Active suspension for a vehicle

An active suspension for a vehicle, comprising:

• a hydraulic actuator designed to be arranged between a respective wheel of the vehicle and a body of the vehicle and comprising a cylinder and a piston slidably mounted inside the cylinder so as to divide an internal volume of the cylinder into a pair of variable-volume chambers, namely a compression chamber and an extension chamber, both containing a working fluid, and
• a supply hydraulic circuit connected to the hydraulic actuator to supply the compression chamber and the extension chamber with the working fluid,
• wherein the supply hydraulic circuit comprises a hydraulic pump, a high-pressure line connected to a delivery port of the hydraulic pump, a low-pressure line connected to a suction port of the hydraulic pump, and a flow control valve connected on one side to the compression chamber and the extension chamber of the hydraulic actuator and on the other side to the high-pressure line and the low-pressure line to put said compression and extension chambers of the hydraulic actuator in fluid communication with said high-pressure and low-pressure lines of the supply hydraulic circuit,
• wherein the flow control valve is a spool valve comprising a spool which is continuously movable between a plurality of operating positions comprised, in a first direction, between a zero position and a first end operating position and, in a second direction opposite to the first direction, between said zero position and a second end operating position, and
• wherein the flow control valve is configured such that in each operating position of the spool between said first end operating position and said second end operating position it connects at least one of the compression chamber and the extension chamber of the hydraulic actuator with the high-pressure line,
• wherein the spool of the flow control valve is a rotary spool, configured to move between said first and second end operating positions by rotation about an axis of rotation, and in that the flow control valve further comprises an actuating unit for driving the spool into rotation in one direction or the other about said axis of rotation, said actuating unit being formed by an electric motor which is mounted coaxially with the spool and comprises a rotor, a stator and a shaft on which the rotor is mounted so as to be drivingly connected for rotation therewith, said shaft being rigidly connected with the spool.