GB2065574A - Vehicle suspension system - Google Patents

Vehicle suspension system Download PDF

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Publication number
GB2065574A
GB2065574A GB8031805A GB8031805A GB2065574A GB 2065574 A GB2065574 A GB 2065574A GB 8031805 A GB8031805 A GB 8031805A GB 8031805 A GB8031805 A GB 8031805A GB 2065574 A GB2065574 A GB 2065574A
Authority
GB
United Kingdom
Prior art keywords
control arm
shaft
rear end
suspension system
vehicle body
Prior art date
Legal status (The legal status is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the status listed.)
Granted
Application number
GB8031805A
Other versions
GB2065574B (en
Current Assignee (The listed assignees may be inaccurate. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation or warranty as to the accuracy of the list.)
Toyota Motor Corp
Original Assignee
Toyota Motor Corp
Priority date (The priority date is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the date listed.)
Filing date
Publication date
Priority claimed from JP1979137485U external-priority patent/JPS5848883Y2/en
Application filed by Toyota Motor Corp filed Critical Toyota Motor Corp
Publication of GB2065574A publication Critical patent/GB2065574A/en
Application granted granted Critical
Publication of GB2065574B publication Critical patent/GB2065574B/en
Expired legal-status Critical Current

Links

Classifications

    • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
    • B60—VEHICLES IN GENERAL
    • B60G—VEHICLE SUSPENSION ARRANGEMENTS
    • B60G11/00—Resilient suspensions characterised by arrangement, location or kind of springs
    • B60G11/18—Resilient suspensions characterised by arrangement, location or kind of springs having torsion-bar springs only
    • B60G11/20—Resilient suspensions characterised by arrangement, location or kind of springs having torsion-bar springs only characterised by means specially adapted for attaching the spring to axle or sprung part of the vehicle
    • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
    • B60—VEHICLES IN GENERAL
    • B60G—VEHICLE SUSPENSION ARRANGEMENTS
    • B60G11/00—Resilient suspensions characterised by arrangement, location or kind of springs
    • B60G11/18—Resilient suspensions characterised by arrangement, location or kind of springs having torsion-bar springs only
    • B60G11/181—Resilient suspensions characterised by arrangement, location or kind of springs having torsion-bar springs only arranged in a plane parallel to the longitudinal axis of the vehicle
    • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
    • B60—VEHICLES IN GENERAL
    • B60G—VEHICLE SUSPENSION ARRANGEMENTS
    • B60G3/00—Resilient suspensions for a single wheel
    • B60G3/18—Resilient suspensions for a single wheel with two or more pivoted arms, e.g. parallelogram
    • B60G3/20—Resilient suspensions for a single wheel with two or more pivoted arms, e.g. parallelogram all arms being rigid
    • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
    • B60—VEHICLES IN GENERAL
    • B60G—VEHICLE SUSPENSION ARRANGEMENTS
    • B60G7/00—Pivoted suspension arms; Accessories thereof
    • B60G7/02—Attaching arms to sprung part of vehicle
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04Q—SELECTING
    • H04Q3/00—Selecting arrangements
    • H04Q3/42—Circuit arrangements for indirect selecting controlled by common circuits, e.g. register controller, marker
    • H04Q3/54—Circuit arrangements for indirect selecting controlled by common circuits, e.g. register controller, marker in which the logic circuitry controlling the exchange is centralised
    • H04Q3/545—Circuit arrangements for indirect selecting controlled by common circuits, e.g. register controller, marker in which the logic circuitry controlling the exchange is centralised using a stored programme
    • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
    • B60—VEHICLES IN GENERAL
    • B60G—VEHICLE SUSPENSION ARRANGEMENTS
    • B60G2200/00—Indexing codes relating to suspension types
    • B60G2200/10—Independent suspensions
    • B60G2200/14—Independent suspensions with lateral arms
    • B60G2200/144—Independent suspensions with lateral arms with two lateral arms forming a parallelogram
    • 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
    • B60G2204/10—Mounting of suspension elements
    • B60G2204/12—Mounting of springs or dampers
    • B60G2204/122—Mounting of torsion springs
    • 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
    • B60G2204/10—Mounting of suspension elements
    • B60G2204/14—Mounting of suspension arms
    • B60G2204/143—Mounting of suspension arms on the vehicle body or chassis
    • 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
    • B60G2204/41—Elastic mounts, e.g. bushings

Landscapes

  • Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
  • Mechanical Engineering (AREA)
  • Computer Networks & Wireless Communication (AREA)
  • Sub-Exchange Stations And Push- Button Telephones (AREA)
  • Vehicle Body Suspensions (AREA)
  • Exchange Systems With Centralized Control (AREA)

Description

1 GB 2 065 574A 1
SPECIFICATION
Suspension system for automotive vehicles The present invention relates to a suspension system for automotive vehicles, and more particularly to an improvement of a double wishbone type suspension, a strut type suspension, and the like.
Such a conventional suspension system as described above comprises a longitudinal shaft fixedly mounted on a vehicle body struc ture along the fore-and-aft axis of the vehicle, a control arm of the so-called -A- type swin gably supported at one end thereof from the longitudinal shaft by means of a pair of front and rear rubber bushes and having a swinga ble end supporting thereon a road wheel, and a pair of retainer plates fixed to front and rear ends of the shaft and being arranged to 85 receive a load acting on the control arm in the forward or rearward direction through a por tion of the respective rubber bushes for re stricting forward or rearward displacement of the control arm.
In the case that the control arm is adapted as an upper control arm in the suspension system, the upper control arm will receive a heavy load acting thereon in the forward direction due to braking force of the vehicle or shocks from the road in traveling of the vehi cle. In the case that the control arm is adapted as a lower control arm in the suspen sion system, the lower control arm will receive a heavy load acting thereon in the rearward direction due to braking force of the vehicle or shocks from the road in traveling of the vehi cle. This is caused by the fact that the maxi mum load acting on the control arm in for ward traveling of the vehicle is considerably larger than that in backward traveling of the vehicle. When a heavy load acts on the con trol arm in the forward or rearward direction, one of the retainer plates concentrically re ceives the heavy load through one of the rubber bushes, and the reaction force from the retainer plate is given to the front or rear portion of the control arm. For this reason, sufficient strength of the rubber bushes, re tainer plates, and control arm is required to resist the heavy load and reaction force. This means that the assembly of the rubber bushes, retainer plates and control arm be comes larger in size and causes an obstacle to a small size and light weight construction of the suspension system.
It is, therefore, a primary object of the present invention to provide an improved sus pension system which is designed to disperse the heavy load concentrically acting on the retainer plates so as to ensure the strength of the rubber bushes, retainer plates and control arm in a possibly small construction.
According to one aspect of the present invention there is provided a suspension sys- tem for an automotive vehicle comprising:
a longitudinal shaft fixedly mounted on the. vehicle body structure and extending along the fore-and-aft axis of the vehilce; a control arm of the so-called -A- type supported at one end thereof from said longitudinal shaft by means of a pair of front and rear rubber bushes to be swung upwardly and downwardly, said control arm having a swin- gable end supporting thereon a road wheel; a pair of retainer plates fixed to front and rear ends of said shaft and being arranged to receive a load acting on said control arm in the forward or rearward direction through a portion of said respective rubber bushes for restricting forward or rearward displacement of said control arm; and a stopper member secured to the front and/or rear portion of said control arm straddling the front and/or rear end of said shaft with a predetermined clearance, said stopper member being brought into engagement with the end of said shaft when the load acting on said control arm in the forward or rearward direction is larger that a predetermined value.
According to a second aspect of the present invention there is provided a suspension system for an automotive vehicle comprising:
a longitudinal shaft fixedly mounted on the vehicle body structure and extending along the fore-and-aft axis of the vehicle; an upper control arm of the so-called -Atype supported at one end thereof from said longitudinal shaft by means of a pair of front and rear rubber bushes to be swung upwardly and downwardly; a pair of retainer plates fixed to front and rear ends of said shaft and being arranged to receive a load acting on said control arm in the forward or rearward direction through a portion of said respective rubber bushes for restricting forward or rearward displacement of said control arm; a lower control arm of the so-called -Itype swingably supported at one end thereof from the vehicle body structure to be swung upwardly and downwardly, each of said control arms having a swingable end connected to a knuckle for supporting a road wheel thereon; a shock absorber assembly connected at its upper end to the vehicle body structure and at its lower end to said lower control arm; and a stopper member secured to the rear portion of said upper control arm and straddling the rear end of said shaft with a predetermined clearance, said stopper member being brought into engagement with the rear end of said shaft when the load acting on said upper control arm in the rearward direction is larger than a predetermined value.
For a better understanding of the present invention, and to show how the same may be carried into effect, reference will now be 2 GB2065574A 2 made, by way of example, to the accompanying drawings, in which:- Figure 1 is a part sectional view of a double wishbone type front suspension system in accordance with the present invention; Figure 2 is a part sectional plan view of the front suspension system shown in Fig. 1; and Figure 3 is an enlarged sectional view of part of Fig. 2.
Referring now to the drawings, Figs. 1 and 2 illustrate a front suspension system of the double wishbone type which comprises a lower control arm 20 of the so-called---I- type and an upper control arm 30 of the so-called -A- type. A steering knuckle 10 is supported by the swingable end of lower control arm 20 to rotatably support a front road wheel 11 thereon, and it is operatively connected to a steering linkage 12 to be steered. As well seen in Fig. 2, the lower control arm 20 is mounted on a cross-member 41 of the vehicle body structure by means of a sleeve-like rubber bush 51 to be swung upwardly and downwardly. As well seen in Fig. 1, the swingable end of control arm 20 is connected to the lower end of the steering knuckle 10 by means of a lower ball joint assembly 13. The lower control arm 20 is also connected at its intermediate portion to the front end of a strut bar 21 and to the lower end of a shock absorber assembly 22. The strut bar 21 is connected at its rear end to a cross-member 42 of the vehicle body structure by means of a cushion assembly 52, and the upper end of shock absorber assembly 22 is connected to a stationary bracket 44 by means of a cushion assembly 53, as shown in Fig. 1. The bracket 44 is fixedly mounted on a side-member 43 of the vehicle body structure.
placement of control arm 30.
As can be well seen in Fig. 3, a longitudinal torsion bar 61 is connected to the rear portion of the upper 30 by means of a torque arm member 60 and is located coaxially with the longitudinal shaft 31. The torque arm member is fixed to the rear portion of control arm by means of a pair of bolts 62 and nuts 63 and straddles the nut 35 at the rear end shaft 31. The bolts 62 are respectively in serted into a collar member 64 assembled within control arm 30. The torsion bar 61 is connected at its front end to the center of torque arm member 60 by means of spline coupling. At the connected portion of torsion bar to torque arm member 60, a cover plate is secured by calking to the center of torque arm member 60, and a dust boot 66 is fixed at its opposite ends to torque arm mem ber 60 and torsion bar 61 to cover the rear portion of torque arm member 60. The cover plate 65 faces to the rear end 31 a of shaft 31 with a predetermined clearance a, and it will abut against the rear end 31 a of shaft 31 when a load larger than a predetermined value acts on the control arm 30 in the foward direction. In this arrangement, the clearance a is determined to be smaller than the maximum flexure of rubber bush flange 54a. Thus, the cover plate 65 acts as a stopper member to define the spline coupling torque arm member 60 and torsion bar 61. In addition, the torsion bar 61 is connected at its rear end to a cross-member of the vehicle body structure by means of an anchor bracket (not shown).
With the construction described above when the upper control arm 30 receives a forward load acting thereon due to braking The upper control arm 30 is supported from 105 force of the vehicle or shocks from the road in a longitudinal shaft 31 by means of a pair of sleeve-like rubber bushes 54 and 55 to be swung upwardly and downwardly, and the swingable end of control arm 30 is connected to the upper end of knuckle 10 by means of an upper ball joint assembly 19. The longitudinal shaft 31 is fixedly mounted on the bracket 44 along the fore-and-aft axis of the vehicle and is provided at its opposite ends with a pair of retainer plates 32 and 33 which are held in place by a pair of fastening nuts 34 and 35 threaded on the opposite ends of shaft 31. In the practice, the fastening nuts 34 and 35 may be replaced with a pair of bolts threaded into the opposite ends of shaft 31. The front retainer plate 32 is engaged with an annular flange 54a of rubber bush 54 to receive thereon a load acting on the upper control arm 30 in the forward direction thereby to restrict the forward displacement of control arm 30. The rear retainer plate 33 is engaged with an annular flange 55a of rubber bush 55 to receive thereon a load acting on the upper control arm 30 in the rearward direction thereby to restrict the rearward dis- traveling of the vehicle, the forward load is mainly received by the front retainer plate 32 through the rubber bush flange 54a to restrict the forward displacement of upper control arm 30. If the forward load is larger than the predetermined value, the cover plate 65 abuts against the rear end 31 a of shaft 31, and a portion of the forward load is received by the rear end of shaft 31 through torque arm member 60 and cover plate 65 so that the load acting on the front portion of control arm 30 dispersed. Owing to this dispersion of the forward load, the front portion of upper control arm 30 can be fabricated in a light weight and-small size construction. Furthermore, the abutment of cover plate 65 against the rear end of shaft 31 serves to reliably restrict relative displacement of torque arm 60 and torsion bar 6 1. As a result, the spline cou- pling of torque arm 60 and torsion 61 is maintained in a reliable and stable condition in spite of its simple construction. When the forward load is smaller than the predetermined value, the cover plate 65 does not abut against the rear end of shaft 3 1. In this G 3 GB2065574A 3 instance, both of rubber bushes 54 and 55 act to effectively absorb shocks from the road. This means that the rubber bushes 54 and 55 may be constructed in a relatively small size.
In the preferred embodiment described above, the present invention is adapted to the front suspension system in which the torsion bar 61 is connected to the upper control arm 30, but it is obvious that the present inven- tion may be adapted to a suspension system of the double wishbone type in which a coil spring is disposed between a lower control arm and the vehicle body structure, and a stopper member is secured to the rear portion of an upper control arm of the so-called---Atype. Furthermore, the present invention may be adapted to a front suspension system of a strut type in which a stopper member is secured to the front portion of a lower control arm of the so-called -A- type and faces to one end of a supporting shaft for the lower control arm with a predetermined clearance in the fore-and-aft direction of the vehicle. In this type of suspension system, when a rearward load acting on the lower control arm is larger than a predetermined value, the stopper member abuts against the rear end of the supporting shaft to disperse the rearward load.

Claims (6)

1. A suspension system for an automotive vehicle comprising:
a longitudinal shaft fixedly mounted on the vehicle body structure and extending along the fore-and-aft axis of the vehicle; a control arm of the so-called---A- type supported at one end thereof from said longitudinal shaft by means of a pair of front and rear rubber bushes to be swung upwardly and downwardly, said control arm having a swingable end supporting thereon a road wheel; a pair of retainer plates fixed to front and rear ends of said shaft and being arranged to receive a load acting on said control arm in the forward or rearward direction through a portion of said respective rubber bushes for restricting forward or rearward displacement of said control arm; and a stopper member secured to the front and/or rear portion of said control arm and straddling the front and/or rear end of said shaft with a predetermined clearance, said stopper member being brought into engagement with the end of said shaft when the load acting on said control arm in the forward or rearward direction is larger than a predetermined value.
2. A suspension system as claimed in claim 1 and including a torque arm member secured to the rear portion of said control arm and straddling the rear end of said shaft, and a torsion bar connected at its front end to said torque arm member coaxially with said shaft and at its rear end to the vehicle body struc- ture, said stopper member comprising a cover plate secured to said torque arm member and facing to the rear end of said shaft with a predetermined clearance.
3. A suspension system as claimed in claim 2, wherein each of said member rubber bushes is formed with an annular flange which is interposed between each of said retainer plates and each of the front and rear portions of said control arm, and wherein the predetermined clearance between said cover plate and the rear end of said shaft is smaller that the maximum flexure of the annular flange of said front rubber bush.
4. A suspension system for an automotive vehicle comprising:
a longitudinal shaft fixedly mounted on the vehicle body structure and extending along the fore-and-aft axis of the vehicle; an upper control arm of the so-called---A- type supported at one end thereof from said longitudinal shaft by means of a pair of front and rear rubber bushes to be swung upwardly and downwardly; a pair of retainer plates fixed to front and rear ends of said shaft and being arranged to receive a load acting on said control arm in the forward or rearward direction through a portion of said respective rubber bushes for restricting forward or rearward displacement of said control arm; a lower control arm of the so'called -Itype swingably supported at one end thereof from the vehicle body structure to be swung upwardly and downwardly, each of said con- trol arms having a swingable end connected to a knuckle for supporting a road wheel thereon; a shock absorber assembly connected at its upper end to the vehicle body structure and at its lower end to said lower control arm; and a stopper member secured to the rear portion of said upper control arm and straddling the rear end of said shaft with a predetermined clearance, said stopper member being brought into engagement with the rear end of said shaft when the load acting on said upper control arm in the rearward direction is larger than a predetermined value.
5. A suspension system as claimed in claim 4 and including a torque arm member secured to the rear portion of said control arm and straddling the rear end of said shaft, and a torsion bar splined at its front end to said torque arm member coaxially with said shaft and anchored at its rear end to the vehicle body structure, said stopper member comprising a cover plate secured to said torque arm member and facing to the rear end of said shaft with a predetermined clearance.
6. A suspension system for an automotive vehicle substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to, and as shown in, the accompanying drawings.
4 GB2065574A 4 Printed for Her Majesty's Stationery Office by Burgess Et Son (Abingdon) Lid-1 98 1. Published at The Patent Office. 25 Southampton Buildings, London. WC2A lAY, from which copies may be obtained.
u 1 1 J
GB8031805A 1979-10-04 1980-10-02 Vehicle suspension system Expired GB2065574B (en)

Applications Claiming Priority (2)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
JP1979137485U JPS5848883Y2 (en) 1979-10-04 1979-10-04 automotive suspension
DE3035850A DE3035850C2 (en) 1979-10-04 1980-09-23 Method for a centrally controlled telecommunications system, in particular a telephone branch exchange, with external input and output devices

Publications (2)

Publication Number Publication Date
GB2065574A true GB2065574A (en) 1981-07-01
GB2065574B GB2065574B (en) 1983-09-07

Family

ID=25788040

Family Applications (1)

Application Number Title Priority Date Filing Date
GB8031805A Expired GB2065574B (en) 1979-10-04 1980-10-02 Vehicle suspension system

Country Status (2)

Country Link
DE (1) DE3035850C2 (en)
GB (1) GB2065574B (en)

Cited By (2)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US4639006A (en) * 1981-01-19 1987-01-27 Nissan Motor Co., Ltd. Suspension arm assembly for supporting automobile wheel
FR2612461A1 (en) * 1987-03-20 1988-09-23 Honda Motor Co Ltd SUSPENSION SYSTEM FOR A CONTROL WHEEL TO CONTROL THE VARIATION OF THE INSTANT ROTATION CENTER

Family Cites Families (1)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
DE2810283C2 (en) * 1978-03-09 1985-03-14 Siemens AG, 1000 Berlin und 8000 München Arrangement for the processing of functional sequences in a telephone system, in particular telephone branch exchange, with a central control device and with connection status-individual changeable and non-changeable data memories

Cited By (2)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US4639006A (en) * 1981-01-19 1987-01-27 Nissan Motor Co., Ltd. Suspension arm assembly for supporting automobile wheel
FR2612461A1 (en) * 1987-03-20 1988-09-23 Honda Motor Co Ltd SUSPENSION SYSTEM FOR A CONTROL WHEEL TO CONTROL THE VARIATION OF THE INSTANT ROTATION CENTER

Also Published As

Publication number Publication date
DE3035850A1 (en) 1982-04-08
GB2065574B (en) 1983-09-07
DE3035850C2 (en) 1984-06-20

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Legal Events

Date Code Title Description
746 Register noted 'licences of right' (sect. 46/1977)
PCNP Patent ceased through non-payment of renewal fee

Effective date: 19941002