Hydraulic anti-roll bar link

An anti-roll bar system for a vehicle suspension, the anti-roll bar system comprising:

• an anti-roll bar;
• and
• an anti-roll bar link coupled to the anti-roll bar to transfer movement of an articulating
• arm of the vehicle suspension to the anti-roll bar, the anti-roll bar link comprising:
• an elongate body having:
• a central bore defining an inner chamber configured to retain a damping fluid, and
• an aperture at a distal portion of the body;
• a shaft couplable at a distal portion to one of the anti-roll bar or the articulating arm, the shaft extending through the aperture and having a piston coupled to a proximal portion of the shaft, the piston slidingly disposed within the inner chamber;
• a proximal mount coupled to an intermediate axial position on the elongate body, the proximal mount couplable to the other of the anti-roll bar or the articulating arm;
• a reservoir body enclosing a remote chamber fluidly coupled to the inner chamber through a passageway;
• a valve configured to selectively control flow of the damping fluid within the passageway, wherein, in a locked state of the valve, the movement of the articulating arm is transferred through the anti-roll bar link to the anti-roll bar, said valve selected from the group consisting of:
• spool valve rotatable between the locked state and an unlocked state to selectively permit damping fluid flow through the passageway, and a solenoid valve configured to selectively move a plunger from a locked position to an unlocked position when an electronic signal is received by the solenoid valve, and wherein, when the plunger is in the locked position, the plunger permits flow only in the direction from the remote chamber to the inner chamber, and
• wherein, in said unlocked state of the spool valve, the movement of the articulating arm causes the piston to travel within the inner chamber such that at least a portion of the movement of the articulating arm is not transferred to the anti-roll bar;
• a reflow passageway bypassing the valve and fluidly coupling the inner chamber and the remote chamber;
• a check valve selectively controlling flow of the damping fluid through the reflow passageway by permitting flow only in a direction from the remote chamber to the inner chamber during retraction of the anti-roll bar link toward a parked position;
• and
• a damping component positioned between the inner chamber and the remote chamber to throttle the flow from the inner chamber to the remote chamber, wherein tolerances of said spool valve are configured to allow a relatively small amount of bleed through of said damping fluid around an outer surface of said spool valve when said spool valve is in said locked state to allow for thermal expansion within said anti-roll bar link to prevent elevated burst pressures from causing damage or failure of said anti-roll bar link during use, and wherein tolerances of said solenoid valve are configured to allow said relatively small amount of bleed through of said damping fluid around said plunger of said solenoid valve when said solenoid valve is in said locked position to allow for said thermal expansion within said anti-roll bar link to prevent said elevated burst pressures from causing said damage or failure of said anti-roll bar link during said use.