JPH112279A - Vehicle damper - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a damper for a vehicle to vary a car height and rolling rigidity. SOLUTION: A damper rod 2 is vertically moved relatively by a drive mechanism 7 against an upper spring support 5 for a suspension spring 6 coupled to a car body. An elastically deformable rebound stopper 10 is arranged in a damper body 1. Through upward movement of the damper rod 2 against the upper spring support 5, the damper body 1 is lifted through the rebound stopper 10.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a vehicle damper having a function of adjusting a vehicle height and a roll rigidity.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, a vehicle damper includes a damper body,
A damper rod protruding above the damper body, movable vertically with respect to the damper body, and a suspension spring interposed between a lower spring receiver attached to the damper body and an upper spring receiver connected to the vehicle body. The upper end of the damper rod is fixed to the upper spring receiver.

There is also known a vehicle damper provided with a drive mechanism for vertically moving the upper spring receiver relative to the vehicle body so that the vehicle height can be adjusted by the vertical displacement of the upper spring receiver.

[0004]

In order to improve the kinetic performance during high-speed running, it is necessary to lower the vehicle height and increase the roll rigidity. However, when the upper spring receiver is vertically displaced with respect to the vehicle body, Although the vehicle height can be reduced, the roll rigidity cannot be increased.

[0005] In view of the above, it is an object of the present invention to provide a vehicle damper in which the roll rigidity can be varied according to the vehicle height.

[0006]

Means for Solving the Problems In order to solve the above problems,
The present invention relates to a damper body, a damper rod protruding above the damper body and movable vertically with respect to the damper body, and a lower spring receiver attached to the damper body and an upper spring receiver connected to the vehicle body. And a drive mechanism for vertically moving the damper rod relative to the upper spring receiver in the vehicle damper.

The damper rod is also moved upward relative to the damper main body by the upward relative movement with respect to the upper spring receiver. However, when the damper rod moves to the upper end position relative to the damper main body, the damper main body moves the damper rod. As a result, the overall length of the damper is shortened, the vehicle height is reduced, and the elongation of the damper is regulated. Therefore, the floating of the vehicle body on the turning inner wheel side is suppressed, and the roll rigidity is increased.

In this case, if a rebound stopper capable of being elastically deformed is provided within the damper body by the upward movement of the damper rod with respect to the damper body, the damper body is pulled up via the rebound stopper by the upward movement of the damper rod. At the same time, the elongation of the damper is elastically restricted by the rebound stopper. Therefore, the impact at the time of rebound can be absorbed to some extent by the elastic deformation of the rebound stopper.

[0009]

FIG. 1 shows a twin-tube type vehicle hydraulic damper having a damper main body 1 composed of an inner tube 1a and an outer tube 1b, and a damper rod 2 projecting above the damper main body 1. FIG. ing.

The interior of the inner tube 1a is an oil chamber filled with oil, and the space between the inner tube 1a and the outer tube 1b is provided via a bottom valve (not shown) at the lower end of the inner tube 1a. It is a reserve room that communicates with the room. The damper rod 2 is inserted into the inner tube 1a from above.
A damper piston 3 is attached to the lower end of the oil chamber, and oil flows through an unillustrated throttle hole formed in the damper piston 3 between the upper and lower chambers of the oil chamber as the damper expands and contracts. The damping force is generated by the applied flow resistance.

Also, the outer tube 1b of the damper body 1
The lower spring receiver 4 is attached to the vehicle, and a suspension spring 6 is provided between the upper spring receiver 5 and the lower spring receiver 4 connected to the vehicle body.
Is interposed.

The damper rod 2 is vertically movable relative to the upper spring receiver 5 by a drive mechanism 7. The drive mechanism 7 includes an electric motor 70 mounted on the upper spring receiver 5 and a worm 7 connected to an output shaft of the motor 70.
A worm wheel 73 that meshes with a worm 71 that is supported in a gear box 72 on the upper spring receiver 5;
It comprises a downward cup-shaped gear 74 connected to the worm wheel 73 and an upward cup-shaped connecting member 75 connected to the upper end of the damper rod 2. A spline 75 that engages with the gear 74 is provided on the inner peripheral surface of the connecting member 75.
2, and a male screw 75 that is screwed on the outer peripheral surface of the connecting member 75 with a female screw 76a formed on the lower inner peripheral surface of a cylindrical body 76 that hangs down from the gear box 72 as shown in FIG.
The connecting member 75 is rotated by the electric motor 70 via the worm 71, the worm wheel 73, and the gear 74, and the damper rod 2 is moved upward by the vertical movement of the connecting member 75 by the screws 75b and 76a accompanying this rotation. The spring receiver 5 is vertically moved relative to the spring receiver 5. The cylindrical body 76 is fitted to the central cylindrical portion of the upper spring receiver 5 via a mount rubber 77.

In the inner tube 1a of the damper body 1, a pair of upper and lower rings 8, 9 externally attached to the damper rod 2 is provided.
A rebound stopper 10 composed of a coil spring is provided between them. The lower ring 9 is supported by a retainer 9a fixed to the damper rod 2, and when the damper rod 2 moves upward with respect to the damper body 1, the rebound stopper 10 and the upper ring 8 are pushed up via the lower ring 9. After the upper ring 8 reaches the upper end position regulated by the stopper 11 at the upper end of the inner tube 1a, the rebound stopper 10 is further compressed by the upward movement of the damper rod 2 and the rebound stopper 10 is compressed. ,
The rebound operation is elastically restricted.
Note that the rebound stopper 10 is not limited to a coil spring, but may be formed of an elastic body such as a cylindrical rubber or the like.

Further, a bump stopper 12 made of a tubular rubber vertically extending from the bottom of a tubular body 76 is externally inserted above the damper rod 2 projecting above the damper body 1.

Next, the operation of the damper configured as described above will be described. During high-speed traveling, the damper rod 2 is moved upward with respect to the upper spring receiver 5 by the drive mechanism 7 from the state shown in FIG. In this case, initially, the damper rod 2 moves upward with respect to the damper body 1, but when the upper ring 8 is pushed up to the upper end position, the damper rod 1 moves through the rebound stopper 10 with the upward movement of the damper rod 2 thereafter. The damper is finally retracted until the upper end of the damper body 1 contacts the lower end of the bump stopper 12 as shown in FIG.

According to this, the vehicle height is reduced, the elongation of the damper is regulated by the rebound stopper 10, and the contraction of the damper is regulated by the bump stopper 12, so that the wheel rate is reduced as shown in FIG. It becomes stronger as shown by the line. Therefore, the rising of the vehicle body on the inner wheel side and the sinking of the vehicle body on the outer wheel side during turning are both suppressed, and the roll rigidity is increased.

When the vehicle is traveling at a low speed, the damper rod 2 is moved downward with respect to the upper spring receiver 5 by the drive mechanism 7 and the driving mechanism 7 moves to the position shown in FIG.
To the state shown in. According to this, the damper extends by the length indicated by L in FIG. 4 by the urging force of the suspension spring 6, and the vehicle height increases. Further, the upper ring 8 and the stopper 1
1 and the wheel rate becomes a value corresponding to the spring rate of the suspension spring 6 until the damper extends by this gap. Accordingly, the wheel rate becomes weak as shown by the line b in FIG. 4, and the cushioning property is improved.

By the way, the damper rod 2 is rotatably connected to the damper piston 3, and a variable throttle plate which rotates integrally with the damper rod 2 is provided so as to contact the damper piston 3.
A hydraulic damper of a type that varies the damping force by rotating the damper rod 2 is known. When the drive mechanism 7 is used, the damper rod 2 rotates when the damper rod 2 moves up and down with respect to the upper spring receiver 5. Therefore, the drive mechanism 7 is applied to the variable damping force type hydraulic damper, and If the damping force is increased by the rotation of the damper rod 2 given when the damper rod 2 is moved upward, the exercise performance during high-speed running can be further improved.

The drive mechanism 7 is not limited to the above embodiment. For example, as shown in FIG. 3, the drive mechanism 7 may be constituted by a hydraulic cylinder 7a attached to the upper spring receiver 5. In this case, the piston 7 in the hydraulic cylinder 7a
b, the damper rod 2 is connected thereto, and when traveling at low speed, hydraulic pressure is input to the upper chamber of the hydraulic cylinder 7a to move the damper rod 2 downward with respect to the upper spring receiver 5 as shown in FIG. During high-speed running, hydraulic pressure is input to the lower chamber of the hydraulic cylinder 7a to move the damper rod 2 upward with respect to the upper spring receiver 5 as shown in FIG.

In the above embodiment, a hydraulic damper is used, but the present invention can be similarly applied to other types of dampers such as a viscous damper.

[0021]

As is apparent from the above description, according to the first aspect of the present invention, the roll rigidity can be varied with the vehicle height.
The vehicle performance can be improved by lowering the vehicle height and increasing the roll rigidity during high-speed running.
According to the invention, the shock absorption at the time of rebound can be improved.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1A is a vertical cross-sectional view of the first embodiment when traveling at low speed, and FIG.

FIG. 2 is an enlarged sectional view of a main part of the drive mechanism of the first embodiment.

FIG. 3A is a vertical cross-sectional view of the second embodiment when traveling at low speed, and FIG.

FIG. 4 is a graph showing a wheel rate.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Damper main body 2 Damper rod 4 Lower spring receiver 5 Upper spring receiver 6 Suspension spring 7 Drive mechanism 10 Rebound stopper

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A damper body, a damper rod protruding above the damper body and movable vertically with respect to the damper body, a lower spring receiver attached to the damper body and an upper spring receiver connected to the vehicle body. A vehicle damper comprising a suspension spring interposed therebetween, wherein a drive mechanism for vertically moving a damper rod relative to an upper spring receiver is provided. 2. The vehicle damper according to claim 1, further comprising an elastically deformable rebound stopper that is compressed by upward movement of the damper rod with respect to the damper body.