GB2233423A

GB2233423A - Car bumper system

Info

Publication number: GB2233423A
Application number: GB8914685A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Chin-Hun Yang
Original assignee: YANG CHIN HUN
Current assignee: YANG CHIN HUN
Priority date: 1989-06-27
Filing date: 1989-06-27
Publication date: 1991-01-09
Anticipated expiration: 2009-06-27
Also published as: GB2233423B; FR2648409B3; SE8902132D0; FR2648409A3; SE463913B; GB8914685D0; SE8902132L

Abstract

Hydraulic units 21 supporting bumpers 22, 23 are arranged to automatically extend on application of the vehicle brakes, an impact then causing hydraulic fluid to be expelled through a throttle 20. <IMAGE>

Description

Title: Vibration Absorbing System of The Automatic Stretching Bumper of Auto The present invention relates to a vibration absorbing system of the automatic stretching bumper of auto.

As a rule, the front and the rear bumper of the car is locked and connected on the front and rear ends of the body, i.e. it is integrated with the body. Under such circumstance while the car is in urgent state and bumps with other car (or object), powerful shock force is transfer to the body along the bumper resulting in drastic shocking of the car as well as the passengers in it, the miserable tragedy of the deforming, twisting and destruction of the car, injuring and death of passengers might incur (once there is traffic accident on the free way, these conditions always occur). Therefore, the effect of protection of the method of combination of the conventional bumper and body to the safety of passengers and the car is required to be reviewed anew.

Aiming at the defects of being a failure of the bumper of the car once drastic bumping occurred and result in the destruction of the car and the death of passengers, the present invention provides a system without integrating the bumper and the body fixedly, utilize the hydraulic piping and various device to make the bumper be controlled by pressing and releasing of the pedal to extension and retraction and absorb the powerful shock to be incurred in case of bumping with other car (or object) via the bumper by hydraulic oil pressure and the gas being able to endure pressure and absorb shock to reduce the shock to be borne by the car and passengers to minimum degree to attain the effect of securing the safety of passengers and the car.

The present invention relates to a vibration absorbing system of the automatic extension bumper of auto, it is constituted chiefly by a tank storing hydraulic oil, a gear pump to be driven by electric motor, two oil filters, two check valves, a low hydraulic pressure alarming switch, a cross connection, A accumulator, a pressure relief valve, four actuator to be controlled by the solenoid. The front and rear bumper connecting to the frdnt retracting axle of the actuator and actuator connect chassis.With this system, we would be able to press the pedal to make the front and rear bumpers extend outward respectively via the controlling of the solenoid valve in case of bumping, the powerful shock will be transfer to the actuator along the bumper to cause hydraulic oil flowing back to make bumping force to be absorbed by the accumulator, firstly if oil pressure exceed the setting value of the hydraulic pressure of the system, the oil would then flow back to the tank and the shocking force would be absorbed entirely to insure the safety of passengers and the car. It really has practical effect.

The pressent invention is a vibration absorbing system of the automatic extension bumper of auto. It is a design based on the principle to employ the hydraulic pressure to transfer shocking force and absorb the shocking force by gas. The system constituted chiefly by the tank, gear pump, oil filters, check valve, low hydraulic pressure alarming switch, cross connection, accumulator, pressure relief valve, manual shut-off valve, solenoid valve, flow limiting valve, actuator and the front and rear bumpers.

It forms the state of being not fixed of the front and rear bumpers and the body, on pressing the pedal to brake in case of emergency, the solenoid valve is controlled by the microswitch of the braking board to drive four actuator to make the front and rear bumpers to be connected to it extend outward, while the bumping of the car with other car (or object) occurs, the powerful shocking force to be produced by the bumping would be transfer along the bumper and cause the hydraulic cil pressure increase, force the accumulator retract to absorb shocking pressure on the one hand, and it flows back via pressure relief valve into the tank due to exceeding the setting value of the hydraulic oil pressure of the system, to attain the effect of absorbing the shocking force of the bumping entirely to reduce the injuring of passengers and damage of the car to minimum degree. It provides dependable safety and practical value.

The drawings disclose an illustrative embodiment of the present invention which serve to exemplify the various advantages and objects hereof, and are as follows: Figure 1 shows the allotment of the body of car in the present invention; Figure 2 shows in brief the check valve in the present invention; Figure 3 shows in brief the low hydraulic pressure alarming switch in the present invention; Figure 4 shows in brief the accumulator set in the present invention; Figure 5 shows in brief the pressure relief valve in the present invention; Figures 6-1, 6-2 and 6-3 show in brief the solenoid valve and the change of its passage in the present invention; Figure 7 shows in brief the flow limiting valve in the present invention; and Figure 8 shows in brief of the actuator in the present invention.

As shown in Figure 1, the present invention is constituted by one oil tank 10, one gear pump 11, two oil filters 12, two check valves 13, one low hydraulic pressure alarming switch 14, one cross connection 15, one accumulator 16, one pressure relief valve 17, one manual shut-off valve 18, one solenoid valve 19, one flow limiting valve 20, four actuators 21 and the front and rear bumpers 22, 23 to be connected by piping, in which except the four actuators 21 and the front and rear bumpers 22, 23 all the rest are installed in the trunk Al of the body A.The related positions and actions of the allotment of the members are described as follows: t. Tank 10 : It is used to contain and store hydraulic oil (fit to use mineral oil base); to install two pipings to connect oil filters 12, pressure relief valve 17, manual shut-off valve 18 and check valve 13 respectively.

2. Pump 11 : It is a gear pump to be driven by the electric motor to become the centre of the driving force of the system, and it is used to draw hydraulic oil from the tank 10 to provide the pressure to be required by the system. The tank and the pump are connected to the two oil filters 12 with piping respectively.

3. Oil filters 12 : Metal net oil filters to be used to filter miscellaneous substances in the hydraulic oil to keep purity of the oil and raise the life longevity of the system; in which the one is connected to tank 10 and pump 11 with piping, the other is connected to pump 11 and valve 13 with piping.

4. Check valves 13 : As shown in Figure 2, a spring 131 and a ball 132 are installed in it to cause the hydraulic oil being able to flow from the end of the ball 132 towards the end of the spring 131 and it would be choked if the oil flows reversely; in which the one is connected to oil filter 12 and cross connection 15 with piping, the other is connected to tank 10 and solenoid valve 19 with piping.

5. Low hydraulic pressure alarm switch 14 : As shown in Figure 3, it is used to control the electric motor of pump 11, while the pressure of the system decreased, the switch would skip to the position of ON to connect the circuit to facilitate the electric motor drive the pump 11; while the pressure of the system rises to exceed the setting value of the pressure of the system, it would skip to the position of OFF to stop the operation of the pump, meanwhile, it would connect to an alarm lamp to be installed at the driver's seat. The lamp would light up while the pressure is low, the setting value of the pressure of the system in order to arouse the attention of the driver. The switch is connected to the piping between the accumulator 16 and cross connection 15 (it is able to sense whether the pressure of the accumulator set 16 is normal immediately).

6. Cross connection 15 : It is a shut to be connected to check valve 13, accumulator set 16 (a low hydraulic -ressure alarm switch 14 is inserted in-between) pressure relief valve 17 and solenoid valve 19 with piping respectively.

7. Accumulator set 16 : As shown in Figure 4, it is constituted by a valve chamber 161 and a steel ball 162, in which a piston 163 is installed in the valve chamber 161, each one plastic O-ring is installed in the two grooves of the piston to devide the valve chamber 161 into two parts as gas chamber 164 and oil chamber 165. The gas chamber 164 is connected to ball 162, and a pressure gauge 1621, gas filling valve 1622 and gas pressure discharging valve 1623 are installed on the surface of the ball 162.

Dry nitrogen should be filled in ball 162 and gas chamber 164 and make the pressure reach the setting value (this value of pressure is slightly lesser than the setting value of the pressure of the whole system) during use; in addition, the oil chamber 165 is connected to a low hydraulic pressure switch 14 via piping, the pressure of the hydraulic oil to be stored (i.e. the value of the pressure of the system) is usually a little larger than the value of the pressure of gas chamber 164 and ball 162 in order to facilitate it to maintain the state of the storage of pressure.

8. Pressure relief valve 17 : As shown in Figure 5, it is an adjustable (i.e. to set the value of pressure) valve with a spring to be installed inside to adjust the value of pressure endurance of the screws rod 171 and connected to cross connection 15 and tank 10 with piping respectively; while the pressure of the system exceeds the setting value, the hydraulic oil would flow back to the tank 10 through this valve to maintain the value of the pressure of the system.

9. Manual shut-off valve 18 : It is an ON/OFF valve to connect to tank 10, cross connection 15 and pressure relief valve 17 with piping respectively, while don't need pressure for the system during the time of maintenance or service, it might be opened to allow the oil flowing back to the tank 10 and reduce the pressure in the system to zero.

10. Solenoid valve 19 : Please refer to Figures 6-1 to 6-3 it is controlled by the microswitch to be installed on the braking board (the microswitch controls via the power supply of the battery which leads to the fuse, ON/ OFF switch and the microswitch). As shown in the Figure 6-1, it connected to various members with four pipings, in which piping p is connected to cross connection 15 (i.

e., the piping to be connected from pump 11); it connects to tank 10 with piping R with a check valve 13 to be inserted in-between; it connects to the piping of the upper oil chamber of teh actuator 21 with piping P1 and it connects to the piping of the lower oil chamber of the actuator 21 via flow limiting valve 20 with piping P2.

Under normal run of the car (without pressing the brake pedal), the inner channel of hydraulic pressure is like that to be shown in Figure 6-2, the pressure coming from piping P connects to the upper oil chamber of the actuator 21 via piping P1, relatively the piping P2 of the lower oil chamber of the actuator 21 is connected to piping R to return the oil flowing back to tank 10 via check valve 13 (the check valve 13 allows the flow of oil from the solenoid valve 19 to the direction of the tank 10 only it would be choked if the direction of flow is reversed).On pressing the braking board, the passage in the solenoid valve would be changed to become what shows in Figure 6-3, the pressure coming from piping P is lead to the lower oil chamber of the actuator 21 via piping P2, relatively the pressure of the upper oil chamber of the actuator 21 is lead into the tank 10 via piping R by piping P1; the action of the four sets of actuator 21 is controlled appropriately to facilitate the extension and retraction of the front and rear bumpers 22, 23.

11. Flow limiting valve 20 : As shown in Figure 7, there are a sectional cone shape valve 201 and a spring 202, in which a passage 203 is penetrated through the middle of the sectional cone valve 201; the flow limiting valve 20 is connected to the piping P2 of the lower oil chamber of actuator 21 and solenoid valve 19 respectively with two pipings. The feature is that on pressing the braking pedal the solenoid valve 19, the oil pressure coming from the solenoid valve 19 is led fully to the piping of the lower oil chamber of the actuator 21; once the front and rear bumpers 22, 23 bump with other car (or object), the pressure to be borne by the actuator 21 is led back via the piping P2 of the lower oil chamber and the amount of oil to flow back is restricted by the passage 203 of the sectional cone valve 201 to protect the accumulator set 16.

12. Actuator 21 : As shown in Figure 8, there are four actuators, which are installed in the two corners of the front and rear side of the chassis of body A. Up-side of the actuator connect the bumper and under-side of the actuator connect corner of the chassis of body, the interior of the actuator is divided into upper oil chamber 211 and lower oil chamber 212, and there is a retracting axle 213 in the upper oil chamber, the upper oil chamber 211 is connected to the above piping P1, and the lower oil chamber 212 is connected to the above piping P2 to be controlled by the solenoid valve 19 to facilitate the extension and retraction of the retracting axle 213.

13. The front and rear bumpers 22, 23 : To be connected with the end of the retracting axle 213 of the actuator 21 on the front and rear sides respectively, and extend and retract in body A based on the stretching and retracting of the retracting axle 213.

The present system is the combination of the above members, the use, conditions and effect are hereby described based on different conditions as follows: 1. When switched on, the low hydraulic pressure alarm switch 14 begins to watch. While the pressure of the system is lower than the setting value (it is also the setting value of the pressure of this system), it skips to ON, and drives the electric motor of the pump 11 to operate pump 11 drawing oil via oil filter 12 out to the tank 10 to increase the pressure in the system; the alarm lamp lights up simultaneously to advise the driver that the pressure of the system is low by this time. When the pressure reaches the setting value, the low hydraulic pressure alarm switch 14 skips to off immediately to stop the operation of the pump 11 and the pressure of the system would maintain at the setting value.The alarm lamp goes off immediately to advise the driver that the system returns to normal state of operation. There is another condition : while switched on, the alarm lamp does not light up, it means that the value of the pressure of the system is maintaining the normal state of the setting value of pressure.

2. On running (without pressing the brake pedal Pump 11 has already drawn the hydraulic oil out of the tank 10, and the oil flows via oil filter 12, check valve 13 and cross connection 15 into (1) the oil chamber 165 of the accumulator 16; (2) pressure relief valve 17, owing to the pressure in the system is within the setting value of the pressure, the pressure relief valve 17 remains inactive and close-circuit state; and (3) solenoid valve 19, flow limiting valve 20 and piping P1 to produce pressure to facilitate the four axle of actuators 213 to retract inward to maintain the state of retracting against body A of the front and rear bumpers 22, 23 (please refer to the principle to be stated in Figure 6-2 on introducing the above solenoid valve 19), and the oil in the lower oil chamber 212 of the actuator 21 would flow back into the tank 10 via piping P2, flow limiting valve 20, the piping R of solenoid valve 19 and check valve 13 relatively.

3. In the case of pressing brake pedal in emergency on running : The microswitch of braking board would be switched on immediately to control the solenoid valve 19 change the passage in it and lead the hydraulic oil pressure coming from piping P2 (i.e., via pump 11, oil filter 12 and check valve 13) to be connected to piping P2 via flow limiting valve 20 transfer the pressure to the lower oil chamber 212 of the four actuators 21 to facilitate the four retracting axles 213 extend outward simultaneously resulting in the state of the front and rear bumpers 22, 23 to extrude outward respectively by this time the oil in the upper oil chamber 211, via P1 and solenoid 19 flow back into the tank 10 via piping R (please refer to the principle to be stated in Figure 6-3 in introducing the above solenoid valve 19).

4. On pressing brake pedal and bumping with other car (or object) in emergency : on account of the front and rear bumpers 22, 23 have already extend in the front and in the rear of the car before this time, it is the bumpers to contact with other car (or object) and bear shocking force on bumping (either the bumping occurred in the front or in the rear of the car or both), the shocking force would be transferred to the actuator 21 to force the retracting axle 213 of the actuator 21 to retract inward leading the pressure to transfer from the lower oil chamber 212 into the flow limiting valve 20 via P2 to cause the oil in the valve to flow back in limited amount (i.e. limited pressure and quantity) via passage 203 transfer the pressure to the accumulator set 16, check valve 13, and pressure relief valve via solenoid valve 22 separately in which on account of the check valve 13 does not allow reverse flow and the manual shut-off valve 18 is in shut-off state, the pressure is transferred to the accumulator set 16 and pressure relief valve 17 only; and pressure to be transferred coming into the oil chamber 165 of the accumulator set 16 at first (owing to the pressure relief valve 17 holding the setting valve of pressure) to press the gas chamber 164 and ball 162 to be compressed and absorb the shocking force to be produced in the bumping.In addition, once the pressure of the bumping exceeded the setting value of the system, the oil with exceeding pressure would flow back into the tank 10 via pressure relief valve 17 until the bumping pressure being absorbed entirely, and then the system would recover to original state.

As stated hereinbefore, the present invention is able to absorb in great amount of the powerful shocking force to be produced by the bumping of the car via the action of the accumulator set 16 and pressure relief valve 17, and on account of it is the front and rear bumpers 22, 23 to make the contact in the bumping, body A and the passengers in the car are affected slightly in the shocking, the car is affected slightly in the shocking, the safety of the car and passengers is able to be raised greatly.

Furthermore, it is deserved to be mentioned is that the material of the front and rear bumpers 22, 23 must be with high strength, because the chassis is most rigid and strong member of the car, and the four actuator 21 are installed on the four corners of the chassis (with most rigid structural stress), it is sufficient to bear powerful shocking force to cause it to be absorbed by the accumulator set 16 and the pressure relief valve 17.Besides, the reason that the shocking force is conveyed into the lower oil chamber 212 by the actuator axle 213 led back to the solenoid valve 19 via piping P2 and the flow limiting valve 20 is to utilize the action of limiting oil quantity and pressure of the flow limiting valve 20 to prevent pressure to be transferred into accumulator set 16 directly and excessively resulting in the explosion of the accumulator set 16 due to failing to bear it all of a sudden, it is a device to protect the accumulator set 16. Therefore, other than to be able to ensure the safety of the passengers and the car, the system itself provides also safety device, the design of the present invention is well considered, extensive, precise, perfect and practical.

As indicated, the structure herein may be variously embodied. Recognising various modifications will be apparent, the scope hereof shall be deemed to be defined by the claims as set forth below.

Claims

1. A vibration absorbing system of the automatic stretching bumper of auto comprising: a tank-to store hydraulic oil to be connected to tl1e pump, relief valve, flow limiting valve and solenoid walve with piping; a pump-combining with and driven by an electric motor to be connected to the tank and a oil filter with piping; two oil filters-to filter the miscellaneous sstance in hydraulic oil, in which the one is connected to tic tank and tlle pump with piping and the other is connected to the pump and the check valve with piping;; two check valves-to have a spring and a ball been installed within to provide one-way flow of the oil, in which the one is connected to the oil filter and cross connection with piping, the other is connected to t)se solenoid valve and the tank with piping; a low hydraulic pressure alarm switch-to control the electric motor of the pump, it would start automatically to cause the operation of the pump once the pressure of the system is lower than the setting value, once the pressure of the system exceeded the setting value, it would shut down to stop the operation of the pump automatically, the switch is installed on the piping to connect the accumulator set and the cross connection and an alarm lamp is installed at the driver's seat to be connected to this switch;; a cross connection-it is an oil manifold to be connected to the check valve, accumulator set, pressure relief valve and solenoid valve with piping; accumulator set-to be constituted by a valve chamber and a ball, in which the valve chamber contains two movable piston to divide it into the two parts of gas chamber and oil chamber, the gas chamber is connected to the ball, it has a pressure gauge, a gas filling valve and a pressure release valve they are installed on the surface of the ball, filling valve to be used to fill dry nitrogen into the ball and the gas chamber; the oil chamber is connected to the cross connection with piping and a low hydraulic pressure alarm switch is installed in-between to be used to store hydraulic pressure; a pressure relief valve-containing an adjusting screw rod, a spring and a ball within to be used to adjust the value of the endurance of the adjustment of the crew rod and connected to the cross connection and the tank with piping; a manual shut-off valve-it is the open/close type valve to be connected to the tank cross connection and pressure relief valve with piping;; a solenoid valve-it is controlled by the microswitch to be installed on the braking board, it connected with piping to the cross connection the four pipings of the upper oil chamber of the actuators, flow limiting valve and the tank to have a check valve been installed inbetween, the valve is able to change the inner passage appropriately once the brake pedal is pressed in order to control the retracting axle of the actuator; a flow limiting valve-to have been installed a sectional cone valve and a spring, in which a passage is penetrated through the centre of the sectional cone valve, the flow is in full amount in one direction and it is limited in the adverse direction to be connected to the solenoid valve and the piping of the lower oil chamber of the actuator; ; four actuator-to be installed on the four corners of the chassis of the body respectively, the actuator are divided into the two parts of upper oil chamber and lower oil chamber, in the upper oil chamber a retracting axle is installed upright and the piping of the upper oil chamber is connected to the solenoid valve; the piping of the lower oil chamber is connected to the flow limiting valve and solenoid; and the front and rear bumpers to be connected to the ends of the retracting axles of the actuator installing in the front and in the rear of the body.

2. A vibration absorbing system of the automatic stretching bumper of auto substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to and as shown in the accompanying drawings.