JP2009264551A - Suspension support - Google Patents

Abstract

Attenuation performance is improved while suppressing dynamic magnification.
A suspension support 10 includes an inner member 12, an outer member 14, and an elastic member 16. The inner member 12 includes a flange portion 20, and the outer member 14 clamps the elastic member 16 in the axial direction X. The elastic member 16 includes an upper elastic portion 42 held between the upper surface 20A of the flange portion and the lower surface 24A of the upper wall portion, and the lower surface 20B of the flange portion and the lower surface portion. A lower elastic portion 44 sandwiched and held between the upper surface 26A of the side wall portion, and air chambers 52 and 56 are provided inside the upper elastic portion 42 and the lower elastic portion 44, respectively. However, the vertical walls 70 and 72 provided in the flange portion 20 are constituted by the inner air chamber portions 52A and 56A, the outer air chamber portions 52B and 56B, and the connecting air chamber portions 52C and 56C. Passage 5 It is provided to communicate with the outside air by 58.
[Selection] Figure 1

Description

  The present invention relates to a suspension support for elastically coupling a piston rod of a shock absorber in a suspension mechanism of a vehicle such as an automobile to a vehicle body.

  2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, in an automobile suspension mechanism, in order to suppress transmission of vibration from the wheel side to the vehicle body side, an inner member into which an upper end portion of a piston rod of a shock absorber is inserted and fixed, and an outer periphery of the inner member are surrounded. A suspension support including an outer member attached to the side and an annular elastic member interposed between the inner member and the outer member is used (see Patent Document 1 below).

As the elastic member, a rubber material is generally used, but in recent years, an attempt has been made to employ a foamed resin material such as urethane foam (see Patent Document 2 below). Due to its material properties, urethane foam can increase the damping performance while suppressing the dynamic magnification, but it is easily affected by the usage environment such as hydrolysis, and the cost is high. It may become a problem when adopting it. Therefore, it is desirable to obtain a low dynamic magnification high damping characteristic comparable to urethane foam by devising the shape without depending on the material characteristics.
JP 2003-278822 A JP 2003-184937 A

  The present invention has been made in view of the above points, and an object of the present invention is to provide a suspension support capable of improving damping performance while suppressing dynamic magnification.

  A suspension support according to the present invention includes an inner member into which an upper end portion of a piston rod of a shock absorber is inserted and fixed, an outer member that surrounds an outer periphery of the inner member and is attached to a vehicle body side, and the inner member and the outer member. An annular elastic member interposed therebetween, the inner member including a flange portion projecting outward in the direction perpendicular to the axis of the piston rod, and the outer member including the elastic member And an upper side wall part and a lower side wall part that are formed inward in a direction perpendicular to the axis at both axial ends of the cylindrical part and clamp the elastic member in the axial direction, and the elastic member includes the flange An upper elastic portion held between the upper surface of the upper portion and the lower surface of the upper side wall portion; and a lower elastic portion held between the lower surface of the flange portion and the upper surface of the lower wall portion. With An air chamber is provided inside at least one of the upper elastic portion and the lower elastic portion, and the air chamber is inwardly perpendicular to the axis by a vertical wall provided in the flange portion and protruding in the axial direction. The inner air chamber portion on the side and the outer air chamber portion on the outer side in the direction perpendicular to the axial direction are provided separately, and the inner air chamber portion and the outer side are connected by the connecting air chamber portion on the outer side in the axial direction of the vertical wall An air chamber portion is connected and provided, and either the inner air chamber portion or the outer air chamber portion is provided in communication with the outside air through a throttle passage.

  According to the above configuration, the air chamber provided in at least one of the upper elastic portion and the lower elastic portion expands / contracts when the inner member is displaced relative to the outer member in the axial direction (vertical displacement). As a result, air enters and exits through the throttle passage. Since the attenuation performance can be enhanced by the phase delay due to the entry and exit of air, the attenuation performance can be improved while suppressing the dynamic magnification.

  Further, the air chamber is partitioned into an inner air chamber portion and an outer air chamber portion that are connected to each other via a connecting air chamber portion by a vertical wall provided in the flange portion, and then the inner air chamber portion and the outer air chamber. Since any one of the portions is provided in communication with the outside air through the throttle passage, high attenuation performance can be given not only to the vertical displacement but also to the horizontal displacement such as the vehicle lateral direction.

  In the said structure, it is preferable that the said air chamber is provided independently in the said upper side elastic part and the said lower side elastic part, respectively. As described above, by providing the air chambers in both the upper elastic portion and the lower elastic portion, the damping performance can be further enhanced. In this case, if both the air chambers of the upper elastic portion and the lower elastic portion are connected, when one air chamber is compressed, air escapes to the other air chamber, and the amount of air flowing in and out of the throttle passage However, since the upper and lower air chambers are independently provided in a non-communication state, each attenuation performance can be exhibited.

  In the above configuration, a plurality of the air chambers are independently provided in the circumferential direction of the elastic member in at least one elastic portion of the upper elastic portion and the lower elastic portion. It is preferable that the throttle passage for communicating with the outside air is provided for each chamber. Thus, by providing the air chambers in the circumferential direction separately and independently, attenuation performance can be exhibited in each air chamber. For example, even when the inner member is displaced in a direction in which it is twisted with respect to the outer member, Attenuation performance can be exhibited by the entry and exit of air in the throttle passage due to expansion and contraction of a part of the air chamber in the circumferential direction.

  In the said structure, the said air chamber is between the recessed part provided in the contact surface with the said flange part in the at least one elastic part of the said upper side elastic part and the said lower side elastic part, and the said flange part. The vertical wall is formed so as to protrude from the upper surface or the lower surface of the flange portion so as to enter the recess, and the throttle passage extends from the recess at a contact surface with the flange portion in the at least one elastic portion. It may be formed between a concave groove extending inward in the direction perpendicular to the axis and the flange portion. In this case, the air chamber including the inner air chamber portion and the outer air chamber portion and the throttle channel can be easily formed, and the manufacturing cost can be reduced.

  As described above, the suspension support of the present invention can improve the damping performance while suppressing the dynamic magnification, not only in the vertical direction displacement but also in the horizontal direction displacement. Stability can be improved.

  Hereinafter, a suspension support according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. The suspension support 10 is a strut mount for an automobile, and includes a metal inner member 12 into which an upper end portion 1A of a shock absorber piston rod 1 is inserted and fixed, and a metal outer member that surrounds the outer periphery thereof and is attached to the vehicle body panel 2. The member 14 includes an annular elastic member 16 that is interposed between the inner member 12 and the outer member 14 and supports the inner member 12 against the outer member 14 in a vibration-proof manner. The suspension support 10 is provided with the axial direction X of the piston rod 1 as the vertical direction.

  The inner member 12 includes a cylindrical inner cylinder portion 18 into which the upper end portion 1A of the piston rod 1 is inserted from below, and a ring plate that protrudes from the upper end portion of the inner cylinder portion 18 to the outer side Y1 in the direction perpendicular to the axis of the piston rod 1. And a flange portion 20 having a shape.

  The outer member 14 includes the elastic member 16 and a cylindrical portion 22 that concentrically surrounds the inner member 12, and is formed inwardly in the axial direction Y2 at both ends in the axial direction X of the cylindrical portion 22 and inwardly Y 2. The upper side wall part 24 and the lower side wall part 26 which clamp the elastic member 16 in the axial direction X are provided, and it is formed in the container shape which accommodates the elastic member 16 inside. Both the upper wall portion 24 and the lower wall portion 26 have a ring plate shape, and are provided with circular openings 28 and 30 at the center.

  In this example, the outer member 14 includes a bowl-shaped first outer member 32 that opens upward, and a flat plate-like second outer member 34 that covers the upper surface opening. A lower side wall portion 26 is formed, and an upper side wall portion 24 is formed by the second outer member 34.

  Specifically, as shown in FIG. 5, the first outer member 32 extends in an inverted taper-shaped cylindrical portion 22 that is slightly larger in diameter toward the upper portion X <b> 1, and an inwardly-facing Y <b> 2 flange shape at the lower end portion thereof. The lower side wall portion 26 provided and the lower flange 36 extended to the outer side Y1 at the upper end of the cylindrical portion 22, and for holding a bound stopper (not shown) on the lower surface side of the lower side wall portion 26. A holding portion 38 is provided. The second outer member 34 includes an upper side wall 24 on the center side slightly raised through a step and an upper flange 40 on the outer peripheral side. The outer member 14 is fixed to the vehicle body panel 2 by overlapping the upper flange 40 and the lower flange 36 on the lower surface of the vehicle body panel 2 and fastening them with bolts 3 and nuts 4. ing.

  In this example, the elastic member 16 is made of a rubber elastic body and is opened inwardly in Y2 so as to cover the upper surface 20A, the lower surface 20B, and the outer peripheral surface 20C of the flange portion 20 of the inner member 12, as shown in FIG. It has a U-shaped cross section. The elastic member 16 includes an annular upper elastic portion 42 that is sandwiched and held in the axial direction X between the upper surface 20A of the flange portion 20 and the lower surface 24A of the upper wall portion 24, and the lower surface 20B and the lower wall portion of the flange portion 20. 26, and an annular lower elastic portion 44 that is sandwiched and held in the axial direction X with the upper surface 26A of the 26. As shown in FIG. 3, these are separately vulcanized and molded by molding a rubber material. Yes. In addition, between the outer peripheral surface 20C of the flange part 20 and the cylinder part 22, the longitudinal elastic part 46 of the elastic member 16 is interposed over the whole circumferential direction. The longitudinal elastic portion 46 is formed by abutting annular convex portions 48, 50 extending integrally from the upper elastic portion 42 and the lower elastic portion 44.

  The upper elastic portion 42 is provided with a first air chamber 52 therein, and the first air chamber 52 is provided in communication with outside air through a first throttle passage 54. Further, the lower elastic portion 44 is provided with a second air chamber 56 therein, and the second air chamber 56 is provided in communication with the outside air via a second throttle passage 58. The first and second throttle passages 54 and 58 are set to have a small cross-sectional area so that when the first and second air chambers 52 and 56 expand and contract, the air enters and exits with a phase delay with respect to the expansion and contraction. It is a passage with high flow resistance. The cross-sectional area (S) of the throttle passages 54 and 58 is not particularly limited, but is preferably S / V = 0.01 or less with respect to the volume (V) of the air chambers 52 and 56, more preferably S. / V = set within a range of 0.01 to 0.001.

  The first air chamber 52 and the second air chamber 56 are provided independently, that is, in a non-communication state. Further, as shown in FIG. 4, a plurality of first air chambers 52 and second air chambers 56 are provided independently of each other (that is, in a non-communication state) in the circumferential direction C of the elastic member 16. ing. In this example, six first air chambers 52 and six second air chambers 56 are arranged at equal intervals in the circumferential direction C, and the upper and lower air chambers 52, 56 overlap each other in the circumferential direction C. Is provided. The air passages 52 and 56 are provided with the throttle passages 54 and 58 for communicating with the outside air.

  As shown in an enlarged view in FIG. 2, the first air chamber 52 includes an inner air chamber portion 52 </ b> A on the inner side Y <b> 2 in the direction perpendicular to the axis by a vertical wall 70 protruding upward X <b> 1 provided on the upper surface 20 </ b> A of the flange portion 20. The inner air chamber portion 52A is provided by a connecting air chamber portion 52C which is provided on the outer side air chamber portion 52B on the outer side Y1 in the direction perpendicular to the axis and secured on the outer side (upper X1) in the axial direction of the vertical wall 70. And the outer air chamber portion 52B are connected to each other. Thus, the first air chamber 52 is formed in a U-shaped cross section that is opened downward to receive the vertical wall 70. The dimension of the inner air chamber portion 52A in the direction perpendicular to the axis Y and the dimension of the outer air chamber portion 52B in the direction perpendicular to the axis Y are set to be substantially equal, and these dimensions are determined in the axial direction X of the connecting air chamber portion 52C. It is set approximately the same as the dimensions. The vertical wall 70 is provided over the entire circumference of the flange portion 20, and therefore, in a circumferential portion where the first air chamber 52 is not provided, a fitting groove 71 (see FIG. 3) in which the vertical wall 70 is fitted. Is provided. The first air chamber 52 is provided in communication with outside air through the first throttle passage 54 in the inner air chamber portion 52A.

  The second air chamber 56 is configured in the same manner, that is, the second air chamber 56 is formed on the inner side Y2 in the direction perpendicular to the axis by the vertical wall 72 protruding downward X2 provided on the lower surface 20B of the flange portion 20. A connected air chamber portion 56C provided on the inner side air chamber portion 56A and the outer air chamber portion 56B on the outer side Y1 in the direction perpendicular to the axis and secured on the outer side in the axial direction (downward X2) of the vertical wall 72. Thus, the inner air chamber portion 56A and the outer air chamber portion 56B are connected to each other. Accordingly, the second air chamber 56 is formed in a U-shaped cross section that is opened upward to receive the vertical wall 72. The dimension of the inner air chamber portion 56A in the direction perpendicular to the axis Y and the dimension of the outer air chamber portion 56B in the direction perpendicular to the axis Y are set to be substantially equal, and these dimensions are determined in the axial direction X of the connecting air chamber portion 56C. It is set approximately the same as the dimensions. The vertical wall 72 is provided over the entire circumference of the flange portion 20, and therefore, in a circumferential portion where the second air chamber 56 is not provided, a fitting groove 73 (see FIG. 3) in which the vertical wall 70 is fitted. Is provided. The second air chamber 56 is provided in communication with outside air through the second throttle passage 58 in the inner air chamber portion 56A.

  The first air chamber 52 and the second air chamber 56 are formed as follows. That is, the first air chamber 52 is provided in a portion sandwiched between the flange portion 20 and the upper side wall portion 24 in the upper elastic portion 42. In this example, the first air chamber 52 is located above the lower surface 42A (see FIG. 3) of the upper elastic portion 42. The recess 60 is formed between the upper surface 20 </ b> A of the flange portion 20. The second air chamber 56 is provided in a portion sandwiched between the flange portion 20 and the lower side wall portion 26 in the lower elastic portion 44. In this example, the upper surface 44A of the lower elastic portion 44 (see FIG. 3). Are formed between the recess 62 that is recessed downward and the lower surface 20B of the flange portion 20. These recesses 60 and 62 are formed in the shape of a slightly elongated slot along the circumferential direction C (see FIG. 4).

  The vertical walls 70 and 72 protrude from the upper surface 20A and the lower surface 20B of the flange portion 20 so as to enter the recesses 60 and 62, whereby the first air chamber 52 and the second air chamber. 56 are formed with the inner air chamber portions 52A and 56A, the outer air chamber portions 52B and 56B, and the connected air chamber portions 52C and 56C, respectively.

  The first and second throttle passages 54 and 58 are provided so as to communicate with the atmosphere on the inner peripheral side of the elastic member 16. In this example, the first throttle passage 54 is formed on the lower surface 42 </ b> A of the upper elastic portion 42. It is formed between the elongated groove 64 extending from the recess 60 in the direction Y2 in the direction perpendicular to the axis and the upper surface 20A of the flange portion 20. Further, the second throttle passage 58 is formed between an elongated concave groove 66 extending from the concave portion 62 in the axially perpendicular direction inward Y2 on the upper surface 44A of the lower elastic portion 44 and the lower surface 20B of the flange portion 20.

  When the suspension support 10 is assembled, the upper elastic portion 42 and the lower elastic portion 44 are respectively vulcanized and molded, and then the elastic portions 42 and 44 are assembled from both the upper and lower sides of the inner member 12 as shown in FIG. At that time, the interface between the inner member 12 and the upper and lower elastic portions 42 and 44 is bonded and fixed using an adhesive so that air does not leak from locations other than the throttle passages 54 and 58. Next, the inner member 12 to which the elastic member 16 is post-bonded in this way is placed on the lower side wall portion 26 of the first outer member 32 and the second outer member 34 is covered from above, as shown in FIG. The upper end 1 </ b> A of the piston rod 1 is inserted and fixed to the inner member 12 using the nut 5, and the flanges 36 and 40 of the first outer member 32 and the second outer member 34 are overlapped on the lower surface of the vehicle body panel 2. The bolt 3 and the nut 4 are used for fastening. Thereby, the elastic member 16 composed of the upper elastic portion 42 and the lower elastic portion 44 is held in a compressed state in the axial direction X by the outer member 14.

  In the suspension support 10 configured as described above, when the inner member 12 is displaced upward X1 by the input from the piston rod 1, the first air chamber 52 provided in the upper elastic portion 42 is compressed, and the first throttle passage 54 is The air in the first air chamber 52 flows out to the outside. When the inner member 12 is displaced downward X2 from this state, this time, the second air chamber 56 provided in the lower elastic portion 44 is compressed, and the air in the second air chamber 56 is externally passed through the second throttle passage 58. As the first air chamber 52 expands in the upper elastic portion 42, air flows into the first air chamber 52 through the first throttle passage 54. Next, when the inner member 12 is displaced upward X1, the first air chamber 52 is compressed, and the second air chamber 56 of the lower elastic portion 44 is expanded, whereby the second air chamber 56 is expanded via the second throttle passage 58. Air flows into the air chamber 56. Thus, when the inner member 12 is displaced up and down, the first and second air passages 52 and 56 provided in the upper elastic portion 42 and the lower elastic portion 44 expand and contract, so that the first and second throttle passages 54 and 56 Air enters and exits via 58. At this time, due to the flow resistance of the throttle passages 54 and 58, a phase lag with respect to the input vibration occurs in the air flow, and the damping effect is exhibited by the phase lag. Therefore, although it is the elastic member 16 made of a rubber elastic body, low dynamic magnification and high damping performance similar to foamed urethane having an open cell structure can be obtained, and riding comfort and driving stability can be improved.

  According to the present embodiment, the damping performance can be further improved by providing the air chambers 52 and 56 independently in both the upper elastic portion 42 and the lower elastic portion 44. That is, if the upper first air chamber 52 and the lower second air chamber 56 are connected, when one of the air chambers is compressed, the air escapes to the other air chamber, Although it becomes difficult to secure the amount of air flowing in and out at 58, by providing the upper and lower air chambers 52 and 56 independently, the respective damping performance can be exhibited.

  In addition, by providing a plurality of air chambers 52 and 56 independently in the circumferential direction C, it is possible to exhibit attenuation performance in each air chamber. For example, the inner member 12 is twisted with respect to the outer member 14. Even in the case of displacement in the direction, in the circumferentially compressed air chamber compressed by the twisting displacement, the damping performance can be exerted by the inflow and outflow of the air in the throttle passages 54 and 58 due to the expansion and contraction. That is, if the air chambers 52 and 56 are provided continuously over the entire circumference in the circumferential direction C, when the air chamber is compressed in a part of the circumferential direction C due to the twisting displacement, It escapes to both sides of the direction C, and it becomes difficult to secure the amount of air in and out of the throttle passages 54 and 58, but such a problem can be solved by providing them separately in the circumferential direction C. .

  In addition, the air chambers 52 and 56 are constituted by the inner air chamber portions 52A and 56A, the outer air chamber portions 52B and 56B, and the connection air chamber portions 52C and 56C, and the throttle passages in the inner air chamber portions 52A and 56A. The outer air chamber portions 52B and 56B expand and contract at the time of displacement in the horizontal direction (the Y direction in FIG. 1) such as the left and right direction of the vehicle by communicating with the outside air through 54 and 58. Air can enter and exit through 58. Therefore, high attenuation performance can be exhibited not only in the vertical displacement but also in the horizontal displacement.

  Further, according to the present embodiment, the air chambers 52 and 56 and the throttle passages 54 and 58 are formed in the contact surfaces 20 </ b> A and 20 </ b> B of the upper elastic portion 42 and the lower elastic portion 44 with the flange portion 20. Since it is provided, it is easy to mold and the manufacturing cost can be reduced.

(Other embodiments)
In the above embodiment, the air chambers 52 and 56 are provided in both the upper elastic portion 42 and the lower elastic portion 44, but may be provided in only one of them. The number of the air chambers 52 and 56 in the circumferential direction C of the elastic member 16 is not limited to the above, and can be set to various numbers. The upper first air chamber 52 and the lower second air chamber. The number of 56 may be different.

  Further, the throttle passages 54 and 58 are not limited to the case where they communicate with the atmosphere on the inner peripheral side of the elastic member 16, and the throttle passages 54 and 58 are formed on the outer side Y1 in the direction perpendicular to the axis from the outer air chamber portions 52B and 56B. By forming through, the outer peripheral surface of the elastic member 16 may communicate with the outside air.

  Moreover, in the said embodiment, although the elastic member 16 was formed with the rubber elastic body, you may form with foamed resin molded objects, such as a foaming urethane (polyurethane) molded object and a foamed ethylene vinyl acrylate molded object. In particular, in the elastic member 16 made of a urethane foam molded body, when the air chambers 52 and 56 are provided, in addition to the high attenuation performance of the material itself, further high attenuation performance from the shape surface by the air chamber should be exhibited. Can do.

Sectional drawing of the suspension support which concerns on embodiment (cross section corresponded to the II line | wire of FIG. 4) An enlarged sectional view of the main part of the suspension support Exploded sectional view of inner member and elastic member of suspension support Plan view of the assembly of the inner member and the elastic member Exploded sectional view of the suspension support

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Piston rod of shock absorber, 1A ... Upper end part 2 ... Body panel 10 ... Suspension support 12 ... Inner member 14 ... Outer member 16 ... Elastic member 20 ... Flange part, 20A ... Upper surface, 20B ... Lower surface 24 ... Upper side wall part, 24A ... lower surface 26 ... lower side wall portion, 26A ... upper surface 42 ... upper elastic portion, 42A ... lower surface (contact surface with flange portion)
44 ... lower elastic part, 44A ... upper surface (contact surface with flange part)
52 ... First air chamber, 52A ... Inner air chamber portion, 52B ... Outer air chamber portion, 52C ... Connected air chamber portion 54 ... First throttle passage 56 ... Second air chamber, 56A ... Inner air chamber portion, 56B ... Outer Air chamber portion, 56C ... Connection air chamber portion 58 ... Second throttle passages 60, 62 ... Concave portions 64, 66 ... Concave grooves 70, 72 ... Vertical wall C ... Circumferential direction X ... Axial direction, X1 ... Upper, X2 ... Lower Y ... Axis perpendicular direction, Y1 ... Outside, Y2 ... Inside

Claims (5)

An inner member into which the upper end portion of the piston rod of the shock absorber is inserted and fixed, an outer member surrounding the outer periphery of the inner member and attached to the vehicle body side, and an annular elastic member interposed between the inner member and the outer member And
The inner member includes a flange portion projecting outward in a direction perpendicular to the axis of the piston rod;
The outer member includes a cylindrical portion that encloses the elastic member, and an upper side wall portion and a lower portion that are formed inward in a direction perpendicular to the axis at both axial end portions of the cylindrical portion to clamp the elastic member in the axial direction. A side wall,
The elastic member holds pressure between the upper elastic portion held between the upper surface of the flange portion and the lower surface of the upper side wall portion, and between the lower surface of the flange portion and the upper surface of the lower wall portion. A lower elastic portion,
An air chamber is provided inside at least one of the upper elastic portion and the lower elastic portion, and the air chamber is inwardly perpendicular to the axis by a vertical wall provided in the flange portion and protruding in the axial direction. The inner air chamber portion on the side and the outer air chamber portion on the outer side in the direction perpendicular to the axial direction are provided separately, and the inner air chamber portion and the outer side are connected by the connecting air chamber portion on the outer side in the axial direction of the vertical wall. An air chamber portion is connected and provided, and either the inner air chamber portion or the outer air chamber portion is provided in communication with the outside air through a throttle passage;
Suspension support characterized by that. The air chamber is provided independently for the upper elastic part and the lower elastic part,
The suspension support according to claim 1. A plurality of the air chambers are provided independently in the circumferential direction of the elastic member in at least one elastic portion of the upper elastic portion and the lower elastic portion, and each of the plurality of air chambers is open to the outside air. The throttle passage for communication is provided,
The suspension support according to claim 1 or 2. The air chamber is formed between a concave portion provided in a contact surface with the flange portion in at least one elastic portion of the upper elastic portion and the lower elastic portion, and the flange portion,
The vertical wall protrudes from the upper surface or the lower surface of the flange portion so as to enter the recess,
The throttle passage is formed between a concave groove extending inward in an axially perpendicular direction from the concave portion on the contact surface of the at least one elastic portion with the flange portion, and the flange portion.
The suspension support according to any one of claims 1 to 3. The elastic member is made of a rubber elastic body.
The suspension support according to any one of claims 1 to 4.

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