JP6171691B2 - Suspension device for steered wheels - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a suspension device for a steered wheel used in a vehicle such as an automobile.

For example, as shown in Patent Document 1, a suspension device for a steered wheel of an automobile
The lower end of the strut extending in the vertical direction of the suspension and the end of the tie rod of the steering system are connected to a housing (knuckle) that rotatably supports the steered wheels, and the lower end of the strut and the tie rod are connected to each other. The end portions are arranged close to the state where the axes intersect.

JP 2007-106193 A

  The front field of view of the front seat of the vehicle depends on the hood height at the front of the vehicle body, and this hood height depends on the ground clearance above the struts of the wheel suspension device (in this case, the front suspension device).

  Therefore, it is desirable to lower the ground height by lowering the hood height in order to increase the forward field of view. However, in this case, if the lower end position of the strut is lowered, the turning angle cannot be increased because the tie rod interferes with the lower end portion of the strut when the front wheel which is a steered wheel is steered.

  For this reason, as shown in Patent Document 1, the lower end position of the strut has to be set at a position higher than the tie rod that does not interfere with the tie rod, and naturally there is a limit to the expansion of the front field of view due to the decrease in the hood height. is there.

  Therefore, the present invention can reduce the ground clearance of the strut by lowering the hood height by avoiding the interference between the lower end portion of the strut and the tie rod even at the maximum turning of the steered wheels. A suspension device for a steered wheel that can expand the forward field of view of the wheel is provided.

  In the steered wheel suspension device according to the present invention, the lower end position of the strut extending in the vertical direction of the suspension is set below the tie rod of the steering system extending in the vehicle width direction in the vicinity of the lower end portion of the strut. It is.

  On the other hand, the main feature is that a portion of the tie rod corresponding to the lower end portion of the strut is provided with a curved portion capable of avoiding interference with the lower end portion of the strut when the steered wheel is steered.

  According to the present invention, by setting the lower end position of the strut below the tie rod, it is possible to reduce the ground clearance of the strut.

  Thereby, when applied to the front suspension of an automobile, the hood height at the front of the vehicle body can be lowered, so that the front view of the front seat of the vehicle can be enlarged.

  Since the curved portion provided at the portion corresponding to the lower end portion of the strut of the tie rod can avoid a mutual interference between the tie rod and the lower end portion of the strut, a large turning angle can be obtained. Both expansion and reduction of the minimum turning radius of the vehicle can be realized.

The front view showing one embodiment of the front suspension to which the present invention is applied. The top view of embodiment shown in FIG. The perspective view which looked at the maximum steering state of embodiment shown in FIG. 1 from the vehicle front. FIG. 4 is a plan view corresponding to FIG. 3. The side view of embodiment shown in FIG.

  Hereinafter, an embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings by taking a front suspension of an automobile as an example.

  The embodiment shown in FIGS. 1 to 5 shows the arrangement of the front suspension 1 on the left side of the automobile.

  A front suspension 1 that supports a front wheel 2 that is a steered wheel of an automobile with respect to a vehicle body includes a strut 10, a housing (knuckle) 20, a lower arm 30, a stabilizer 40, and the like.

  The strut 10 extends in the vertical direction, and includes a shock absorber 11 and a coil spring 12 disposed outside the upper portion thereof. In the illustrated example, the coil spring 12 is shown as a cylindrical outline line corresponding to the outer diameter thereof.

  The housing 20 rotatably supports the hub 3 for fixing the front wheel 2 via a bearing member, and is fastened and fixed to the lower end portion of the shock absorber 11 via a bracket 14.

  The lower arm 30 is provided on the suspension member 4, which is a strength skeleton member on the vehicle body side, so as to protrude outward in the vehicle width direction. Is pivotably connected.

  The free end of the lower arm 30 is connected to the lower end of the housing 20 via a ball joint 33.

  The strut 10 is attached to a vehicle body side strut housing via an upper mount portion 15 provided at the upper end of the shock absorber 11 so as to be rotatable about the axis of the shock absorber 11.

  The strut 10 is disposed so as to be inclined with respect to the lower end so that the upper end is on the inner side in the vehicle width direction and on the rear side of the vehicle. Thus, the required kingpin inclination angle and caster angle can be obtained on the kingpin axis K connecting the connection point of the upper mount portion 15 and the connection point of the housing 20 and the lower arm 30 by the ball joint 33. .

  The stabilizer 40 generates torsional torque against the behavior of the opposite phases of the left and right front suspensions 1 to maintain roll stability, and includes a stabilizer bar 41 and a stabilizer link 42 connected to the terminal. ing.

  The stabilizer bar 41 is also called an anti-roll bar and extends in the vehicle width direction, and both end portions are rotatably supported by bearing portions 5 provided on the upper surfaces of the left and right side portions of the suspension member 4. On the other hand, the stabilizer link 42 is connected to a bracket 34 provided on the lower arm 30.

  A steering force generated by a rotating operation of a steering wheel (not shown) is transmitted to the housing 20 through a tie rod 50 of a steering system.

  The suspension member 4 is provided with a steering rack mechanism 60 having a gear box 61.

  The rack mechanism 60 extends in the vehicle width direction, and both end portions thereof are mounted on the suspension member 4 via the vibration isolating bush 6.

  The tie rod 50 is connected to the end of the rack mechanism 60 via a ball joint 62, and extends in the vehicle width direction in the vicinity of the lower end portion of the strut 10 substantially on the extension of the rack mechanism 60.

  A knuckle arm 21 protruding forward or rearward of the vehicle is provided at a position above the connection point (ball joint 33) with the lower arm 30 of the housing 20, and the end of the tie rod 50 on the outer side in the vehicle width direction is provided at this position. The knuckle arm 21 is connected via a ball joint 22.

  The tie rod 50 and the lower arm 30 constitute a parallel link mechanism having nodes at the connection points of the respective end portions in the vehicle width direction.

  Thereby, the rotational operation force of the steering wheel is converted into the linear motion of the rack mechanism 60 by the gear box 61, and this is transmitted as a turning force to the housing 20 via the tie rod 50 and the knuckle arm 21.

  In the present embodiment, the tie rod 50 and the rack mechanism 60 described above are disposed in front of the vehicle with respect to the wheel center W · O of the front wheel 2 as shown in FIG.

  Therefore, the knuckle arm 21 is provided so as to protrude to the front side of the housing 20, and the tie rod 50 is connected to the front end thereof.

  Here, the lower end position of the strut 10 is set below the tie rod 50.

  On the other hand, the tie rod 50 avoids interference with the lower end portion of the shock absorber 11 when the front wheel 2 is steered in a portion corresponding to the cylindrical lower end portion (lower end portion of the shock absorber 11) of the strut 10. A possible bending portion 51 is provided.

In the present embodiment, as described above, the tie rod 50 is disposed in front of the vehicle in front of the wheel center W · O of the front wheel 2, so that the curved portion 51 of the tie rod 50 avoids interference with the lower end portion of the shock absorber 11. Therefore, the curved shape protrudes to the front side of the vehicle.

  The curved portion 51 is desirably formed along a line segment orthogonal to the axis X of the strut 10. In this embodiment, the curved portion 51 is orthogonal to the axis X when viewed from the side as shown in FIG. A curved portion 51 is formed along the line segment Y.

  The curved portion 51 has an arc shape with a required curvature as shown in FIGS. 2 to 4, and the front wheel 2 is turned to the maximum as shown in FIG. 4 so that the tie rod 50 and the lower end portion of the shock absorber 11 are In the state where they are close to each other, the axial center of the shock absorber 11 and the arc center of the bending portion 51 substantially coincide with each other so that the shock absorber 11 can be received inside the bending portion 51.

  According to the present embodiment configured as described above, by setting the lower end position of the strut 10 below the tie rod 50, the ground clearance above the strut can be lowered.

  As a result, the hood height at the front of the vehicle body can be greatly reduced, and the front view of the front seat of the vehicle can be enlarged.

  In this way, when the lower end position of the strut 10 is set below the tie rod 50, when the front wheel 2 is turned to the maximum on the left side of the vehicle as shown in FIG. 4, for example, the lower end of the shock absorber 11 with respect to the tie rod 50. The part comes closer. At this time, in order to avoid mutual interference by the curved portion 51 of the tie rod 50, a large turning angle can be taken.

  As a result, it is possible to achieve both of the above-described expansion of the forward field of view of the vehicle and reduction of the minimum turning radius of the vehicle by setting a large steering angle.

  In particular, in the present embodiment, the tie rod 50 and the rack mechanism 60 are disposed in front of the vehicle with respect to the wheel center W · O of the front wheel 2, and the curved portion 51 of the tie rod 50 has a curved shape protruding toward the vehicle front side. .

  With the front arrangement of the rack mechanism 60, a sufficient space for connecting the knuckle arm 21 and the tie rod 50 of the housing 20 can be secured, and a large steering angle can be advantageously achieved by setting the bending portion 51 in terms of design. it can.

  In addition, since the bending portion 51 is formed along the line segment Y orthogonal to the axis X of the strut 10, the bending portion 51 can be made as small as possible to avoid interference between the strut 10 and the tie rod 50. The setting portion around the bending portion 51 can be configured compactly.

  Further, the curved portion 51 has an arc shape, and the shaft center of the shock absorber 11 and the arc center of the curved portion 51 substantially coincide with each other at the time of maximum turning of the front wheel 2, and the shock absorber 11 is received inside the curved portion 51. Like to do.

  Thereby, the circular arc shape of the bending part 51 can be set smaller, and the surrounding structure can be made more compact.

  In the above-described embodiment, the tie rod 50 and the rack mechanism 60 are arranged in front of the vehicle in front of the wheel center W · O of the front wheel 2. It is also possible to apply to the specifications arranged behind the wheel center W · O.

1. Front suspension (suspension)
2 ... Front wheel (steering wheel)
DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 3 ... Hub 4 ... Suspension member 10 ... Strut 11 ... Shock absorber 12 ... Coil spring 20 ... Housing 21 ... Knuckle arm 30 ... Lower arm 40 ... Stabilizer 50 ... Tie rod 60 ... Rack mechanism K ... Kingpin shaft W ... Wheel of steered wheel Center X ... Strut axis Y ... Line perpendicular to strut axis

Claims (3)

While the lower end position of the strut extending in the vertical direction of the suspension is set below the tie rod of the steering system extending in the vehicle width direction in the vicinity of the lower end portion of the strut,
A portion corresponding to the lower end portion of the strut of the tie rod is provided with a curved portion capable of avoiding interference with the lower end portion of the strut when the steered wheel is steered ,
The curved portion of the tie rod has an arc shape, the steered wheel is steered to the maximum and the tie rod and the cylindrical lower end of the strut are close to each other, and the shaft center of the lower end of the strut is A steered wheel suspension device characterized in that the arc-shaped center of the curved portion of the tie rod substantially coincides with the arc shape of the curved portion so that the lower end of the strut can be received . The tie rod, and a rack system of a steering system that connects the tie rods are arranged in front of the vehicle from the wheel center of the steered wheels,
The steered wheel suspension device according to claim 1, wherein the curved portion of the tie rod has a curved shape protruding toward the front side of the vehicle.   The steered wheel suspension device according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the curved portion of the tie rod is formed along a line segment orthogonal to the axis of the strut.

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