JP2001219724A - Suspension lock device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To suppress the large change of a vehicle attitude even if a loading load at the rear end of a load carrying platform is suddenly increased in an air suspension vehicle. SOLUTION: On the rear wheel 32 side of the air suspension vehicle, an air spring 15 is mounted on between a side frame 10 and a trailing leaf 11, and a support bracket 16 is fixed near to the air spring 15 onto a cross beam connected to the trailing leaf 11, a stopper 22 is rotatably fixed to a cross member 17, the stopper 22 is rotated downward by working an air actuator 24, and the lower surface of the stopper is faced to the support bracket 16.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention is intended to suppress a large change in the vehicle attitude in response to a sudden change in the load, particularly in an air suspension vehicle having a soft spring characteristic.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In a conventional air suspension vehicle, as shown in FIG. 6, when a forklift 1 for transporting a heavy object enters from the rear end of a loading platform 2, an air suspension supporting the loading platform 2 is used. Since the spring characteristic is relatively soft, the rear end portion of the loading platform 2 where the loading load suddenly increases greatly sinks, and the forklift 1
When the forklift 1 moves above the rear wheel 3 and moves to the front of the carrier 2 when the forklift 1 moves above the rear wheel 3, the operation of the vehicle height holding mechanism attached to the air suspension may take several seconds. Later, while the support force of the air suspension increases, the load at the rear end of the loading platform 2 is sharply reduced. there were.

[0003]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is an object of the present invention to reliably suppress a significant change in the vehicle attitude even when the load at the rear end of a cargo bed of a vehicle suddenly changes.

[0004]

Therefore, a suspension lock device according to the present invention includes a side frame disposed on the left and right sides of the vehicle and extending in the vehicle front-rear direction, and a spring mechanism disposed below the side frame. A support bracket connected to the side frame,
A stopper supported by the side frame above the support bracket; and an actuator for driving the stopper to attach and detach the stopper between the side frame and the support bracket. The stopper is interposed between the side brackets so as to substantially stop the lowering of the side frame with respect to the support bracket.

Therefore, when a heavy object is loaded on the vehicle carrier, the actuator driven by the stopper supported by the side frame above the support bracket connected to the side frame via the spring mechanism causes the actuator to drive the side frame and the support. Since a stopper is interposed between the bracket and the bracket to substantially stop the lowering of the side frame with respect to the support bracket, it is possible to reliably suppress a large sinking of the carrier.

[0006]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below. In FIGS. 1 and 2, a loading frame (not shown) is mounted on side frames 10 which are respectively arranged on the left and right sides of the air suspension vehicle and extend in the vehicle front-rear direction, and a rear axle 12 is attached via a trailing leaf 11. A shock absorber 13 is mounted so as to straddle between the side frame 10 and the trailing leaf 11, while a rear end of the trailing leaf 11 disposed on each of the left and right sides of the vehicle extends in the vehicle width direction. 14, an air spring 15 is mounted so as to straddle between the side frame 10 and the cross beam 14. A support bracket 16 having a trapezoidal shape is fixed on the beam 14.

The left and right side frames 10 are connected by a cross member 17 extending in the vehicle width direction.
As shown in FIG. 2, a U-shaped stopper bracket 18 having a horizontal cross section opening toward the vehicle rear side is fixed to a position above the support bracket 16 on the left and right portions of the cross member 17 on the vehicle rear side. The lower end portion 18 'of the bracket 18 bends and extends forward of the vehicle,
The lower surface of the cross member 17 is applied.

A shaft 20 extending in the vehicle width direction is fixed between the opposed vertical walls 19 of the stopper bracket 18, and the stopper 2 is inserted into an annular collar 21 rotatably inserted by the shaft 20.
2 and the lever 23 are integrally fixed, and the air actuator 24 is supported by the stopper bracket 18 via the bracket 25, and the rod 26 of the air actuator 24 is connected to the lever 23 so that the air When the actuator 24 is not operated, the stopper 22 is held at the solid line position in FIG. 3. However, when the air actuator 24 is operated, the stopper 22 rotates together with the annular collar 21, and FIG. The rubber portion 22 'fixed to the lower end of the stopper 22 and the upper surface of the support bracket 16 are displaced to the position indicated by the broken line in FIG. Opposed at a distance and the shoulder 27 of the stopper 22
The reinforcing plate 28 attached to the stopper bracket 18
Abuts on a reinforcing plate 29 fixed to the lower end portion 18 'of the second member.

A switch 30 is attached to the bracket 25. When the stopper 22 rotates as described above by the operation of the air actuator 24, the push plate 31 fixed to the annular collar 21 closes the switch 30. Is configured. In addition, 32 is a rear wheel of the vehicle.

As shown in FIG. 5, when the transmission of the vehicle is in the neutral position, the neutral switch 40 is closed, the relay 41 is closed, and the parking brake of the vehicle is operated, as shown in FIG. Since the parking switch 42 is closed at one time, the relay 43 is closed only when the transmission is in the neutral position and the parking brake is in operation, and the orange lamp 44 in a switch box (not shown) provided at the rear end of the vehicle. Lights up to indicate that the suspension lock is ready.

When the suspension lock switch 45 in the switch box is closed in this state, a current flows as shown by an arrow, and a red lamp 46 in the switch box is turned on.
At the same time as the red lamp 46 'mounted on the instrument panel in the cab turns on, the magnet valve 47 is opened, and the air circuit 48 supplies pressure air from the air tank 49 to the air actuator 24 to operate the air actuator 24. When the stopper 22 is rotated and displaced to the position indicated by the broken line in FIGS. 1 and 3 above the support bracket 16, the push plate 31 of the annular collar 21 closes the switch 30. The green lamp 50 is turned on to indicate that the preparation for loading on the bed of the vehicle is completed.

In the above-described apparatus, the stopper 22 is rotated by the operation of the air actuator 24, and the stopper 2 is rotated.
2 and the upper surface of the support bracket 16 face each other at a small interval, and the shoulder 27 of the stopper 22
The reinforcing plate 28 attached to the stopper bracket 18
Abutting against the reinforcing plate 29 fixed to the lower end portion 18 'of the vehicle, when a heavy object is loaded on the rear end of the cargo bed of the vehicle, the lower end 22 of the stopper 22 is slightly shrunk by the air spring 15. 'And the upper surface of the support bracket 16 immediately contact each other, and the load of the carrier
0, cross member 17, stopper bracket 18, reinforcing plate 29, reinforcing plate 28, stopper 22, support bracket 16, cross beam 14, and trailing leaf 11.
, The operation of the air spring 15 is substantially locked, and the lowering of the rear end of the carrier is stopped, so that the rear end of the carrier is prevented from suddenly sinking. Even if the load on the rear wheel 32 fluctuates significantly due to the movement of the heavy object on the carrier, the contact between the stopper 22 and the support bracket 16 can suppress the large sinking of the carrier or the rising of the carrier. Since the height of the carrier can be maintained substantially constant, the vehicle body posture does not become unstable unlike the conventional vehicle, and the vehicle posture can be easily stabilized. Therefore, there is no feeling of anxiety during the loading operation,
There is a great feature that enables stable loading operation at all times.

When the operation of the air spring 15 is locked by rotating the stopper 22 to the position indicated by the broken line in FIGS.
Since the load is supported between the stopper bracket 18 and the stopper 22 via 8, 8 and 29, no large load acts on the rotating portion of the shaft 20 and the annular collar 21. There is an advantage that it is not necessary to specially strengthen the.

Further, the air actuator 24 is operated only when the vehicle transmission is in the neutral position and the parking brake is in the operating state, and the lower end rubber portion 22 'of the stopper 22 and the upper surface of the support bracket 16 are opposed to each other. Locking can be performed, and otherwise suspension locking cannot be performed, so that the safety of the vehicle can be ensured. On the other hand, the operation of the air actuator 24 is controlled by an electric circuit. Is fast and
It is possible to perform reliable operation, which is very convenient.

The lighting of the orange lamp 44 indicates that the suspension lock is ready, and the lighting of the red lamps 46, 46 'activates the air actuator 24 to rotate the stopper 22. The fact that the suspension lock has been performed by the rotation of the stopper 22 is indicated by the lighting of the green lamp 50, and the operation state of the suspension lock can be accurately grasped. At the same time, there is an advantage that the safety of the vehicle can be easily secured.

Also, the suspension lock switch 45
Since the red lamp 46 'indicating that the vehicle is closed is provided on the instrument panel in the cab, it is possible to reliably prevent the driver from trying to drive the vehicle while the suspension lock device is operating. it can.

[0017]

In the suspension lock device according to the present invention, when a heavy object is loaded on the carrier of the vehicle, the stoppers supported by the side frames are driven by the actuators, so that the side frames and the support brackets are connected to each other. With the intervening stopper, the descent of the side frame with respect to the support bracket is substantially stopped, so large sinking of the loading platform can be reliably suppressed, and the vehicle posture can be easily stabilized. Becomes

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a side view of a main part in an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a plan view of a main part of the embodiment.

FIG. 3 is an enlarged vertical view of a main part of the embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view taken along the line IV-IV in FIG. 3;

FIG. 5 is an operation circuit diagram of the embodiment.

FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating the operation of a conventional vehicle.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 Side frame 11 Trailing leaf 12 Rear axle 14 Cross beam 15 Air spring 16 Support bracket 17 Cross member 18 Stopper bracket 22 Stopper 24 Air actuator 30 Switch 32 Rear wheel 40 Neutral switch 41, 43 Relay 42 Parking switch 44, 46, 50 Lamp 45 Suspension lock switch 47 Magnet valve 49 Air tank

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A side frame disposed on the left and right sides of a vehicle and extending in the vehicle front-rear direction, a support bracket disposed below the side frame and connected to the side frame via a spring mechanism, A stopper supported by the side frame at an upper part, and an actuator for driving the stopper to attach and detach the stopper between the side frame and the support bracket, and the stopper is provided between the side frame and the support bracket. A suspension lock device configured to substantially stop the lowering of the side frame with respect to the support bracket by being interposed. 2. The vehicle according to claim 1, wherein the actuator drives the stopper by operating a lock switch only when the transmission of the vehicle is in a neutral position and the parking brake is in an operating state. A suspension lock device configured to interpose the stopper between support brackets.