KR102185230B1 - Air Spring with Function to Adjust the Height for MR Damper - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to an air spring integrated with an MR damper capable of adjusting the height of a chassis. According to the present invention, the air spring integrated with an MR damper capable of adjusting the height of a chassis comprises: an outer cylinder, a rod, and a piston; an MR damper including an inner cylinder; a bellows made of a flexible rubber material; an air spring unit; and a vehicle height adjusting means. According to the present invention, it is possible to maintain an optimal vehicle driving state.

Description

Air Spring with Function to Adjust the Height for MR Damper}

The present invention relates to an air spring with an integrated MR damper for a vehicle, and in particular, by adding an MR damper capable of controlling damping force to the air spring and a ground height adjustment function using hydraulic pressure, the space efficiency of mounting a suspension device of the vehicle is maximized and the spring constant does not change when adjusting the ground height. The present invention relates to an air spring with an integrated MR damper for a vehicle capable of adjusting the height of the vehicle, which simultaneously realizes stabilization of vehicle behavior and improvement of ride comfort, as well as maintaining an optimal vehicle driving state through reversible vehicle height adjustment.

In general, a suspension, which is a device that absorbs the impact of the road surface so that it is not transmitted to the vehicle body or occupants, is used in vehicles, vehicles, and vehicles.

In other words, the suspension is also referred to as a suspension device, and the shock absorber, spring, and suspension arm are the main components, and the shock absorber function and tire are provided so that the shock generated from the road surface is not transmitted directly to the vehicle body or occupants. It promotes ride comfort, controllability and stability of the vehicle by making sure it is grounded on the road surface.

These suspensions are divided into several methods depending on the structure, and the most common one is the strut method, in addition to the double wishbone method, the multi type, etc., and the shock absorber is usually absorbed by a metal plate and a shock absorber, and the shock absorber electronically controls the absorption characteristics. 'Electronically controlled suspension' has been developed and used, and'electronically controlled air suspension' using an air plate instead of a metal plate is also used.

In addition, there is an'active suspension' that uses a highly responsive hydraulic system instead of a plate and shock absorber, and uses a computer to control the vibration of the vehicle body according to the driving condition to achieve driving stability and steering stability.

In addition, in commercial vehicles having a relatively large weight, air suspension to which an air spring is applied is also used to improve ride comfort.

In addition, when the damper installed inside the air spring is a manual damper, the vehicle body has a high center of gravity and has a long body, such as large buses, double-decker buses, trucks, specially equipped vehicles, etc., to stabilize the body behavior during steering or braking and improve ride comfort. Since there is a limit to this, it is very advantageous to install a semi-active suspension for this.

As a conventional technique similar to this, there is an example in which an MR damper is installed in a vibration-proof mount having a structure similar to that of an air spring.

However, in the conventional case, since the MR fluid of the MR damper is configured to directly contact the air or nitrogen gas of the vibration mount, if the MR fluid is used in direct contact with air for a long time, the precipitation of MR fluid particles is accelerated and redispersed. There was a problem in that the ability was rapidly reduced, so that the MR particles in the damper sank in the form of mud so that the MR effect hardly appears.

In addition, unlike a vibration-proof mount that is installed and used on a fixed floor, when the MR vibration-proof mount of the previous study is used under the condition that the installation surface itself is moving like a car, the MR fluid inside the MR damper overflows to the outside of the damper, thereby controlling the damping force. There was a problem in not being able to do it properly.

In addition, as the conventional technology for adjusting the height of the vehicle body using an air spring for automobiles adopts a method of injecting or removing gas inside the air spring, it is difficult to accurately adjust the height of the vehicle body due to the compressible fluid characteristics, and nitrogen gas is used whenever the amount of nitrogen gas is adjusted. Due to the fluctuation of the spring force according to the volume change, it is difficult to maintain the optimum and uniform driving performance because it affects the riding comfort of the vehicle.

Utility model registration No. 20-0138514

Accordingly, the present invention was conceived to solve the above problems, and the object of the present invention is to first, allow the ground height to be adjusted and at the same time to maintain a constant amount of nitrogen gas in the air spring when the ground height is adjusted, so that the spring constant changes. Second, by forming a trapped MR damper that can physically separate the nitrogen gas and MR fluid in the air spring, even if the air spring moves while the vehicle is running, the MR fluid does not flow out of the damper. It is to provide an integrated air spring with MR damper for vehicles capable of adjusting the height of the vehicle body to improve performance by preventing direct contact with fluid to maintain the sedimentation and redistribution properties of MR particles.

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention is formed so as to form an outer cylinder, a rod, and a piston, which are positioned at a distance from each other up and down and have one end formed integrally with the bottom surface of the upper plate, and one end formed integrally with the upper surface of the lower plate. The MR damper that implements a damping force to absorb (attenuate) the shock and vibration generated between the vehicle body and the wheel when the vehicle is driven, including the inner cylinder, and the MR damper is integrally formed to surround the entire exterior of the vehicle. Comprising a bellows made of a flexible rubber material to implement a spring force so as to absorb the state displacement occurring between the vehicle body and the wheel, an air spring part composed of a support ring supporting an intermediate portion of the bellows, and a vehicle height adjusting means In an air spring for a vehicle, the inner cylinder is coupled to one side facing the piston so that the floating piston is movable at an interval, and MR fluid is filled on one side based on the floating piston, and air or nitrogen is on the other side. The MR fluid filled with the gas and filled with the space on one side of the inner cylinder and the air or nitrogen gas filled with the space on the other side are formed completely isolated from each other, and the garage adjustment means is a fluid movement path connected to one side of the lower plate And a hydraulic cylinder including a rod and a piston composed of a ball screw used to change a rotational motion into a linear motion so that the height of the damper and the air spring can be adjusted by supplying or discharging fluid through the fluid movement path. It is characterized in that it is composed of a driver consisting of a motor and, and a controller electrically connected to the motor to rotate the motor forward or reverse.

delete

delete

delete

delete

delete

delete

delete

delete

The present invention as described above increases the efficiency of the mounting space due to the installation of a separate MR damper by mounting the MR damper inside the air spring unit, and at the same time overcomes the limitation of improving ride comfort by generating a fixed damping force of the manual damper. There is an effect of implementing an air spring capable of controlling a damping force.

In addition, in the case of commercial vehicles (large buses, double-decker buses, trucks) having a higher center of gravity and longer vehicle body length compared to passenger vehicles, the unstable behavior characteristics of the vehicle body due to steering during driving are eliminated. The same phenomenon has the effect of significantly improving.

In addition, by adopting a method of injecting an incompressible fluid to adjust the height of the vehicle, it is possible to adjust the ground height without changing the amount of nitrogen gas, so that the height of the vehicle body is adjusted without changing the spring constant as well as accurate self-height. There is an effect that can be maintained.

In particular, by preventing direct contact between nitrogen gas inside the air spring and MR fluid, mud phenomenon that occurs when MR fluid overflows to the outside of the damper or sinks to the bottom of the MR particle is prevented, and the damping force control of the MR damper is maximized to keep the vehicle body moving and riding comfort. As well as improvement, there is an effect of achieving high quality and improved durability.

1 is a schematic cross-sectional view of a main part of an air spring for a vehicle according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention.
2 is a cross-sectional view schematically showing a state in which nitrogen gas and MR fluid are filled in an air spring for a vehicle according to the present invention.
3 is a cross-sectional view schematically showing a Jounce motion, which is a compression process of an air spring for a vehicle according to the present invention.
4 is a cross-sectional view schematically showing a state before a height of a vehicle air spring according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention.
5 is a cross-sectional view schematically showing a state in which the height of the vehicle air spring according to the present invention is increased.

Hereinafter, a preferred embodiment according to the present invention will be described in more detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

Here, elements having the same function in all of the drawings below are omitted by using the same reference numerals, and repetitive descriptions are omitted, and terms to be described later are defined in consideration of functions in the present invention. Specifies that it should be interpreted as.

1 to 5, the vehicle air spring 100 according to the present invention is roughly divided into an MR damper 110, an air spring unit 120, and a vehicle height adjustment means 130.

The MR damper 110 is positioned at a distance from each other up and down, and is installed between an upper plate 10 connected and fixed on one side to the vehicle body and a lower plate 20 connected and fixed on one side to the wheel. It implements a damping force to absorb (attenuate) the shock and vibration generated between the vehicle body and the wheel when driving.

That is, the MR damper 110 has one end of the outer cylinder 111, the rod 112, and the piston 113, and one end of the lower plate 20 formed integrally with the center of the bottom surface of the upper plate 10. Consisting of an inner cylinder 114 integrally formed in the center of the upper surface, it implements a damping force to absorb shock and vibration generated between the vehicle body and the wheel when the vehicle is driven.

Here, the outer cylinder 111 is filled with air or nitrogen gas to function as a spring inside, and serves as a guide for assisting the vertical movement of the damper, and is necessarily separated from nitrogen gas or air of the bellows 121 to shield it. There is no need to do it.

In addition, the inner cylinder 114 is coupled so that the rod 112 and the piston 113 can move up and down on one side of the inner side, and a floating piston 115 with an interval on one side opposite to the piston 113 It is combined to be movable.

In addition, the inner cylinder 114 is filled with MR fluid on one side and air or nitrogen gas on the other side based on the floating piston 115.

Here, it is preferable that the MR fluid filled in the space on one side of the inner cylinder 114 and the air or nitrogen gas filled in the space on the other side are completely isolated from each other.

That is, when the MR fluid comes into contact with air, it aggregates like mud (mud, mud) so that a change in damping force does not appear.

Therefore, in order to solve this problem, the MR fluid and air must be separated so that they cannot contact each other.

In addition, the piston 113 is made of an electromagnet, and a plurality of through-hole passages 113a are formed along the circumference thereof, and the outer surface thereof is in close contact with the inner surface of the inner cylinder 114 to apply shock energy or vibration energy to the vehicle. The city will move back and forth.

That is, the piston 113 reciprocates within the inner cylinder 114 by an external force transmitted through the rod 112, and the MR fluid filled in one side of the inner cylinder 114 is transferred to the piston 113 By moving to the other side through the formed flow path 113a, the piston 113 moves up and down in the inner cylinder 114.

At this time, the piston 113 made of an electromagnet generates a magnetic field or an electric field by a separate damping force controller (not shown) to change the viscosity of the MR fluid to adjust the damping force (damping force).

At the same time, the floating piston 115 formed on the inner side of the inner cylinder 114 is also moved up and down by interlocking with the movement of the piston 113.

In addition, as the piston 113 reciprocates, the length and volume of the rod 112 introduced into the inner cylinder 114 are changed, but the volume inside the inner cylinder 114 is constant, so the lead 112 It is desirable to adjust the amount of MR fluid to be filled in according to the volume of.

The air spring unit 120 is integrally formed to surround the entire exterior of the MR damper 110 and serves to implement a spring force to absorb a state displacement occurring between the vehicle body and the wheel when the vehicle is running.

To this end, the air spring unit 120 is configured similarly to a conventional air spring, consisting of a bellows 121 made of a flexible rubber material, and a support ring 122 supporting an intermediate portion of the bellows 121 do.

Both ends of the bellows 121 are coupled to the upper plate 10 and the lower plate 20, and the air or nitrogen gas filled therein is tightly sealed to prevent leakage.

The air spring unit 120 according to the present invention of this configuration implements a spring force of air or nitrogen gas filled in the bellows 121 to support the load of the vehicle and at the same time, the impact transmitted from the road surface to the vehicle body through the wheels. It serves to alleviate the vibration or vibration.

Meanwhile, the lower plate 20 is composed of a fixed plate 21 and a flow plate 22.

Here, the flow plate 22 may be coupled by various parts capable of performing a sliding operation such as a rail (not shown) so as to flow upward and downward through the fixed plate 21.

In addition, the lower end of the bellows 121 of the air spring unit 120 is firmly coupled to the flow plate 22.

That is, the flow plate 22 constituting the lower plate 20 is provided with the MR damper 110 and the air spring unit by supplying or discharging the fluid from the vehicle height adjusting means 130 through the fixed plate 21. 120) is constructed to be able to adjust the height by raising or lowering.

The vehicle height adjustment means 130 is connected to one side of the lower plate 20 and serves to adjust the vehicle height by adjusting the height of the MR damper 110 and the air spring unit 120.

To this end, the vehicle height adjustment means 130 supplies or discharges a fluid through a fluid passage 131 connected to one side of the lower plate 20 and the fluid passage 131 so that the MR damper 110 And a driver 132 that enables vehicle height adjustment by adjusting the height of the air spring unit 120 and a controller 133 capable of controlling the driver 132.

Here, the actuator 132 is preferably composed of a hydraulic cylinder and a motor, but is not limited thereto, and various configurations capable of smoothly supplying or discharging fluid to the lower plate 20 may be employed.

In addition, a rod formed inside the hydraulic cylinder and connected to a piston for reciprocating motion is composed of a ball screw used to convert a rotational motion into a linear motion, and one end thereof is connected to the shaft of the motor.

In addition, the controller 133 is electrically connected to the motor of the driver 132.

In addition, information about the garage obtained from a garage sensor (not shown) installed on a vertical bar connected to the vehicle body is transmitted from the ECU (not shown) and controls the rotational motion of the motor to rotate forward or reverse, or the driver's garage It is controlled by the operation of the height adjustment switch (not shown).

At this time, the ECU compares the actual garage and the stored prescribed garage, and if the difference with the prescribed garage is confirmed, the ECU transmits a signal to operate the controller 133 or when the driver operates the garage height adjustment switch. The controller 133 transmits a signal to operate.

As an example, when passing through a tunnel or an underpass through which only a vehicle with a certain height can pass, the driver operates the vehicle height adjustment switch so that the controller 133 rotates the motor in reverse.

Accordingly, when the motor rotates in the reverse direction, the piston moves backward, and the hydraulic fluid filled in the flow plate 22 is discharged in connection therewith, thereby lowering the heights of the MR damper 110 and the air spring 120 The height of the is lowered, so it can pass smoothly.

Conversely, when driving on an unpaved road in which depressions or high elevations exist together, the driver operates the vehicle height adjustment switch so that the controller 133 rotates the motor forward.

Accordingly, when the motor rotates forward, the piston moves forward, and when the hydraulic fluid filled in the cylinder is supplied to the inside of the flow plate 22 in connection with this, the MR damper 110 and the air spring are generated by the hydraulic force of the fluid. Since the height of the part 120 is increased to increase the height of the vehicle body, the vehicle body can pass smoothly without interference with the floor or stones.

Here, when the vehicle height reaches an upper limit value or a lower limit value (rubber buffer stop), the controller 133 stops the operation of the motor to stop the vehicle height adjustment.

Meanwhile, the present invention further provides a vehicle (not shown) including the MR damper-integrated air spring 100 capable of adjusting the height of the vehicle body.

An operation state of the integrated MR damper air spring for a vehicle capable of adjusting the height of the vehicle body according to the present invention configured as described above will be described as follows.

First, when a vehicle equipped with an MR damper-integrated air spring capable of adjusting the height of the vehicle body according to the present invention is operated, the MR damper 110 constituting the suspension due to the curvature of the road is compressed by Jounce motion and elongation. By repeating the process of rebound movement, vibrations and external shocks applied to the vehicle body are absorbed.

That is, in the case of the motion in the direction of the jaun, as the upper plate 10 and the lower plate 20 are compressed, the rod 112 and the piston 113 of the MR damper 110 descend.

At this time, the nitrogen gas contained in the outer cylinder 111 and the inner cylinder 114 is also compressed to generate a spring force.

At the same time, while the rod 112 and the piston 113 descend, the MR fluid in the inner cylinder 114 is pressed.

That is, in conjunction with the downward motion of the piston 113 made of an electromagnet, the MR fluid in the inner cylinder 114 generates a damping force while passing through the flow path 113a formed in the piston 113.

In this case, an external current may be applied to the piston 113 to adjust the magnetic force of the electromagnet to change the damping force.

In addition, the floating piston 115 descends in conjunction with the lowering operation of the rod 112 and the piston 113 to compress air or nitrogen gas filled in the inner cylinder 114, thereby assisting the damping force.

Conversely, in the case of a rebound movement, the rod 112 and the piston 113 of the MR damper 110 rise as the upper plate 10 and the lower plate 20 expand.

At this time, the nitrogen gas contained in the outer cylinder 111 and the inner cylinder 114 is also expanded and a spring force is generated.

At the same time, the rod 112 and the piston 113 ascend to compress the MR fluid in the inner cylinder 114 in the opposite direction.

That is, the MR fluid in the inner cylinder 114 passes through the flow path 113a formed in the piston 113 in interlocking with the lifting (raising) operation of the piston 113 made of an electromagnet, thereby generating a damping force.

In addition, when the MR damper 110 is compressed and expanded, the air spring unit 120 is also compressed and expanded.

That is, the air or nitrogen gas filled in the bellows 121 implements a spring force to support the load of the vehicle, and serves to mitigate the impact transmitted from the road surface to the vehicle body through the wheels.

Accordingly, the present invention can simultaneously implement a spring force for supporting the weight of the vehicle and a damping force for reducing shock and vibration by continuously repeating such an action.

In addition, by forming the air spring part and the MR damper into one, it is possible to significantly reduce the manufacturing cost of the vehicle to improve price competitiveness, and to achieve safe operation and improve driving performance through a vehicle height adjustment means.

The present invention described above is not limited by the above-described embodiments and the accompanying drawings, and various substitutions, modifications, and changes to other equivalent embodiments are possible within the scope of the technical spirit of the present invention. It will be apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art to which the present invention pertains.

100: vehicle MR damper integrated air spring 110: MR damper
111: outer cylinder 112: rod
113: piston 113a: flow path
114: inner cylinder 115: floating piston
120: air spring part 121: bellows
122: support ring 130: vehicle height adjustment means
131: fluid movement path 132: actuator
133: controller 10: upper plate
20: lower plate 21: fixed plate
22: flow plate

Claims (9)

delete delete delete delete delete delete The vehicle body includes an outer cylinder, a rod and a piston, which are positioned at an upper and lower distance apart from each other and have one end integrally formed with the bottom surface of the upper plate, and an inner cylinder formed with one end integrally formed with the upper surface of the lower plate. The MR damper that implements a damping force to absorb (attenuate) the shock and vibration generated between the wheel and the MR damper, and the MR damper is integrally formed to surround the entire exterior of the MR damper to prevent the state displacement occurring between the vehicle body and the wheel when driving the vehicle. In the air spring for a vehicle comprising a bellows made of a flexible rubber material to implement a spring force to absorb, an air spring portion composed of a support ring supporting an intermediate portion of the bellows, and a vehicle height adjustment means,
The inner cylinder is coupled to one side opposite to the piston so that the floating piston is movable at an interval, and MR fluid is filled on one side of the floating piston, and air or nitrogen gas is filled on the other side, and the The MR fluid filled in the space on one side of the inner cylinder and the air or nitrogen gas filled in the space on the other side are completely isolated from each other,
The vehicle height adjustment means changes the rotational motion into a linear motion so that the height of the damper and the air spring can be adjusted by supplying or discharging fluid through the fluid movement path and the fluid movement path connected to one side of the lower plate. Height adjustment of a vehicle body, characterized in that it consists of a drive consisting of a hydraulic cylinder and a motor including a rod and a piston consisting of a ball screw and a controller that is electrically connected to the motor to rotate the motor forward or reverse Air spring with integrated MR damper for vehicles. delete delete

Images