Electromechanical vehicle height adjustment unit and vehicle height adjustment method
AssigneeILJIN MOTION & CONTROL GmbH
InventorsChangwon Hwang, Sungkeun Lee, Nathan Zambou
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Abstract
An electromechanical vehicle height adjustment unit comprises an upper spring pad operative to support an upper end of a vehicle spring, a top mount that is displaceable relative to the upper spring pad, and a displacement mechanism coupled to the upper spring pad and the top mount and operative to displace the top mount relative to the upper spring pad in a height direction. The displacement mechanism comprises a rotary-to-linear motion conversion mechanism and an electric motor.
Claims20
An electromechanical vehicle height adjustment unit, comprising:
- an upper spring pad operative to support an upper end of a vehicle spring;
- a top mount that is displaceable relative to the upper spring pad;
- and
- a displacement mechanism coupled to the upper spring pad and the top mount and operative to displace the top mount relative to the upper spring pad in a height direction, the displacement mechanism comprising:
- a rotary-to-linear motion conversion mechanism, comprising a first member that is rotatably mounted and a second member, the first member having a first outer length parallel to a center axis of the first member and having a first inner length parallel to the center axis of the first member, the second member having a second outer length parallel to a center axis of the second member and having a second inner length parallel to the center axis of the second member, wherein the first outer length is at least 2.3 times the second outer length or wherein first inner length is at least 2.1 times the second inner length;
- and
- an electric motor coupled to the rotary-to-linear motion conversion mechanism to drive the first member.
A method of performing a vehicle height adjustment operation using an electromechanical vehicle height adjustment unit, wherein the electromechanical vehicle height adjustment unit comprises an upper spring pad operative to support an upper end of a vehicle spring, a top mount that is displaceable relative to the upper spring pad, and a displacement mechanism coupled to the upper spring pad and the top mount and operative to displace the top mount relative to the upper spring pad in a height direction, the displacement mechanism comprising an electric motor and a rotary-to-linear motion conversion mechanism, wherein the rotary-to-linear motion conversion mechanism comprises a first member that is rotatably mounted and a second member, the method comprising:
- powering the electric motor to drive the first member of the rotary-to-linear motion conversion mechanism to displace the top mount relative to the upper spring pad;
- activating, by a control unit, a locking system to place the locking system into a configuration in which the locking system allows displacement of the top mount relative to the upper spring pad;
- and
- in response to detection of a malfunction of the locking system,
- causing, by the control unit, activation of the electric motor to displace the top mount relative to the upper spring pad to a defined safe state position.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.