JPH0617867A - Air spring with height adjusting mechanism - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To allow the height of an air spring to be changed rapidly by connecting the air spring, formed by connecting the end parts of a cylindrical flexible film body airtightly to an upper and a lower fitting members, to an auxiliary tank, provided with a movable or flexible partition wall for changing the volume through a conduit. CONSTITUTION:An air spring 1 is of a single bellows element type formed by connecting the upper and lower end parts of a cylindrical flexible film body 4 airtightly to an upper and a lower face plates 3a, 3b. An elastic laminated body 7 formed of plural elastic rings 5 and plural rigid rings 6 laminated alternately is airtightly fitted to the lower face plate 3b of the air spring 1, and the air spring 1 is connected to an auxiliary tank 2 through a conduit 8 connected to the elastic laminated body 7. The auxiliary tank 2 is formed into cylindrical shape, for instance, and its inside is partitioned by a piston 9 serving as a movable partition wall. With the advancing/receding action of the piston 9 in the auxiliary tank 2, the internal pressure of the auxiliary tank 2 and in its turn the internal pressure of the air spring 1 is made high/low, which results in directly increasing/decreasing the height of the air spring 1.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an air spring with a height adjusting mechanism, which is applied to, for example, a bogie for a railway vehicle.
This makes it possible to quickly change the height of the air spring.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, widely used air springs include air bellows in which upper and lower face plates are airtightly connected to each other. Two air spring structures, which consist of an air spring and a rubber laminate connected in series, are installed in two vertical positions, and the height of each air spring is adjusted. This is done by connecting each auxiliary tank connected to the air reservoir via a valve.

Under such application conditions of air springs,
If the vehicle height decreases due to an increase in the load on the vehicle,
When the vehicle height of the outer part of the turn decreases due to the action of centrifugal force during turning of the vehicle, the intake valve is opened by the operation of the height adjustment valve, and the pressurized air in the air reservoir is
By supplying the air into the air spring through the auxiliary tank, the height of the air spring and thus the vehicle height can be increased as required. Conversely, when the vehicle height is increased due to the reduction of the load, the vehicle will turn. When the vehicle height of the inside part of the turn of the vehicle at the time of time increases, the exhaust valve is opened by the operation of the height adjustment valve, and the air spring internal pressure is released to the atmosphere through the auxiliary tank. The vehicle height can be reduced as required.

[0004]

However, in the prior art, when adjusting the height of the air spring, the pressurized air is supplied or discharged from or to the outside through the auxiliary tank. Responsiveness is poor,
There is a problem that it takes a long time to change the height of the air spring.

The present invention has been made as a result of studies aimed at solving such problems of the prior art, and an object of the present invention is an air spring with a height adjusting mechanism which is excellent in responsiveness. To provide.

The air spring with a height adjusting mechanism of the present invention is a bellows type or diaphragm type air in which the respective end portions of the tubular flexible film body are airtightly connected to the upper and lower mounting members, respectively. The spring is connected to the auxiliary tank via a conduit, and in the auxiliary tank,
A movable or flexible partition for changing the tank volume is provided, and preferably, a plurality of air springs are connected to one auxiliary tank.

[0007]

According to the air spring with the height adjusting mechanism, the internal pressure of the air spring is directly changed by externally operating the movable partition wall or the flexible partition wall of the auxiliary tank to change the internal volume of the auxiliary tank. The height of the air spring can be increased and decreased very quickly if required. In addition, here, for example, when two air springs are connected to one auxiliary tank, the heights of those air springs are simultaneously increased in the same direction or in opposite directions, and this is also quickly performed. Can be changed.

[0008]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a schematic cross-sectional view showing an embodiment of the present invention, in which 1 indicates an air spring and 2 indicates an auxiliary tank.

The air spring 1 of this example is of a single bellows type in which the upper and lower plates 3a and 3b are airtightly connected to the upper and lower end portions of the tubular flexible membrane 4, respectively. is there. Here, an elastic laminated body 7 formed by alternately laminating a plurality of elastic rings 5 and a plurality of rigid rings 6 is airtightly attached to the lower surface plate 3b of the air spring 1, and
The air spring 1 is connected to the auxiliary tank 2 via a conduit 8 connected to the elastic laminate 7.

Here, in this example, the auxiliary tank 2 is formed in a cylindrical shape, the interior thereof is partitioned by a piston 9 as a movable partition wall, and the piston 9 is based on the operation of a rod 10 connected thereto. If it is possible to move forward and backward,

According to this, the height of the air spring 1 can be directly increased by increasing the auxiliary tank internal pressure, and by extension, the internal pressure of the air spring, by the advancing operation of the piston 9 in the auxiliary tank. The piston 9 can be retracted to reduce the internal pressure of the air spring, so that the height of the air spring 1 can also be directly reduced.

Therefore, according to the illustrated example, the height of the air spring can be changed much more quickly than in the prior art in which the air spring internal pressure is increased or decreased indirectly from the air reservoir via the auxiliary tank. It will be possible.

FIG. 2 is a schematic line sectional view showing another embodiment of the present invention, in which the inside of the auxiliary tank 12 connected to the air spring 1 is partitioned by a diaphragm 13 as a flexible partition. , Pressurized air is enclosed in the chamber 13a on the air spring side of the diaphragm 13, and incompressible fluid is enclosed in the chamber 13b on the opposite side to pressurize and depressurize the incompressible fluid. The piston 14 is
The auxiliary tank 12 is slidably contacted with the protruding portion.
Incidentally, a rod 15 for operating the piston 14 is also connected to the piston 14.

In such a device, the diaphragm 14 is lowered by lowering the piston 14 to pressurize the incompressible fluid.
, For example, by bulging toward the chamber 13a side as shown by the phantom line in the figure, and by increasing the internal pressure of the chamber 13a as required, the internal pressure of the air spring is also increased as expected. As a result, the height of the air spring is rapidly raised with the same responsiveness as in the case where the pressurized air in the chamber 13a is directly pressed by the piston.

On the other hand, when the piston 14 is raised to reduce the pressure of the incompressible fluid, the diaphragm 13 moves toward the chamber 13b side until the internal pressures of the chambers 13a and 13b are balanced with each other. As a result of the deformation, the internal pressure of the chamber 13a and thus the internal pressure of the air spring is reduced, and the height of the air spring 1 is also rapidly reduced by the amount corresponding to the decrease in the internal pressure. become.

FIG. 3 shows an example in which two air springs are connected to one auxiliary tank, which divides the inside of the auxiliary tank 22 into two by a movable partition 23, and the movable partition 23 is a hydraulic cylinder or the like. The movable partition of the auxiliary tank 22 is connected to the external drive means 24 which can be
Two air springs 1 are connected to respective positions separated by 23.

According to this connection example, the movable partition 23 is actuated by the external driving means 24, and the movable partition 23 is operated.
Since the volume of the chamber on one side is reduced and the volume of the chamber on the other side is increased, the heights of the two air springs 1 can be directly changed in mutually opposite directions.

Therefore, when this connecting structure is applied to a bogie for a railroad vehicle, the height of the air spring located outside the turn is increased and at the same time the height of the air spring located inside the turn is decreased. As a result, the riding comfort of the vehicle can be enhanced, and high-speed running on a curved track portion can be achieved.

FIG. 4 is a view showing another connection example of the two air springs. Here, by arranging two diaphragms 33 apart from each other inside the auxiliary tank 32, the inside of the auxiliary tank is divided into three chambers, and one chamber between those two diaphragms is divided. Is filled with incompressible fluid, and each of the other two chambers is filled with pressurized air, and the incompressible fluid is introduced into the cylindrical protrusion of the auxiliary tank 32.
An air spring 1 is connected to each of the two pressurized air filled chambers at a place where pressurization and depressurization are possible by a piston 35 slidably contacting with 34.

According to this example, when the incompressible fluid is pressurized by the lowering of the piston 35, each of the two diaphragms 33 bulges toward the air-filled chamber side and both the pressures of the filled chambers are increased. Therefore, the two air springs 1 are
Its height will be increased at the same time. In contrast,
When the piston 35 is raised to decompress the incompressible fluid, the heights of both air springs 1 are simultaneously lowered.

Therefore, according to this example, for example, it is possible to very quickly compensate for a change in vehicle height due to a change in the load on the railway vehicle.

[0022]

As is apparent from the above description, according to the present invention, in particular, a movable partition wall or a flexible partition wall is provided in an auxiliary tank connected to an air spring, and it is displaced or deformed from the outside. This allows the height of the air spring to be changed very quickly.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic line sectional view showing an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a schematic line sectional view showing another embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a schematic line partial cross-sectional view showing a connection example of two air springs.

FIG. 4 is a schematic line partial cross-sectional view showing another connection example of two air springs.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Air Spring 2, 12, 22, 32 Auxiliary Tank 3a Upper Plate 3b Lower Plate 4 Cylindrical Flexible Membrane 7 Elastic Laminate 8 Conduit 9, 14, 35 Piston 10, 15 Rod 13, 33 Diaphragm 13a, 13b Chamber 23 Movable bulkhead 24 External drive means 34 Cylindrical protrusion

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. An auxiliary tank, wherein an air spring, which is formed by air-tightly connecting respective end portions of a tubular flexible film body to each of the upper and lower mounting members, is connected to the auxiliary tank via a conduit. An air spring with a height adjustment mechanism, in which a movable or flexible partition for changing the volume of the tank is provided. 2. The air spring with a height adjusting mechanism according to claim 1, wherein a plurality of air springs are connected to one auxiliary tank.