JP6719161B2 - Axle suspension - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to an axle suspension for an automobile.

As an example of the axle type suspension, there is one described in Patent Document 1.
In the axle type suspension described in the document, a pair of left and right lower arms (lower suspension arms) and upper arms (upper suspension arms) are provided in the vicinity of both ends in the vehicle width direction of an axle tube (axle housing) in which an axle is arranged. The rear portions of the respective are rotatably connected. Since the front portions of the lower arm and the upper arm are connected to the vehicle body, the lower arm and the upper arm can swing in the up-down height direction relative to the vehicle body about this connecting portion. Lower and upper spring seats are provided on each lower arm and the vehicle body above the lower arm, and a coil spring is interposed between these spring seats. Further, a stabilizer is further provided which acts to reduce the difference when the lifting strokes of the pair of left and right lower arms differ. Both ends in the longitudinal direction of the stabilizer are connected to the lower surface of the lower arm, and the connecting position thereof is the position corresponding to the center of the lower spring seat in the vehicle width direction or the vehicle width direction from the center. It is located outside.

However, in the above-mentioned conventional technique, there is still room for improvement as described below.

That is, when the vehicle body rolls, the coil spring on the sinking side of the vehicle body (bounding side of the wheel) is compressed. In this case, since the upper spring seat that supports the upper end of the coil spring is attached to the vehicle body, it is inclined at the same angle as the vehicle body. In contrast, the lower spring seat attached to the lower arm does not tilt, or tilts very little. The connection between the front part of the lower arm and the vehicle body is not in a rigid state, and in general, a rubber bush or the like is used to provide flexibility in various directions, so the vehicle body rolls. Even so, the lower arm does not incline following this, or there is almost no inclination. Therefore, as a result of the lower spring seat also being similar to the lower arm, the lower spring seat and the upper spring seat are in a non-parallel state. However, if such a state occurs, the coil spring bends, the force acting in the lateral direction of the coil spring increases, and the spring efficiency decreases. Therefore, the elastic force originally possessed by the coil spring is not exerted in the axial direction of the coil spring. As a result, the roll rigidity of the vehicle becomes low, which may lead to deterioration in maneuverability.

Japanese Utility Model Publication No. 57-197305

The present invention has been devised under the circumstances as described above, and appropriately prevents or suppresses the problem that the spring efficiency of the coil spring on the sink side of the vehicle body is lowered when the vehicle body is rolled by a simple configuration. It is an object of the invention to provide an axle type suspension that can do so.

In order to solve the above problems, the present invention takes the following technical means.

The axle type suspension provided by the present invention is arranged at intervals in the vehicle width direction and extends in the vehicle front-rear direction, and the front portion and the rear portion are connected to the vehicle body and the axle tube so as to be relatively rotatable, respectively. A pair of left and right suspension arms, coil springs interposed between the suspension arms and lower and upper spring seats respectively provided on the suspension arms and the vehicle body above the suspension arms, and a longitudinal intermediate region is provided on the axle tube. And a stabilizer which is a torsion region extending along the axle, and wherein both ends in the longitudinal direction of the stabilizer are the lower spring seats of the pair of suspension arms. Is connected to a portion on the inner side in the vehicle width direction with respect to the center of , via a stabilizer connecting bracket and a stabilizer link, and the bracket is attached to each suspension arm so as to be located in the vicinity of the lower spring seat. The upper part of the bracket is attached to the inner side of the suspension arms in the vehicle width direction and protrudes upward from the suspension arms. It is characterized in that it comprises a pair of ball joints, and the lower ball joint is connected to each end of the stabilizer, while the upper ball joint is connected to the upper portion of the bracket .

According to such a configuration, as will be understood from the description of the embodiments of the present invention described later, when the vehicle body rolls, the stabilizer moves the suspension arm on the sinking side (wheel bouncing side) of the vehicle body above the suspension arm. Therefore, the upper spring seat located at the position of the upper spring seat tilts in the same direction as that of the upper spring seat. As a result, it is possible to reduce the difference between the inclination angles of the upper and lower spring seats and bring them into a substantially parallel state. Therefore, it is possible to appropriately prevent or suppress the conventional inconvenience caused by the non-parallel state of both the upper and lower spring seats. Specifically, since the coil spring is prevented or suppressed from being compressed in a bent state, the force wasted in the lateral direction of the coil spring is reduced, and the spring efficiency is improved. Appropriate resilience can be applied. Therefore, it is possible to effectively enhance the roll rigidity and improve the maneuverability.
Further, the stabilizer acts also on the ascending side (wheel rebound side) of the vehicle body so as to incline in the same direction as the upper spring seat located above the suspension arm. The difference in the inclination angle of is reduced. As a result, the force acting in the lateral direction of the coil spring on the rising side of the vehicle body is reduced, and the coil spring is less likely to come off.
According to the present invention, the effect described above can be obtained by devising the connecting position of the stabilizer with respect to the suspension arm, and it is not necessary to use expensive equipment/device or parts. Therefore, it is possible to appropriately avoid a large increase in manufacturing cost.

Other features and advantages of the present invention will become more apparent from the following description of the embodiments of the invention with reference to the accompanying drawings.

It is a perspective view showing an example of an axle type suspension concerning the present invention. It is explanatory drawing which shows typically the axle type suspension shown in FIG. 1, (a) is a top view, (b) is a vehicle rear view sectional drawing. It is a vehicle rear view explanatory drawing which shows typically an example of an effect|action of the axle type suspension shown in FIG.

Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of the present invention will be specifically described with reference to the drawings.

The axle type suspension S shown in FIG. 1 is for suspension of rear wheels, and is configured by using an axle tube 1 (axle housing) in which an axle (not shown) supporting a pair of left and right wheels W is housed. It is a 5-link suspension. Specifically, the axle type suspension S includes a pair of left and right lower suspension arms 2 and an upper suspension arm 3 (hereinafter, these are appropriately abbreviated as “lower arm 2” and “upper arm 3”) and a pair of coil springs. 4 and a stabilizer 5.
The lower arm 2 corresponds to an example of “a suspension arm provided with a lower spring seat” in the present invention, and the upper arm 3 does not correspond to such a suspension arm.

This axle type suspension S is characterized by the configuration related to the stabilizer 5 and the lower arm 2, and the basic configuration other than this is the same as the conventionally known configuration described in Patent Document 1 and the like. Therefore, a conventionally known configuration will be briefly described.
The pair of lower arms 2 extend in the vehicle front-rear direction at intervals in the vehicle width direction, and rubber bushes 20 and 21 (see also FIG. 2A) are joined to the front and rear portions thereof. The rubber bushes 20 and 21 are connected to the bracket 60 of the vehicle body 6 and the bracket 10 of the axle tube 1 so as to be rotatable relative to each other in the vertical direction. The pair of lower arms 2 can swing in the vertical height direction about the center line Ca of the rubber bush 20 on the front side. The rubber bushes 20 and 21 are provided with a rubber elastic body inside. For example, the front rubber bush 20 can incline the lower arm 2 by various angles in various directions intersecting the central axis Ca thereof. It has flexibility. The same applies to the rubber bush 21 on the rear side. Similarly to the lower arm 2, the front and rear portions of the pair of upper arms 3 also have rubber bushes 30 and 31, and are connected to a bracket (not shown) of the vehicle body 6 or a bracket 11 of the axle tube 1.

The coil spring 4 includes a lower spring seat 90 provided on an upper surface portion of a rear-side region of the lower arm 2 or an intermediate region in the front-rear direction, and an upper spring seat 91 attached to the vehicle body 6 so as to be located thereabove. Are interposed between them (see also FIG. 2B). The lower and upper spring seats 90 and 91 are set to face each other in a substantially parallel state when the vehicle body 6 is not rolled.

The stabilizer 5 is a bar-shaped member having a substantially U shape in a plan view, is connected to the longitudinal intermediate region 50 extending in the vehicle width direction along the axle tube 1, and is connected to both ends thereof in a bent form, and is more than the axle tube 1. It has a pair of left and right arm portions 51 extending toward the front side of the vehicle. The longitudinal intermediate region 50 of the stabilizer 5 is a twisting region that is twisted when a height difference occurs between the pair of left and right arm portions 51, and is held on the axle tube 1 by using the mounting member 12. The respective tip portions of the pair of arm portions 51, that is, the longitudinal end portions 52 of the stabilizer 5 are connected to the stabilizer connecting bracket 26 provided in the vehicle width direction inner side portion of the lower arm 2 via the stabilizer link 8. ing. The stabilizer connecting bracket 26 is a bracket that is fixedly provided on an inner portion of the lower arm 2 in the vehicle width direction, and has, for example, a shape that is erected above the upper surface portion of the lower arm 2. The bracket 26 is located in front of the axle tube 1 in the vehicle front-rear direction, but is preferably located near the lower spring seat 90. The stabilizer link 8 is a connecting member provided with a pair of ball joints 8a and 8b at both upper and lower ends, the lower ball joint 8b is connected to the end portion 52 of the stabilizer 5, and the upper ball joint 8a is It is connected to a stabilizer connecting bracket 26.

Next, the operation of the above-mentioned axle type suspension S will be described.

Consider a case where the vehicle body 6 rolls in a downward-sloping shape in rear view as shown in FIG. 3 when the vehicle turns or the like. In this case, the upper spring seat 91 (91a), which is the sinking side (right side) of the vehicle body 6, inclines in a downward right direction as the vehicle body 6 inclines, and the inclination angle θ1 is the inclination angle of the vehicle body 6 ( Roll angle). On the other hand, the lower arm 2 (2b) on the left side is arranged so as to be raised relative to the lower arm 2 on the right side, and a torsional force based on this is generated in the stabilizer 5, so that the right end portion 52 (52a) of the stabilizer 5 is formed. ) Means to apply an upward force F to the bracket 26 of the right lower arm 2 (2a). Then, the lower arm 2a on the right side is inclined downward to the right in the rear view. This inclination is smoothly performed by elastically deforming the rubber of the rubber bushes 20 and 21 on the front and rear of the right lower arm 2a.

As described above, when the lower arm 2 (2a) on the right side is inclined downward to the right, the lower spring seat 90 provided on this lower arm 2 is in the same direction as the upper spring seat 91 located above it. It becomes possible to reduce the difference between the inclination angles θ2 and θ1 of these two spring seats 90 and 91 and bring them closer to the parallel state. As the roll angle of the vehicle body 6 is larger and the inclination angle θ1 of the upper spring seat 91 is larger, the upward force F by the stabilizer 5 is larger and the inclination angle θ2 of the lower spring seat 90 can be larger. .. Therefore, even if the inclination angle θ1 of the upper spring seat 91 is relatively large, the effect of reducing the difference between the inclination angles θ2 and θ1 of the two spring seats 90 and 91 can be obtained. By doing so, it is possible to prevent the coil spring 4 from being set in a largely bent setting state, to efficiently exert a compressive force in the axial direction thereof, and to appropriately exert the original elastic force of the coil spring 4. it can. As a result, the roll rigidity of the vehicle can be increased and the maneuverability can be improved.

On the other hand, on the rising side of the vehicle body 6 (on the left side in FIG. 3), the end portion 52 of the stabilizer 5 applies a downward force to the bracket 26 of the lower arm 2 (2b), which is upside down from the sinking side of the vehicle body 6 described above. The lower arm 2b and the spring seat 90 on the lower arm 2b are tilted in the same direction as the upper spring seat 91 located thereabove. Therefore, the lateral force of the coil spring 4 on the ascending side of the vehicle body 6 is also reduced, and the coil spring 4 is less likely to come off the upper and lower spring seats 91, 90.

Since the stabilizer connecting bracket 26 and the stabilizer 5 are connected via the stabilizer link 8 having the ball joints 8a and 8b, the operation of the stabilizer 5 can be made smooth and the above-mentioned upward force F can be applied. It can be efficiently transmitted to the lower arm 2. Therefore, the effects described above can be obtained more appropriately. Since the axle type suspension S is bilaterally symmetric, the same effect as described above can be obtained even when the vehicle body 6 rolls downward to the left, contrary to the above.

The present invention is not limited to the contents of the above-mentioned embodiment. The specific configuration of each part of the axle type suspension according to the present invention can be variously changed in design within the scope intended by the present invention.

This onset Ming, can also be applied to the type of axle suspension having no upper arm 3.

S axle type suspension 1 axle tube 2 lower arm (suspension arm)
26 Bracket 4 for connecting the stabilizer 4 Coil spring 5 Stabilizer 50 Intermediate region in the longitudinal direction (of the stabilizer)
52 Longitudinal ends (stabilizer)
8 Stabilizer link 90 Lower spring seat 91 Upper spring seat

Claims (1)

A pair of left and right suspension arms, which are arranged at intervals in the vehicle width direction and extend in the vehicle front-rear direction, and front and rear portions of which are connected to the vehicle body and the axle tube so as to be relatively rotatable, respectively.
Coil springs interposed between the lower and upper spring seats respectively provided on the suspension arms and the vehicle body above the suspension arms,
A stabilizer in which the longitudinal intermediate region is a twisted region extending along the axle tube;
Axle suspension equipped with
Longitudinal ends of the stabilizer, of the pair of suspension arms, in the vehicle width direction inner side portion than the center of the lower spring seat, is connected via a bracket and the stabilizer link stabilizer coupling ,
The bracket is attached to each of the suspension arms so as to be located near the lower spring seat, and the upper portion of the bracket is located on the inner side in the vehicle width direction with respect to each of the suspension arms. It is configured to project above the suspension arm,
The stabilizer link includes a pair of ball joints at both upper and lower ends, and the lower ball joint is connected to each end of the stabilizer, while the upper ball joint is connected to the upper portion of the bracket. wherein the are, axle suspension.

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