JPH0321394B2 - - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a vehicle height adjustment device, and more particularly to a vehicle height adjustment device suitable for adjusting leveling, rolling, etc. in two-wheeled vehicles, three-wheeled vehicles, four-wheeled vehicles, etc.

In general, in motorcycles, etc., if the vehicle height is not adjusted depending on the rider's weight, sitting height, road surface running conditions, or changes in the load, the ride will be uncomfortable and the riding posture will worsen. Otherwise, it seriously impairs steering stability.

For example, when braking suddenly on a two-wheeled vehicle, the center of gravity moves forward and the front fork compresses, while the rear cushion unit stretches, making the rider's riding posture worse and causing the rider to pass over bumps on the road surface during braking. In this case, the front fork is compressed and the effective stroke is not sufficient, causing the vehicle to bottom out.Furthermore, when starting suddenly or accelerating, the center of gravity moves rearward, the rear wheel cushion unit compresses, and the front fork When braking to extend the vehicle, the same riding posture deteriorates and the handling stability is impaired. Similarly, in the case of a four-wheeled vehicle, in addition to the problems described in the case of a two-wheeled vehicle, the riding position of a four-wheeled vehicle becomes unstable due to the rolling effect of the vehicle body during cornering, which impairs maneuverability.

On the other hand, even when the load is static, the vehicle height can be adjusted according to changes in the live load, the weight, height, and preferences of the driver. Alternatively, the present applicant has proposed a vehicle height detection and adjustment device that can automatically detect changes in vehicle height and correct the vehicle height even when the vehicle height changes while cornering. Showa 55-52903
(No.).

That is, this vehicle height adjustment device consists of a leveling sensor 1, which is a vehicle height detection device, and an air suspension unit 2, which are installed, for example, in a bracket between a rear wheel body frame 3 and a swing arm 4 of a two-wheeled vehicle, as shown in FIG. 5, 6, 7, and 8, and two dampers serving as an air suspension unit 2 are provided in parallel on both sides of the wheel 9. In particular, in order to ensure a sufficient stroke of the damper, and since the swing arm is somewhat inclined, it is preferable to arrange the leveling sensor 1 on the front side and the air suspension unit 2 on the rear side as shown in the figure.

The leveling sensor 1 has a structure as shown in FIG. That is, the bearing 11 is fixed to the head of a pair of hollow cylinders 10 such as cylinders, cylinders, etc. by roll caulking or the like.
A dust seal 12 is inserted inside the bearing 1.
A rod 13 passes through the center of the rod 1 in a slidable manner.

A bracket 14 is integrally connected to the bottom side of the cylindrical body 10, and this bracket 14 is connected to the wheel side, for example, the swing arm 4. A bracket 15 is also connected to the upper end of the rod 13 by pin connection, screw connection, etc. The bracket 15 is pivotally supported on the vehicle body frame 3 side. Cylinder 1
0, casings 16 and 17 having U-shaped cross sections and other similar shapes facing each other are inserted and fixed inwardly, and the outsides of the casings 16 and 17 are held by a cover 18.

Two sets of upper and lower phototransistors 19 and 20 are held inside one casing 16, and two sets of upper and lower light emitting diodes 21 and 22 are held inside the other casing 17 facing the phototransistors 19 and 20. ing.

A shielding plate 23 is connected to the lower end of the rod 13,
A hole 24 with an arbitrary inner diameter is bored in the center of this shielding plate, and when the lower part of the shielding plate 23 is located between the phototransistors 19, 20 and the light emitting diodes 21, 22, it blocks the incident light from the light emitting diodes 21, 22. Also, the shielding plate 23 is lowered and the holes 24 connect the phototransistors 19 and 20 to the light emitting diode 2.
When the phototransistor 1 is located between 1 and 22, the incident light is irradiated and the vertical movement of the shielding plate 23 causes the phototransistor 1 to be exposed.
9 and 20 are turned on and off.

As is well known, the air suspension unit 2 has a piston rod 27 slidably inserted into a cylinder 25 via a piston 26.
5 is divided into two oil chambers, upper and lower, an air chamber 28 is divided above the upper oil chamber, and a spring 29 is interposed in the lower oil chamber. cylinder 25
Eyes 30, 31 are provided on the piston rod 27, and the piston rod 27 is connected to the vehicle body side and the wheel side via these eyes 30, 31.

A control valve 32 can be installed at any position on the vehicle body.
is attached, and pipe lines 33 and 34 are connected to this control valve 32, and these pipe lines 3
3, 34, air is supplied from the air source 35 to one or both of the air suspension units 2 through the control valve 32, and air is supplied to the atmosphere through the control valve 32 and the pipe 34.
Air is discharged to the 6 side.

Three check valves 37, 38, and 39 are provided in the control valve 32, and the check valves 37 and 38 are interposed between the air source 35 and the pipe line 34, and the other check valve 39 is provided between the atmosphere and the pipe line 34. is interposed in. control valve 3
2 is provided with two solenoids SOL ₁ and SOL ₂ , one solenoid SOL ₁ is connected to the phototransistor 19 through circuit f, and the other solenoid
SOL ₂ is the other phototransistor 20 and circuit 4
0, and when solenoid SOL ₁ is energized, check valves 37 and 38 on the air source side are connected.
When the solenoid SOL 2 is opened and the other solenoid SOL ₂ is energized, the check valve 39 on the atmospheric side opens. (Figure 4) The circuit that turns on and off the solenoids SOL ₁ and SOL ₂ is as shown in Figure 5.

That is, the power supply V is connected to the solenoid SOL ₁ through circuits 41, 42, 43, 44, and the circuit 45
connected to solenoid SOL ₂ through circuit 44
A branch circuit 46 is connected to the circuit 41, and the circuit 41 can be selectively connected to any one of the circuits 42, 45, and 46 via three-point changeover switches 47, 48, and 49. Circuits 42, 43 are selectively turned on and off via pushbutton switches 50, which may be manual or automatic.

Circuits 51 and 52 are connected to the circuit 43, and one circuit 51 is connected to a circuit 52 in which light emitting diodes 21 and 22 are provided in parallel. Circuits 43 and 44 are turned on and off by relay contact I ₁ , and circuit 52 is connected to solenoid SOL ₂ by relay contact I ₂ ,
The relay contact I 1 is turned on and off by a normally closed contact I _1B , and the relay contact I ₁ is turned on and off by a light emitting diode 21 and a phototransistor 19, and the other relay contact I ₂ is turned on and off by a light emitting diode 22 and a phototransistor 20. As a result, it comes to be controlled on and off. Also, the normally closed contact _I1B is the B contact of the relay contact _I1 .

Next, we will discuss the operation.

First, when the solenoid SOL ₁ is energized, the check valves 37 and 38 open, and air is supplied from the air source 35 such as a pump or an accumulator to extend the air suspension unit 2 and raise the vehicle height. When the solenoid SOL ₂ is energized, the check valve 39 opens and the air in the air chamber 28 is discharged into the atmosphere, compressing the air suspension unit 2 and lowering the vehicle height. Therefore, before getting on the vehicle or while driving, if the driver wants to adjust the vehicle height according to his/her preference, first set the contact point 47 of the three-point changeover switch, and solenoid SOL ₁ will turn on and adjust the vehicle height. make it expensive,
Also, when set to contact 49, solenoid SOL ₂ is turned on and the vehicle height can be lowered. Also, normally it is set to 0 contact 48, but if the push button 50 is turned off, the solenoids SOL ₁ and SOL ₂ are always turned off, and therefore the air suspension unit 2 exerts its normal damper effect. Only. In addition, when adjusting the vehicle height while driving, the push button 50 is turned on, and this operation may be done manually or automatically, and in the case of automatic operation, it is automatically turned on when there is a change in the vehicle height. It is possible to use a switch like this.

Next, we will discuss vehicle height detection and adjustment while driving.

For example, when a two-wheeled vehicle is running, it accelerates and decelerates to do a wheelie.
When nose town occurs, that is, when the vehicle body becomes lower than the standard height, when the leveling sensor 1 is compressed and the rod 13 is lowered, the lower part of the shielding plate 24 blocks the lower light emitting diode 22, and the hole 24 Incident light from the upper light emitting diode 21 is irradiated onto the phototransistor 19 through the light emitting diode 21 . For this reason, the relay contact _I1 is turned on by the phototransistor 19, the solenoid _SOL1 is energized, and the check valves 37 and 38 are opened.
Air is supplied from 5 to the air chamber 28 of the air suspension unit 2 through pipes 33 and 34 and is expanded, causing the air suspension unit 2 to push the vehicle body up to the reference position. Conversely, if the vehicle body is higher than the standard position, leveling sensor 1
expands, thereby blocking the light emitting diode 21, activating the phototransistor 20 by the other light emitting diode 22, and turning on the relay _I2 . For this reason, the solenoid SOL ₂ is turned on and the check valve 39 is opened, so that the air in the air chamber 28 is released into the atmosphere, compressing the air suspension unit 2, and the vehicle height is lowered by that amount to the machine standard height.

By the way, in a two-wheeled vehicle, the load fluctuation is usually large on the rear wheel body frame 3 side due to the riding position, the side back, the tail back, the position of the gasoline tank, etc., and it is especially necessary to adjust the vehicle height on this rear wheel side.

However, changes in the load on the front wheels cannot be overlooked; for example, if the pressure in the air suspension unit on the rear wheels is increased, the pressure in the air suspension units on the front wheels may also be relatively increased slightly. , it has been confirmed that it can improve handling and ride comfort.

For this reason, it is conceivable to independently apply the same leveling sensor and suspension unit as mentioned above to the front wheel side, but a leveling sensor with a short stroke length is required, so it is necessary to install this leveling sensor on the front wheel side. However, there are problems such as cost and design disadvantages.

The present invention has been made by focusing on such conventional problems, and relates to a vehicle height adjustment device that can simultaneously adjust the rear wheel side suspension spring load and the front wheel side suspension spring load. Focusing on the fact that the burden on the front and rear wheels due to fluctuations is greater on the rear wheels, the air suspension unit on the rear wheel side is equipped with constant ratio pressure reduction switching valves or constant difference pressure reduction switching valves in the air hoses or each passage leading to the atmosphere. This paper proposes a vehicle height adjustment device that is connected to the air suspension unit on the front wheel side through a valve.

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 6 is a principle diagram showing the front wheel height adjusting device B of the present invention connected to the rear wheel height adjusting device A described above. The control valve 61 is connected to the conduit 34, and when the solenoid is excited, the air from the air source 35 is transferred to the constant ratio pressure reduction switching valve 6 (described later).
Similarly, when the solenoid is energized, the control valve 62 acts to discharge air from the air suspension unit to the atmosphere. Each of these control valves 61 and 62 has a solenoid _SOL4 ,
A SOL ₅ is provided, which is connected to the phototransistors 19 and 20, respectively, and is energized in conjunction with the aforementioned solenoids SOL ₁ and SOL ₂ . However, the solenoid SOL ₄ is also connected to the phototransistor 20 via the circuit 40, and when the solenoid SOL ₄ is energized and the control valve 61 is switched, the solenoid SOL 4 remains between the control valve 61 and the constant ratio pressure reducing switching valve 63. The air is exhausted to the atmosphere. 63 is the circuit 72
This is a constant ratio pressure reducing switching valve that selectively opens and closes the supply side circuit 72a or the discharge side circuit 72b, and has an air supply position a, an exhaust position b, and a neutral position c, and has a pilot circuit d on both sides.
e, and a spring g is provided opposite the pilot circuit e. The constant ratio pressure reduction switching valve 63 reduces the pressure of the air that has passed through the control valve 61 at a predetermined ratio and supplies it to the air suspension unit from position a, or connects the air suspension unit to the control valve 6.
2 and exhaust from position b. 64 is a pair of air suspension units on the front wheel side, and a piston 67 with a piston rod 66 attached inside the cylinder 65.
is slidably accommodated in the cylinder 65, and an upper oil chamber within the cylinder 65 accommodates hydraulic oil 68, and an air chamber 69 is formed above this. Further, a spring 70 that biases the piston 67 upward is housed in a lower oil chamber within the cylinder 65. Note that 71 is an outer tube that slides on the cylinder 65 and is attached to the piston rod 66. Each of the air chambers 69 is connected to a constant ratio pressure reduction switching valve 63 through a conduit 72.

By the way, the constant ratio pressure reduction switching valve 63 changes the pressure of the air on the output side proportionally to the change in the pressure of the air on the input side, thereby reducing the burden of the load on the front and rear wheels. The proportions are now adjusted proportionately.

The front wheel side vehicle height adjustment device employing such a configuration operates as follows.

Now, when the vehicle body becomes lower than the reference height, the solenoid SOL ₁ is energized based on the operation of the leveling sensor 1. Then, the solenoid SOL ₄ connected to this is also energized at the same time, and the check valves 37 and 38 are opened.
The control valve 61 operates, and air is supplied from the air source 35 to the air suspension unit 2 on the rear wheel side through the conduit 34, and the air is supplied to the circuit 72 via the control valve 61.
a, and further supplied to the constant ratio pressure reduction switching valve 63. At this time, if the pressure of the supplied air is above a predetermined level, the valve body is switched to position a by the pilot output from pilot circuit d, and air is directed from the control valve 61 to the front wheel side through the constant ratio pressure reduction switching valve 63. The air suspension unit 64 is supplied with air. The pressure of the air supplied here is a certain percentage smaller than that of the air suspension unit 2 on the rear wheel side. In this way, the height of the front and rear wheels increases.

When the vehicle body reaches a predetermined height, the phototransistors 19 and 20 of the leveling sensor 1 are shielded from light, and the solenoids SOL ₁ , SOL ₂ , SOL ₄ , SOL ₅
The check valves 37 and 38 and the control valves 61 and 62 are also closed and the vehicle body is maintained at the predetermined height.

Conversely, when the vehicle body becomes higher than the reference position, the leveling sensor 1 extends and the phototransistor 20
conducts and the solenoids SOL ₂ , SOL ₄ , and SOL ₅ are energized, so the check valve 39 is opened and the air in the air suspension unit 2 and the air in the circuit 72a are released to the atmosphere, and the control valve 62 is opened. connects the circuit 72b to the atmosphere. At this time, the internal pressure on the circuit 72 side is the spring g.
, the pilot circuit e switches the constant ratio pressure reduction switching valve 63 to position b, and the constant ratio pressure reduction switching valve 63 switches to position b, circuits 72 and 7.
2b, the control valve 62 is opened.
Air suspension unit 64 on the front wheel side
Release the air inside to the atmosphere. Even in this case, the ratio of the amount of air exhausted from each air suspension unit 2, 64 is designed to maintain a constant relationship. In this way, the height of the vehicle body returns to the standard height. In this way, the air suspension units can be provided on both the front wheel side and the rear wheel side, and the ratio of the loads to these units can be set at a constant ratio. Moreover, by doing this, there is no need to separately provide a leveling sensor for the front wheels, which is economical. Note that a constant difference pressure reducing switching valve can be used as the pressure reducing switching valve.

FIG. 7 shows an embodiment of a constant ratio pressure reduction switching valve used in this vehicle height adjustment device. In the same figure, 81 is on the air source side (for example, the pipe line 3
4), 82 is the main body block of the constant ratio pressure reducing switching valve, and 83 is the discharge side block, and these three are integrally connected. The source side block 81 is provided with a through hole 85 that is continuous with the air inlet 84, a valve chamber 87 that accommodates a valve body 86 that opens and closes the through hole 85, and an air introduction port 88. is actuated by a solenoid 89 energized by a control signal.

The main body block 82 of the constant ratio pressure reduction switching valve includes a source introduction port 90 communicating with the port 88;
A discharge port 91, a spool valve chamber 92 communicating with both ports 90, 91, a spool valve body 93 accommodated in the spool valve chamber 92, and an air outlet 94 communicating with one end of the spool valve chamber 92. It is provided.

The valve chamber 92 has a large diameter part 92a that slides into contact with the maximum diameter part at the tip of the spool valve body 93, a large diameter part 92b that communicates with the source introduction port 90, a medium diameter part 92c that is continuous with this, and an inner diameter part 92c. 3 continuous to the diameter part
Consisting of three small diameter portions 92d, 92e, and 92f,
A portion of the spool valve 9 is located between the large diameter portions 92a and 92b.
The sealing material 95 that comes into sliding contact with the large diameter portion of No. 3 is attached to the middle diameter portion of No.
A sealing material 96 that contacts the spool valve 93 is fitted at the right end of the small diameter portion 2c, and a sealing material 97 is fitted at the right end of the small diameter portion 92d.

On the other hand, the spool valve 93 includes a large diameter portion 93a that slides in contact with the large diameter portion 92a and the sealing material 95, an inclined surface portion 93b extending toward the opening end of the port 90, and a small diameter portion 9 that slides in contact with the medium diameter portion 92c and the sealing material 96.
3c, a ring groove part 93d facing the sealing material 96 and the small diameter part 92d, a small diameter part 93e slidingly contacting the sealing material 97, a ring groove 93f facing the discharge port 91, and a small diameter part 93g slidingly contacting the small diameter part 92f. .

A recess 99 for accommodating a coil spring 98 is provided at the right end of the spool valve body 93, and one end of the spring 98 is in contact with the seat surface of the adjustment section 100 screwed into the main body block 82 from the right end. This adjustment member 100 is designed to arbitrarily select the spring constant of the spring 98.

Further, a ventilation chamber 101 having one end open to the air outlet 94 is provided in the center of the spool valve body 93, and a through hole 102 communicating with the ventilation chamber 101 and the ring groove 93d is provided. .

The discharge side block 83 is provided with a discharge port 103 that communicates with the discharge port 91, and a valve chamber 106 that accommodates a valve body 105 that opens and closes an air discharge hole 104 that communicates with the discharge port 103, and the valve body 105 is a solenoid. 107.

Next, we will discuss the effect.

Before operation, the constant ratio pressure reduction switching valve is in the state shown in FIG.
The small diameter portion 93c is in contact with the small diameter portion 93c.

Now, when the solenoid 89 is energized, the valve body 8
6 opens the through hole 85, and air is introduced from the air source to the port 88 through the air inlet 84, and the air is introduced into the inclined surface portion 93b and the small diameter portion 93c sealed with the sealing material 96 and the large diameter portion 9 of the valve chamber 92.
2b and the middle diameter portion 92c.

For this reason, the introduced air has a change in the introduced air pressure of △P, where the outer diameter of the large diameter portion 93a of the spool valve body 93 is A ₀ and the outer diameter of the small diameter portion 93c is A ₁ . If _R , the inclined surface part 9
3b, △P _{R ( A 0}
-A ₁ ) acts, urging the spool 93 to the left in the figure.

Due to this bias, the spool 93 moves to the left and the through hole 10
2 comes to a position facing the middle diameter part 92c of the valve chamber 92, the air introduced into the gap passes through the through hole 102,
The reduced pressure air is supplied to the front wheel air suspensions 64 and 65, which are controlled devices, through the ventilation chamber 101 and the air outlet 94.

On the other hand, when the pressure P _F on the air outlet side reaches the set level or higher, the spool valve body 93 moves to the right against the spring 98, and the through hole 102 is connected to the valve chamber 99.
The small diameter portion 92d and the sealing material 97 reach a position where they face each other with a predetermined gap left, and the through hole 102 and the discharge port 91 communicate with each other through this gap. If the solenoid 107 is energized at this time, the valve body 1
05 opens the through hole 104, and the air on the air outlet side passes through the through hole 102, the discharge ports 91, 103, the valve chamber 106, and the through hole 104, and is released to the outside air.

As described above, the present invention controls the vehicle height of the front and rear wheels of a two-wheeled vehicle to a constant ratio with respect to changes in body weight and live load, and detects the relative displacement between the sprung and unsprung portions of the vehicle body. Therefore, a leveling sensor consisting of a light emitting diode and a phototransistor is installed on the rear wheel side, and the electric signal from this sensor operates a solenoid valve, which controls the opening and closing of a check valve and a control valve to adjust the vehicle height at the front and rear of the vehicle. This is a simultaneous and constant adjustment. In particular, since the air suspension units at the front and rear of the vehicle are operated simultaneously via the constant ratio pressure reduction switching valve or the constant difference pressure reduction switching valve, the air pressure in the front wheel side air suspension unit is equal to the air pressure in the rear wheel side air suspension unit. Since the pressure decreases at a constant rate, and the proportion of the load carried by the front and rear air suspension units can be set at a constant rate, the bank angle during cornering can be large, and the riding posture and riding position remain constant. This improves steering stability. In addition, the energy absorbed by the suspension springs is kept evenly across the front and rear of the vehicle.
Bottoming and over-stretching are less likely to occur, improving ride comfort.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

Fig. 1 is a side view of the vehicle height adjustment device attached to the rear of the vehicle body, Fig. 2 is a longitudinal sectional side view of the vehicle height detection device, Fig. 3 is a cross-sectional plan view taken along the - line in Fig. 2, and Fig. 4
The figure is a system diagram of the vehicle height adjustment device, FIG. 5 is an electric circuit diagram, FIG. 6 is a system diagram of the vehicle height adjustment device of the present invention, and FIG. 7 is a sectional view showing one embodiment of a constant ratio pressure reducing valve. be. 1...Leveling sensor, 2...Air suspension unit on the rear wheel side, 3...Vehicle frame, 4...Swing arm, 9...Wheel, 10...
... Cylindrical body, 13... Rod, 14, 15... Bracket, 16, 17... Casing, 19, 20...
... Phototransistor, 21, 22 ... Light emitting diode, 23 ... Shielding plate, 24 ... Hole, 28 ...
Air chamber, 32...Control valve, 61,
62...Control valve, 63...Constant ratio pressure reduction switching valve, 64...Air suspension unit on the front wheel side.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A control valve is interposed between an air source and an atmospheric passage and an air suspension unit on the rear wheel side, and the control valve is provided on the rear wheel side based on the output of a vehicle height leveling sensor. and a vehicle height adjustment device configured to adjust the vehicle height of the rear wheel by controlling the amount of air in the air suspension unit of the rear wheel. A vehicle height adjustment device in which an air suspension unit on the front wheel side is connected to an air source and a passage leading to the atmospheric passage through another control valve interlocked with the control valve and a constant ratio pressure reduction switching valve or a constant difference pressure reduction switching valve. . 2. The leveling sensor is a patent that consists of a rod that slides inside a cylinder, a shielding plate connected to the rod, a phototransistor installed in the cylinder, and a light emitting diode installed in the cylinder opposite to this. A vehicle height adjustment device according to claim 1.