 4 An alternative design of the present invention is presented in FIG. 4.
• the arm length reduction is realized just by retracting the small cylinder 40 and using a spring 41 behind the large piston 42 to provide additional axial force.
• All other components and operation of the embodiment of FIG. 4 are generally the same as the embodiment shown in FIG. 3.
• the hydraulic force/displacement generated by the small piston 24 is sufficient and the large piston 34 can be eliminated, provided that an electric motor 21 with the sufficient required torque capacity and rotary positioning capability is used.

Landscapes

• Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
• Mechanical Engineering (AREA)
• Chemical & Material Sciences (AREA)
• Combustion & Propulsion (AREA)
• Transportation (AREA)
• Vehicle Body Suspensions (AREA)
• Steering-Linkage Mechanisms And Four-Wheel Steering (AREA)

Applications Claiming Priority (1)

Publications (1)

Family

ID=34979087

Family Applications (1)

Country Status (3)

Families Citing this family (5)

Family Cites Families (12)

• 2005
  • 2005-03-01 WO PCT/US2005/006455 patent/WO2006093490A1/en active Application Filing
  • 2005-03-01 EP EP05724073A patent/EP1853443A1/de not_active Withdrawn
  • 2005-03-01 JP JP2007557981A patent/JP2008531396A/ja not_active Abandoned

Non-Patent Citations (1)

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