JPS6332485Y2 - - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed description of the invention] The present invention relates to an atsupa support for a vehicle suspension system, and in particular to an economical atsupa support that can effectively make the spring characteristics in the bounce direction and rebound direction non-linear spring characteristics. be.

As shown in FIG. 1, a conventional strut type suspension system for a vehicle includes a shock absorber 6 consisting of a piston 2 and a cylinder 4, and a coil spring 8 disposed around the outer circumference of the shock absorber 6. The upper end of 2 is fixed to the vehicle body 12 via an upper support 10. A wheel 14 is attached to the cylinder 4.
A steering knuckle 16 with wheels is provided, and its end is supported by the vehicle body 12 via an arm mechanism 18.

The Atsupa support 10 includes a cylindrical inner tube fitting 20 to which the upper end of the piston 2 is connected;
A cylindrical outer metal fitting 22 attached to the vehicle body 12
and an annular elastic member 24 positioned between the two members and fixed thereto by vulcanization adhesive or the like. The elastic member 24 is connected to the shock absorber 6 and the coil spring 8.
absorbs vibrations from the wheels 14 that cannot be absorbed completely by
Such vibrations are prevented from being transmitted to the vehicle body 12.

Incidentally, the vibrations transmitted vertically from the piston 2 act as shear stress on the elastic member 24, but under such circumstances, in order to ensure the ride comfort of the automobile, it is necessary to The member 24 is required to have a structure that exhibits linear and soft spring characteristics under small loads, but exhibits hard spring characteristics that do not deflect significantly under large loads, in other words, to have non-linear spring characteristics due to requirements for handling stability. be done. For this reason, an atsupa support has been proposed that is equipped with an appropriate stopper means to prevent the deformation of the elastic member 24 under heavy loads. There are few structures that exhibit non-linear spring characteristics in either direction, and those that exhibit non-linear spring characteristics in both directions are structurally complex and difficult to process and assemble. However, there are inherent problems such as difficulty in attaching it to the vehicle body.
In addition, since the elastic member 24 is fixed to the inner cylindrical metal fitting 20 and the outer cylindrical metal fitting 22 using vulcanization adhesive or the like, there are also inherent economic problems such as high manufacturing costs. It is.

The present invention has been developed in view of the above circumstances, and its purpose is to:
The spring characteristics ensure that the relationship between load and deflection, which greatly contributes to the ride comfort of a vehicle, is effectively non-linear in both the vertical direction (bounce direction) and rebound direction, and is also structurally simplified. Another purpose is to provide Atsupa support with low production costs.

Therefore, in order to achieve this object, the present invention provides an outer cylindrical metal fitting to be attached to the vehicle body side, an inner cylindrical metal fitting to which a shock absorber piston rod is attached,
In the Atsupa support, which includes an annular elastic member or the like that is press-fitted between the outer cylindrical metal fitting and the inner cylindrical metal fitting and absorbs vibrations input through the inner cylindrical metal fitting, the upper part of the outer cylindrical metal fitting is A flange portion extending toward the inner cylindrical metal fitting is integrally formed, and the flange portion is fitted into a groove provided on the outer periphery of the elastic member, while an upper portion of the inner cylindrical metal fitting is extended outward from the side. a rebound stopper portion is formed, and a portion of the elastic member is sandwiched between the rebound stopper portion and the flange portion of the outer cylinder metal fitting to receive a rebound load, and the inner surface of the elastic member is and an outer surface of the inner cylindrical metal fitting, and gaps are provided between the outer surface of the elastic member and the inner surface of the outer cylindrical metal fitting, so that nonlinear spring characteristics in the vertical direction can be exhibited. That is.

Thus, according to the present invention, due to the existence of the gaps formed between the inner and outer surfaces of the elastic member and the inner and outer cylinder fittings, the initial height in the vertical direction of the bound direction and the rebound direction is reduced. The spring characteristics are soft (at low loads), and the non-linear spring characteristics that reduce deformation are effectively exhibited in the high load range, and the non-linear spring characteristics in the rebound direction are achieved with a simple structure. Moreover, by using a non-adhesive structure in which the elastic member is press-fitted into the inner and outer cylinder fittings, the manufacturing cost can be further reduced. It is.

Hereinafter, in order to clarify the present invention more specifically, one embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail based on the drawings. In addition, shock absorbers consisting of pistons and cylinders, coil springs, vehicle bodies, wheels,
The steering knuckle and arm mechanism are the first
Since this is the same as the conventional example shown in the figure, illustration and description will be omitted.

First, in FIG. 2, the Atsupa support 30 according to the present invention includes an outer cylindrical metal fitting 32 and an inner cylindrical metal fitting 34.
and an annular rubber 36 interposed between the two, and is attached to the vehicle body 12 via bolts 38 at the outwardly projecting flange portion of the outer cylinder fitting 32, and The inner cylindrical metal fitting 34 is attached at its lower part to the tip of the piston (rod) 2 of the shock absorber 6 together with a bound stopper 40, as shown in FIG.

By the way, the outer cylindrical fitting 32 has the second to fourth parts.
As shown in the figure, it has a truncated conical shape whose diameter decreases upward, and the upper part forms a flange portion 42 that extends inward for a predetermined length.
The upper end is formed as a receiving part 44 that is folded over twice and widens outwardly, while the lower part has an outwardly extending flange part 46.
is provided, and the vehicle body 12 is provided in a large portion of the flange portion 46 with a phase difference of about 120 degrees.
A bolt 38 for attachment to is attached by caulking. In addition, this outer cylinder metal fitting 32
can be advantageously manufactured by integrally press-molding the metal material (plate material) used to form it, and since the upper flange portion 42 is formed by folding it twice, The strength of the flange portion 42 can be significantly increased.

As shown in FIGS. 3 and 5, the inner cylindrical fitting 34 is a bottomed cylinder made of metal and has a flange portion (rebound stopper portion) 48 whose upper portion extends outward from the side by a predetermined length. A hole 50 is provided at the center of the bottom of the body to allow the tip of the piston 2 to pass through.

As shown in FIGS. 3 and 6, the rubber 36 is formed into an annular shape so as to be press-fitted between the outer cylindrical fitting 32 and the inner cylindrical fitting 34. A tapered surface 5 whose radial cross section is approximately V-shaped and whose inner surface widens upward.
It is said to be 2. Further, an annular circumferential groove 54 is formed in the upper portion of the outer surface of the rubber 36, and a rubber portion located above the circumferential groove 54 is a rebound rubber portion 56. Furthermore, such rubber 3
An annular hollowed out part 58 having a predetermined depth and a predetermined width extending in the circumferential direction is formed in the lower part of the outer surface of the rubber 36, and an annular protrusion that is pressed by the bound stopper 40 is formed around the lower end of the rubber 36. A strip 60 is formed. Further, the outer circumferential surface of the rubber located below the circumferential groove 54 formed on the upper part of the outer circumferential surface of the rubber 36 is formed into an inclined surface 62 that enters the circumferential groove 54 toward the circumferential groove 54. A rounded portion 64 is formed.

Note that the bound stopper 40 shown in FIG.
is made of a metal material with a face-down shape, and has a hole 66 in its center approximately through which the piston rod 2 of the shock absorber is passed, and around the hole 66 is a hole 66 of the inner cylindrical fitting 34. A plurality of protrusions 68 are formed for projection welding to the bottom.

In order to assemble the outer cylindrical metal fitting 32, the inner cylindrical metal fitting 34, the rubber 36, and the bound stopper 40 to complete the upper support 30 according to the present invention, first, the rubber 36 having the shape shown in FIG.
After vulcanization molding, the rubber 36 is inserted into the circumferential groove 54 on the outer surface of the inner flange portion 42 of the outer cylinder fitting 32.
Press fit into the outer cylindrical fitting 32 so that it fits,
Furthermore, the inner cylindrical metal fitting 34 is press-fitted inside the rubber 36, and projection welding is performed between the bottom of the inner cylindrical metal 34 and the bound stopper 40 to assemble each part integrally. Furthermore, due to such assembly, the rubber 36
is given preliminary compression as shown in Figure 3, but even with such compression,
The inner and outer surfaces of the rubber 36, the inner cylindrical fitting 34, and the outer cylindrical fitting 3
2, predetermined gaps 70 and 72 are formed between them. That is, a gap 70 is formed between the upper outer surface of the inner cylindrical fitting 34 and the tapered surface 52 at the upper inner surface of the rubber 36, and a gap 70 is formed between the inner surface located below the flange portion 42 of the outer cylindrical fitting 32 and the periphery of the rubber 36. A gap 72 is formed between the groove 54 and the inclined surface 62 formed below. Furthermore, the gaps 70 and 72 are determined to have dimensions that allow a predetermined gap to remain even if a vehicle load is applied to the upper support 30 when the acceleration is zero.

Therefore, in this upper support 30, the vibration load input from the shock absorber, especially the piston rod 2, is applied to the rubber 36 of the upper support 30.
, the rubber 36 is compressed and deformed by the load in either the bounce direction or the rebound direction, but the rubber 36 and the inner cylinder metal fitting are 34,
There are gaps 70 and 72 between them and the outer cylinder fitting 32, respectively.
Because of the existence of these gaps 70 and 72, the deformation of the rubber in the initial low load region is absorbed, thereby making the spring characteristics soft.

As the load increases, the rubber 36 is gradually deformed in the lateral direction, and the gaps 70 and 72 formed inside and outside the rubber 36 are narrowed. Gap 70, 72
becomes zero, and the entire rubber 36 comes into full contact with the inner cylindrical metal fitting 34 and the outer cylindrical metal fitting 32, so that they are in an integrated state. In this state, all the load is received as a compressive load on the rubber 36, and the deformation of the rubber 36 is prevented by the inner cylinder metal fitting 34 and the outer cylinder metal fitting 32, so it exhibits hard spring characteristics and does not bend. It will be effectively suppressed.

FIG. 8 shows the load on the Atsupa support 30.
The deflection curve is schematically shown, but when the vibration load input in the bound direction and rebound direction is in the low load range, it shows soft spring characteristics as shown by straight lines A and A', and when the vibration load is high load In this range, the spring characteristics shift to hard spring characteristics as shown by solid lines B and B'. Note that the positions of the bending points G and G' can be freely selected depending on the sizes of the gaps 70 and 72.

Moreover, in this way, the rubber 36 is attached to the outer cylinder fitting 32.
Since it is not bonded to the inner cylindrical metal fitting 34 and is simply assembled by press-fitting, the phenomenon of peeling of the adhesive surface to the rubber outer cylinder and inner cylindrical metal fitting as in the conventional Atsupa Support is completely impossible. Therefore, there is an advantage that assembly of the Atsupa support 30, parts replacement, etc. are extremely easy.
In addition, since there is no need to vulcanize and bond the inner cylindrical metal fitting 34, the manufacturing cost can be reduced.

Furthermore, in this embodiment, since the inner flange portion 42 that receives the bound load and rebound load of the outer cylinder fitting 32 is formed by integral press molding and bending, the strength of the flange portion 42 is increased. can hold,
This made it possible to significantly improve its durability.

Although one embodiment of the present invention has been described above, the present invention is by no means limited to this embodiment, and various modifications may be made based on the knowledge of those skilled in the art without departing from the spirit of the present invention. Needless to say, changes and modifications may be made.

For example, as shown in FIG. 9, it is also possible to use a rubber 74 that does not have the hollowed-out portion 58 provided at the lower part of the outer surface of the rubber 36, and it is also possible to use a rubber 74 in which the lower part of the inner surface of the rubber 74 is directed outward. When the rubber 74 is press-fitted into the outer cylindrical metal fitting 32 and the inner cylindrical metal fitting 34 as the tapered surface 76 that once widened (it becomes a tapered surface in the opposite direction to the tapered surface 52 formed on the upper inner surface) and assembled. In this case, it is also possible to form a third gap 78 with the inner cylinder fitting 34.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a partially sectional front view schematically showing a vehicle suspension system equipped with a conventional Atsupa support, and FIG. 2 is a plan view of an embodiment of the Atsupa support for a vehicle suspension system according to the present invention. , FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view of FIG. 2, and FIGS. 4, 5, 6, and 7 respectively show the outer cylindrical metal fitting, inner cylindrical metal fitting, rubber, and bound stopper that constitute the upper support. FIG. 8 is a graph schematically showing the spring characteristics of such an Atsupa support, and FIG. 9 is a diagram corresponding to FIG. 3 showing another embodiment of the present invention. . 2: Piston, 4: Cylinder, 6: Buffer,
8: Coil spring, 12: Vehicle body, 30: Atsupa support, 32: Outer cylinder metal fitting, 34: Inner cylinder metal fitting,
36, 74: Rubber, 40: Bound stopper, 4
2: Flange part, 44: Receiving part, 48: Flange part (rebound stopper part), 52, 76: Tapered surface, 54: Circumferential groove, 56: Rebound rubber part, 5
8: Lightening part, 60: Annular protrusion, 62: Slanted surface,
64:R portion, 68:Protrusion, 70, 72, 7
8: Gap.

Claims (1)

[Scope of claim for utility model registration] (1) An outer cylindrical metal fitting attached to the vehicle body side, an inner cylindrical metal fitting to which a shock absorber piston rod is attached, and the outer cylindrical metal fitting is press-fitted between the inner cylindrical metal fitting and the In the Atsupa support including an annular elastic member that absorbs vibrations input through the inner cylindrical metal fitting, a flange portion extending toward the inner cylindrical metal fitting side is integrally formed on the upper part of the outer cylindrical metal fitting, and the flange portion part is fitted into a groove provided on the outer periphery of the elastic member, while an upper part of the inner cylinder fitting is extended outward from the side to form a rebound stopper part, and the rebound stopper part and the outer cylinder A portion of the elastic member is held between the flange portion of the metal fitting to receive a rebound load, and a portion of the elastic member is held between the inner surface of the elastic member and the outer surface of the inner cylinder fitting, and between the outer surface of the elastic member and the outer surface of the inner tube fitting. An atsupa support for a vehicle suspension system, characterized in that a gap is provided between the inner surface of the outer cylinder metal fitting and the nonlinear spring characteristics in the vertical direction can be exhibited. (2) The upper part according to claim 1, wherein the flange portion of the outer cylindrical metal fitting is integrally formed by bending the material forming the outer cylindrical metal fitting by integral press molding. support.