JPS64324Y2 - - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] The present invention relates to a suspension of a vehicle such as an automobile, and more particularly to a helper spring.

Generally, in the suspension of a vehicle such as an automobile, a suspension member is installed between the frame of the vehicle body and the suspension member that supports the wheels to elastically support the vehicle body and prevent the impact input to the wheels from entering the vehicle body and the passenger compartment. It incorporates a main spring that prevents the main spring from being transmitted, and a helper spring that is a rubber-like elastic body that reduces the load on the main spring and prevents the main spring from deflecting excessively when the vehicle is heavily loaded. There is. Since a relatively large compressive load acts on the helper spring, its spring rate is required to be relatively large.

In addition, in the suspension of a vehicle such as an automobile, one end is fixed to a suspension member such as a frame or a control arm that supports wheels, and when the suspension member bounces, the other end hits another suspension member. A bound stopper made of a rubber-like elastic body is incorporated, which restricts the amount of bounce of the suspension member by being compressed and elastically deformed between the suspension members. In this bounce stopper, in order to prevent the impact when the other end hits other suspension members from being transmitted to the vehicle body and the passenger compartment, it is necessary to is required to have a small spring rate, and a so-called progressive spring rate in which the spring rate increases rapidly as the amount of deflection increases.

In view of such requirements, Japanese Utility Model Application No. 54-115021, filed by the same applicant as the present applicant, discloses a spring-loaded spring which has a horizontal hole and a void inside and is configured to exhibit a progressive spring rate. A stopper is listed. However, there is a limit to the ability to make the spring rate progressive by constructing the entire bound stopper from one type of rubber-like elastic body and by providing horizontal holes and voids inside it. Because it is unavoidable that large local elastic deformations occur in
It is difficult to ensure good durability and operational stability.

Further, in the conventional suspension, the helper spring and the bound stopper are provided separately, and there is a problem that the number of parts is large, and the assembly and maintenance of the vehicle are complicated.

The object of the present invention is to provide an improved helper spring that has a remarkable progressive spring rate, is excellent in durability and operational stability, and also functions as a bounce stopper.

Such an object, according to the invention, consists of a first spring element of elastomeric material fixed at one end to the suspension member and substantially fixed to said first spring element at one side. a rigid plate; and a second spring element of a rubber-like elastic body fixed at one end to the other side of the plate and configured to abut another suspension member at the other end; The spring rate of one spring element is achieved by a helper spring that is higher than the spring rate of said second sling element.

In the helper spring according to the present invention, when the amount of deflection is small, substantially only the second spring element with a small spring rate is elastically deformed,
When the amount of deflection is large, in addition to the second spring element, the first spring element with a high spring rate is also elastically deformed, thereby exhibiting a remarkable progressive spring rate, so that it not only functions as a helper spring but also It can also function as a bounce stopper to ensure good riding comfort. Further, according to the present invention, since it is not necessary to separately provide the helper spring and the bound stopper, it is possible to secure sufficient installation space for other suspension members, and reduce the number of parts and cost of the suspension members. In addition, vehicle assembly and maintenance can be easily performed.

Further, according to the present invention, there is no need to provide a horizontal hole or a cavity inside the helper spring, so it is possible to avoid the occurrence of large local elastic deformation in the case where these are provided. Also, the load that the second spring element receives from other suspension members is first transmitted to the plate, and then evenly transmitted to the first spring element by the plate, so when a horizontal hole etc. is provided inside. The durability and operational stability of the helper spring can be improved compared to the conventional one.

Furthermore, according to the present invention, the spring rate of the first spring element located at the root side of the helper spring is higher than the spring rate of the second spring element located at the tip side, so that the spring rate is higher than that of the second spring element located at the tip side. Even if the helper spring receives a shear load at its tip, this is absorbed by the elastic deformation of the second spring element, which has a lower spring rate, and the first spring element Since an excessive shearing load is prevented from being applied to the helper spring, the durability and operational stability of the helper spring can also be improved.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

Fig. 1 is an illustration showing one embodiment of the helper spring according to the present invention, which is incorporated into an automobile axle-four-link rear suspension in which the main spring is a compression coil spring.
FIG. 3 is an enlarged longitudinal cross-sectional view of the helper spring shown in the figure. In these figures, reference numeral 1 indicates a rear axle housing that supports a wheel 2, and the rear axle housing is connected to a frame 5 by an upper control arm 3 and a lower control arm 4. A lower spring seat 6 is fixed to the rear axle housing 1, and the lower spring seat 6 and the frame 5
A main spring 8, which is a compression coil spring, is located between the upper spring seat 7 and the upper spring seat 7, which elastically supports the vehicle body and prevents the impact input to the wheels 2 from being transmitted to the vehicle body and the passenger compartment. It is loaded with bullets. The axis 9 of the main spring 8 is inclined toward the front side of the vehicle with respect to a vertical line 10 passing through the center of the rear axle housing 1.
It extends in a tangential direction drawn at the center position of the rear axle housing in the standard loaded state of the vehicle with respect to the movement locus of the center of the rear axle housing 1.

A helper spring 11 according to the present invention is fixed to the upper spring seat 7 of the frame 5, and the helper spring extends along the axis 9 toward the rear axle housing 1. In the illustrated embodiment, the helper spring 11 includes a plate 12 fixed to the upper spring seat 7 by welding or the like, and a first cylinder made of natural rubber fixed to the plate 12 at one end. a spring element 13, a substantially rigid intermediate plate 14 secured to the other end of the first spring element 13, and a second substantially cylindrical spring element 14 secured to the intermediate plate 14 at one end. Spring element 1
5 and more familiar. second spring element 15
is made of urethane foam, which has a lower spring rate than the natural rubber that makes up the first spring element. Tip 1 of second spring element 15
6 is spaced apart from the lower spring seat 6 fixed to the rear axle housing 1 by a predetermined distance L, so that the main spring 8 comes into contact with the lower spring seat 6 only when the main spring 8 is compressed and deformed by the predetermined distance L or more. It's getting old.

The other end 17 of the second spring element 15 is the tip 1
6, and the other end 17 is provided with a recess 18 extending along the axis 9, so that the spring rate of the other end 17 is very high. In addition to being set to a low value, the displacement in the direction perpendicular to the axis 9 that occurs when the rear axle housing 1 bounces upward relative to the frame 5 as seen in FIG. On the other hand, the application of excessive shear stresses in the direction perpendicular to the axis 9 is avoided.

In an automobile suspension incorporating a helper spring and a main spring configured as described above, their spring rate is
In the region where the amount of deflection of the main spring 8 is less than L, the helper spring 11 does not act and only the main spring exerts a spring action.
As shown by the line O-A in the figure, the spring characteristic is substantially linear, and in the region where the amount of deflection of the main spring 8 is greater than or equal to L, the helper spring 11 is used in addition to the main spring. Since the second spring element 15 also elastically deforms and exerts a spring action, the spring rate is slightly larger than the spring rate when only the main spring is used, and relatively, as shown by line A-B in FIG. When the main spring 11 is elastically deformed further, the first spring element 13 as well as the main spring 8 and the second spring element 15 will be elastically deformed, as shown in FIG. 3. As shown by the line B-C, a pronounced progressive spring rate is exhibited.

FIG. 4 is an illustration similar to FIG. 1, showing another embodiment of the helper spring according to the present invention, which is incorporated in an axle-type rear suspension of an automobile in which the main spring is a leaf spring. In FIG. 4, members that are substantially the same as those shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 are designated by the same reference numerals.

In this embodiment, the rear axle housing 1 is connected to the frame 5 by leaf springs 19 and is elastically supported. Further, the tip 16 of the helper spring 11 is adapted to come into contact with an abutment member 20 fixed to the rear axle housing 1. The helper spring according to this embodiment is otherwise constructed similarly to the embodiment shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, and exhibits a spring rate similar to that shown in FIG.

Although the present invention has been described in detail with respect to a specific embodiment, the helper spring according to the present invention may be fixed to a bouncing suspension member such as a rear axle housing, and the present invention may also be used in a trailing arm type rear suspension. It will be appreciated that the present invention is also applicable to other types of rear suspensions, such as pensions, and even front suspensions.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

Fig. 1 is an illustration showing one embodiment of the helper spring according to the present invention, which is incorporated into an automobile axle-four-link rear suspension in which the main spring is a compression coil spring.
Figure 3 is an illustrative graph showing the spring rate of the suspension shown in Figure 1; Figure 4 is an axle type in which the main spring is a leaf spring. FIG. 2 is an illustration similar to FIG. 1 showing another embodiment of the helper spring according to the present invention incorporated into the rear suspension; 1...Rear axle housing, 2...Wheel, 3...
Upper control arm, 4...Lower control arm, 5...Frame, 6...Lower spring seat, 7...Upper spring seat, 8...Main spring, 9...Axis line, 10...Plumb line, 11
...Helper spring, 12...Plate, 13...
First spring element, 14...Intermediate plate, 1
5...Second spring element, 16...Tip, 17...
Other end, 18... recess, 19... leaf spring,
20...Abutting member.

Claims (1)

[Scope of utility model registration request] a first spring element of elastomeric material secured to the suspension member at one end; a substantially rigid plate secured to said first spring element at one side; and a substantially rigid plate secured to said first spring element at one end; a second spring element of a rubber-like elastic body fixed to the other side of the plate and configured to abut another suspension member at the other end, the spring rate of the first spring element being equal to the spring rate of the first spring element; A helper spring with a higher spring rate than the second sling element.