Suspension system with a tunable air spring
OwnerAnthony Diazinventor
Life of this patent
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Abstract
This invention relates to vehicle suspension systems and devices, and particularly to vehicle suspension systems and devices having an air spring with adjustable and/or tunable characteristics. The vehicle suspension may generally include features for modifying the spring rate of an air spring, such as, for example, to increase initial suppleness and to decrease spiking during later portions of travel. In an exemplary aspect, the fork may include features for decreasing the initial volume of the air chamber of the positive air spring during the initial part of travel and may further include features for expanding the air chamber of positive air spring during a later part of travel.
Claims20
A suspension fork comprising:
- a steerer tube;
- a crown attached to said steerer tube;
- a pair of fork legs extending from said crown, each of said fork legs comprising a hollow tubular stanchion translatably inserted into an open end of a hollow tubular lower having a closed end, at least one of said fork legs housing a positive air spring chamber and a piston disposed within said positive air spring chamber adapted;
- an adjustable air chamber extending from said crown and open into said hollow tubular stanchion, said adjustable air chamber comprising a tubular housing, a floating piston disposed therein and a valve in fluid communication with the interior of said tubular housing;
- wherein said valve is adapted to pressurize said tubular housing between said crown and said floating piston independently from said positive air spring chamber.
A suspension shock absorber comprising:
- a tubular body having a hollow interior and a valve, said valve being adapted to pressurize said hollow interior of said tubular body;
- a tubular piston body with a piston head inserted into said tubular body, said piston head separating said hollow interior of said tubular body into a positive and a negative air spring chamber;
- an extension body having a valve and hollow interior;
- a floating piston disposed within and dividing said hollow interior of said extension body into a first and second chamber;
- wherein said valve of said extension body is adapted to pressurize said second chamber and said first chamber is in fluid communication with said positive air spring chamber.
An adjustable air spring assembly comprising:
- a tubular housing having a hollow interior, a first end and a second end, said first end comprising a first valve, a second valve and an adapter for inserting into and attaching to an end of a suspension fork stanchion and said second end being open;
- a floating piston disposed and retained in said tubular housing, said floating piston dividing said hollow interior into a chamber at said first end and a chamber at said second end;
- wherein said first valve is in fluid communication with said chamber at said first end and said second valve is in fluid communication with the exterior of said tubular housing.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.