JP3189708B2 - Vehicle suspension - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a vehicle suspension in which a knuckle for supporting a wheel is integrally connected to a lower portion of a shock absorber, and in particular, a spindle for integrally supporting the knuckle for supporting a wheel. The present invention relates to a vehicle suspension.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A suspension device for a vehicle employs a spring or a shock absorber (damper) to cushion road surface irregularities so as not to be directly transmitted to a vehicle body, thereby ensuring ride comfort of an occupant and suppressing the direction of wheels. Than that
It is greatly related to steering stability. Among such suspension devices, in particular, suspension devices using strut-type shock absorbers are frequently used in passenger cars, small trucks, and the like. In this strut type suspension, the supporting points of the connected arms are dispersed relatively far apart, so there is little alignment change due to manufacturing errors of the vehicle body, no adjustment is required, the structure is simple, light weight There are advantages such as not taking up space.

FIG. 7 shows an example in which this strut type suspension is used on the front wheel side. The strut-type suspension is pivotally supported by a knuckle 3 for pivotally supporting a front wheel 2 and a drive shaft 1 of a passenger car, a strut-type shock absorber 4 integrally connected to an upper portion of the knuckle 3, and a ball joint 5 at a lower portion of the knuckle 3. And a lower arm 6. Here, a pivotal end (not shown) of the lower arm 6 is pin-connected to the lower base of the vehicle body, and an upper end of the strut type shock absorber 4 is pivotally supported by a strut via a vertical pin (not shown). Further, the knuckle 3 has an arm (not shown) projecting therefrom, and a link of a steering system is connected to an end of the knuckle 3 via a ball joint (not shown).
Therefore, when a steering force is received from the steering system, the front wheel 2 rotates around a steering center line L1 connecting the ball joint 5 and a vertical pin (not shown) of the strut type shock absorber 4, and the steering angle can be changed.

In such a strut type suspension, a road surface reaction force from the front wheel 1 is supported by a knuckle 3,
The load is dispersed and supported by transmitting the load to the vehicle body via the strut type shock absorber 4, and at this time, the spring of the strut type shock absorber 4 and the shock absorber main body are configured to absorb a vertical acceleration component in the road surface reaction force. By the way, such a strut-type suspension is adopted on either side of the front and rear wheels. In particular, when adopted in a suspension supporting a driven wheel, as shown in FIG.
The knuckle 7 integrally protrudes a spindle 8 pivotally supporting a driven wheel at the center thereof, an upper end thereof is integrally connected to a shock absorber body 9, and a lower end thereof is pivotally supported by a lower body base. The lower arm 10 is connected to a rotating end via a pin 11.

In this case, the road surface reaction force transmitted from the driven wheel is transmitted to the coupling portion q between the upper portion of the knuckle 7 and the shock absorber main body 9 via the coupling portion p between the spindle 8 and the knuckle 7, so that each coupling portion is sufficient. Requires high coupling stiffness. For this reason, in the strut type suspension shown in FIG. 8, a mounting bracket 12 is wound around and mounted on a lower portion of the shock absorber main body 9, and an upper portion of the knuckle 7 is sandwiched between a pair of opposed vertical flanges 13 of the bracket. The upper and lower portions are fastened together by bolts 14, respectively.

[0006]

Assuming that the knuckle 7 shown in FIG. 8 is cast or forged, the spindle 8 and the knuckle 7 are separately manufactured and connected integrally. In this case, the knuckle 7 with the spindle 8 formed by casting or forging is relatively heavy, and tends to cause an increase in cost, which is a problem. On the other hand, FIG.
If the knuckle 7 shown in FIG. 1 is a sheet metal, the weight becomes relatively small, but also in this case, when the spindle 8 receives the road surface reaction force from the tire, the spindle 8 applies the road surface reaction force to the coupling portion p of the boss portion of the spindle 8. After that, the knuckle 7 is transmitted to the central portion of the knuckle 7, and transmitted to the shock absorber main body 9 from the joint q at the upper end of the knuckle 7. As a result, especially the joint part p becomes a large stress concentration part. For this reason, it is necessary to securely fix the knuckle 7 of the sheet metal and the boss portion of the spindle 8 which form the connecting portion p so as to maintain sufficient bonding strength, and it is necessary to make the plate thickness of the knuckle 7 itself sufficiently large. In this case, too, it was not possible to sufficiently reduce the weight and cost.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to provide a vehicle suspension which can withstand a relatively large road surface reaction force and has good durability, and secondly to provide a vehicle suspension which can achieve a reduction in weight. It is in.

[0008]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, an upper end of a shock absorber is connected to a vehicle body, and a lower portion of the shock absorber is integrally connected to an upper portion of a knuckle that supports a wheel. the vehicle suspension lower is connected to the rotating end of the arm having one end via a joint member is pivotally attached to the vehicle body, the shock
The lower part of the saw has a pair of flanges facing each other
That the mounting bracket is fixed, the knuckle is inserted through the spindle to pivotally support the wheel in a central portion of the knuckle while being integrally connected by a fastening member that upper end to one end of said pair of flanges, the spindle Base end up
It is characterized by being integrally connected to the other end of the pair of flanges . Therefore, under the shock absorber
The knuckle is integrally connected to the
In particular, the upper end of the knuckle is attached to one end of the flange.
With the proximal end of the spindle at the other end of the flange.
To the pair of flanges.
So that the top end of the wheel and the base end of the spindle are fastened together.
In addition, the spindle is connected at two points, that is, the center of the knuckle and the lower part of the shock absorber. In particular, the road surface reaction force from the wheels is transmitted directly to the lower part of the shock absorber through the spindle.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the vehicle suspension according to the first aspect, the knuckles are each formed so as to form a closed cross-sectional space by an outer plate and an inner plate made of sheet metal. Therefore, since the knuckle is formed by overlapping the outer plate and the inner plate so as to form a closed sectional space, the rigidity of supporting the knuckle can be ensured and the weight is reduced.

[0010]

[0011]

1 shows a vehicle suspension to which the present invention is applied. The vehicle suspension 20 is a strut type suspension, and is shown as being mounted on a strut at the rear of the vehicle. here,
The strut portion includes a side member 21 and an inner panel 22 integrally joined to the outside of the side member, and a rear floor panel 23 having an end joined to a lower end of the inner panel 22.
The lower arm 29 constituting the vehicle suspension 20 is attached to the inner panel 22 and the side member 21 or the cross member 39.

The vehicle suspension 20 includes a knuckle 26 to which a spindle 25 for pivotally supporting a wheel (rear wheel) 24, a boss 251 positioned at the center of the spindle in the longitudinal direction, and a knuckle 26 Mounting bracket 27 to which the upper connecting portion a and the base end 252 of the spindle 25 are bolted, and a strut type shock absorber 28 to which the mounting bracket 27 is wound and fixed.
A lower arm 29 bolted to the lower connection portion b of the lower portion of the knuckle 26; a bush 31 extending below the lower connection portion b of the knuckle 26; and a trailing arm 30 pin-connected to the bush 31. Prepare.

The strut type shock absorber 28 has a spring 281 and a shock absorber main body 282 capable of absorbing a vertical acceleration component during a road surface reaction force, and an upper end of the shock absorber main body 282 is connected to an upper end of the inner panel 22 via a rubber insulator 32. The lower end is integrally connected to the knuckle 26 via a mounting bracket 27. The mounting bracket 27 is wound around the lower part of the shock absorber main body 282 with a relatively large vertical width. Moreover, the mounting bracket 27 has a pair of flanges 271 facing each other at both ends in the winding direction.
(See FIG. 3). The pair of flanges 271 are formed with a bolt insertion opening (not shown) at two upper and lower locations, and the upper connection part a of the inner plate 34 is provided at the upper bolt insertion opening.
The lower bolt insertion opening has a base end 252 of the spindle 25.
Are tightened and fixed by bolts B, respectively.

The knuckle 26 is formed by overlapping the outer plate 33 and the inner plate 34 so as to form a closed sectional space D. That is, as shown in FIGS. 1 to 4, the outer plate 33 is a vertically deep plate-shaped sheet metal member, and the inner plate 34 is a vertically shallow plate-shaped sheet metal member. Here, the inner plate 34 and the outer plate 33 are overlapped with their respective bottoms facing the outside of the vehicle (left side in FIG. 1), and their abutting portions are welded to each other. Is formed. As shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, the lower portion of the outer plate 33 is shifted to the left and the lower portion of the inner plate 34 is shifted to the right side in plan view.

A hole 331 is formed in the center of the outer plate 33, and a boss 251 of the spindle 25 is inserted into an annular folded edge 332 of the hole 331, and the two are welded all around. A center hole 341 is formed in the center of the inner plate 34, the spindle 25 is inserted into the hole, and the same portion is welded. Thus, spindle 2
5 is welded to both the outer plate 33 and the inner plate 34 so that the support rigidity of the spindle 25 itself can be increased, and the knuckle 5 is also reinforced. A base end portion 252 on the base end side (right end side in FIG. 1) of the spindle 25 is sandwiched between a pair of flanges 271, and both are fastened together by a bolt B inserted into a bolt insertion port below the flange.

As shown in FIG. 4, the upper connecting portion a of the inner plate 34 has a U-shaped flat cross section and includes a pair of vertical flanges 342 and 342. The flange of the mounting bracket 27 is provided between the vertical flanges. The bolt 271 is inserted into the bolt insertion port on the upper side of the flange 271, and the bolts B are fastened together via a spacer (not shown). The lower connecting portion b of the inner plate 34 is
343, and a bush 3 extending downward on the central lower wall.
1 is provided.

As shown in FIG. 3 and FIG.
3,343 are opposed to each other with a relatively large width in the longitudinal direction Y of the vehicle body, and are joined by a horizontal shaft 35 therebetween. A front end 351 (left side in FIG. 3) of the horizontal shaft 35 is also welded to a lower flange 333 of the outer plate 33, and a rear end 352.
(Right side in FIG. 3) protrudes from the lower flange 343. Here, a pair of swing ends 291 and 291 of the lower arm 29 are pivotally attached to the front end 351 and the rear end 352 of the horizontal shaft 35, respectively. The lower arm 29 has a pivot end 292 on the vehicle body side pin-coupled to a pivot bracket 36 on the side member 21 side or the cross member 39 side as shown in FIG.

The swinging end of the trailing arm 30 is connected to the cylindrical portion 311 of the bush 31 with a pin. Here, the trailing arm 30 is provided to be inclined with respect to the vehicle longitudinal direction Y, a pivot support end (not shown) thereof is pin-coupled to the vehicle body side, and a swinging end is provided to be inclined with respect to the vehicle width direction X. The bush 31 is pin-connected. In the vehicle suspension 20 shown in FIG. 1, the spring 281 of the strut-type shock absorber 28 supports the road surface reaction force when the vehicle travels,
Moreover, the spring 281 and the shock absorber main body 282 absorb the vertical acceleration component in the road surface reaction force.

In this case, the road surface reaction force from the wheels 24 is applied to the spindle 2 supported by the center of the outer plate 33 and the lower portion of the mounting bracket 27 which is separated from the same by a distance L.
Transfer to 5. In this case, since the road surface reaction force is dispersed and supported at two places of the knuckle 26 and the mounting bracket 27,
As compared with the case where the spindle 25 is supported at one point (as shown in FIG. 8), the shared load of each input point is reduced, sufficient rigidity can be secured, and as a result, the knuckle plate thickness can be increased without increasing the thickness. Properties can be improved. Further, the knuckle 26 itself needs to be integrally connected to the mounting bracket 27 and needs to be bolted at at least two points. Here, the knuckle 26 is connected between the upper connection portion a of the knuckle 26 and the base end portion 252 of the spindle 25. 2 mounting brackets 2
Since the bolts are fastened together, there is no need to increase the number of bolting points, and an increase in the number of parts can be prevented.

In addition, since the spindle 25 is supported at two points while maintaining the interval L (see FIG. 2), the interval L can be easily increased if a large closed sectional space D is ensured. There is an advantage that the strength against the applied bending load can be easily enhanced, and in this regard, the increase in weight can be suppressed and the rigidity can be enhanced. Further, the road surface reaction force from the wheels 24 is applied to the outer plate 3 through the boss 251 of the spindle 25.
3 and the mounting bracket 27 through the inner plate 34
And directly from the base end 252 of the spindle 25 to the lower part of the mounting bracket 27. Thus, a part of the road surface reaction force applied to the spindle 25 is
2 is transmitted directly to the mounting bracket 2 of the shock absorber 28, so that the load transmission efficiency is good, and in this respect, the durability of the knuckle 26 can be further enhanced.

The knuckle 26 used in the vehicle suspension shown in FIG. 1 is an outer plate 3 which is a deep plate-shaped sheet metal member.
3 and the inner plate 34, which is a shallow dish-shaped sheet metal member, are vertically oriented, and the outer plate 33 is overlapped with the bottom of the inner plate 34 in the same direction, and the contact portions of the outer plate 33 are welded to each other. Have been. Instead, as shown in FIG. 5, the upper and lower ends of the outer plate 33a are extended to form an upper connecting portion a and a lower connecting portion b.
On the opening side of 3a (the right side in FIG. 5), an inner plate 34a having a U-shaped flat cross section is overlapped and welded so as to close an intermediate portion of the opening, and a closed cross section space D is formed therebetween. The knuckle 26a may be formed.

In this case, the inner plate 34a mainly acts as a reinforcing member for the outer plate 33a, and in particular, the rigidity of supporting the knuckle 26a can be improved. Further, the road surface reaction force transmitted from the boss portion 251 of the spindle 25 to the outer plate 33a is also transmitted to the inner plate 34a and directly to the flange 271 of the mounting bracket 27 from the upper connection portion a of the outer plate 33a. In this case, the load transmission efficiency is further improved. FIG. 6 shows another embodiment.

The vehicle suspension shown in FIG. 6 is replaced with a strut type shock absorber, and a shock absorber 40 is used.
The knuckle 42 integrally connected to the lower part of the shock absorber 40 is connected to the rotating end of the lower arm 43, and the lower end of the coil spring 41 is connected to the intermediate part of the lower arm 43. I have.
In addition, the lower arm 43 has a configuration in which the pivot end side is divided into two front and rear portions, and each portion is pin-connected to the vehicle body base side. Further, the upper end of the shock absorber 40 is connected to a swing link 46 which is controlled by the dampers 44 and 45 to swing, and the upper end of the coil spring 41 is connected to a spring receiver 47 at the base of the vehicle body. A knuckle 42 integrally connected to a lower portion of the shock absorber 40 here
The spindle 48 has the same configuration as that of the knuckle 26 and the spindle 25 of FIG. 1, and the same operation and effect as those of the vehicle suspension of FIG. 1 can be obtained.

Although each of the above embodiments has been described as a non-steered driven wheel, the present invention can be similarly applied to a driven wheel for a steered wheel, and the same operational effects can be obtained.

[0025]

As described above, according to the first aspect of the present invention, the spindle for supporting the wheel is connected to the center portion of the knuckle and the mounting bracket at the lower portion of the shock absorber, and particularly, the road surface reaction force from the wheel. Is transmitted directly to the lower part of the shock absorber through the spindle. For this reason,
The connection rigidity between the bottom of the shock absorber and the knuckle is installed.
Can be reinforced through the mounting bracket, especially the spindle base
One end is fastened to the other end of the mounting bracket
Knuckle to prevent weight reduction and increase in the number of parts.
And comparing the distance between the upper and lower positions of the mounting bracket
In this respect, the coupling rigidity can be enhanced, a relatively large road surface reaction force can be endured, and a durable vehicle suspension can be obtained.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the vehicle suspension according to the first aspect, the knuckle is formed so as to form a closed sectional space by the outer plate and the inner plate made of sheet metal. For this reason, the knuckle can secure rigidity and can be reduced in weight, and a vehicle suspension with reduced weight can be obtained without lowering the support rigidity as a whole.

[0027]

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a sectional view of a vehicle suspension to which the present invention is applied.

FIG. 2 is an enlarged side view of a knuckle used in the vehicle suspension of FIG.

FIG. 3 is an enlarged front view of a knuckle used in the vehicle suspension of FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is an enlarged plan view of a knuckle used in the vehicle suspension of FIG.

FIG. 5 is a side view of a cutaway main part of a knuckle part in a modified example of the vehicle suspension of FIG. 1;

FIG. 6 is a sectional view of a vehicle suspension according to another embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a schematic configuration diagram of a conventional vehicle suspension.

FIG. 8 is an enlarged side view of a knuckle portion in another conventional vehicle suspension.

[Explanation of symbols]

 Reference Signs List 20 Vehicle suspension 21 Side member 22 Inner panel 24 Wheel 25 Spindle 251 Boss 252 Base end 26 Knuckle 27 Mounting bracket 28 Strut type shock absorber 281 Spring 282 Shock absorber body 29 Lower arm 291 Swing end 31 Bush 33 Lower plate 333 Flange 34 Inner plate 35 Horizontal shaft 351 Front end 352 Rear end 36 Pivot bracket a Upper connection part b Lower connection part B Bolt X Vehicle width direction Y Front-back direction

Continuation of the front page (58) Field surveyed (Int.Cl. ⁷ , DB name) B60G 7/00 B60G 3/28

Claims (2)

(57) [Claims] An upper end of the shock absorber is connected to a vehicle body, a lower portion of the shock absorber is integrally connected to an upper portion of a knuckle for pivotally supporting wheels, and one end of the knuckle is connected to a vehicle body via a joint member. In a vehicle suspension connected to a pivot end of a pivoted arm,
The lower part of the shock absorber is a pair of
A mounting bracket having a flange is fixed, and the upper end of the knuckle is integrally connected to one end of the pair of flanges by a fastening member, and the wheel is pivotally supported at the center of the knuckle. A vehicle suspension wherein a spindle is inserted, and a base end of the spindle is integrally connected to another end of the pair of flanges . 2. A vehicle suspension according to claim 1, wherein said knuckles are formed so as to form a closed cross-sectional space by an outer plate and an inner plate made of sheet metal.