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US 12,576,680 B2Granted
Synthetic elastomeric air spring without reinforcing fibers
AssigneeILJIN USA Corporation
InventorsAlan Coulthard, Jeremy Mercer, Michael L. Crabtree, Ken Casagrande, Alan Wall, Adrian Thompson, Ruben Jasso
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A spring assembly for a vehicle is provided. The spring assembly may include a piston, and a sleeve with a noncircular cross section, the sleeve made from an unreinforced synthetic elastomeric material and being free of reinforcing fibers. The sleeve is coupled with a plurality of end components and defines a deformable pressure vessel, the deformable pressure vessel supplies a support force, and at least one of the end components is the piston.
Claims20
A spring assembly for a vehicle comprising:
- a piston extending in a longitudinal direction of the piston and having a non-axisymmetric surface along the longitudinal direction such that a centroid path of the piston is curved;
- and
- a sleeve made from an unreinforced synthetic elastomeric material and being free of reinforcing fibers,
- wherein the sleeve is coupled with a plurality of end components and defines a deformable pressure vessel, the deformable pressure vessel supplies a support force, and at least one of the end components is the piston,
- wherein, when the spring assembly is in a rebound position, a tangent point of contact between the piston and the sleeve defines a first cross section,
- wherein when the spring assembly is in a jounce position, the tangent point of contact between the piston and the sleeve defines a second cross section, and
- wherein, between the first and second cross sections, the piston is non-axisymmetric.
4 more elements
A spring assembly for a vehicle comprising:
- a sleeve;
- and
- a piston having a non-axisymmetric shape allowing the sleeve to form a non-axisymmetric rolling lobe profile that has a non-axisymmetric shape,
- wherein the sleeve is coupled with a plurality of end components to form an airtight chamber filled with compressed air, and at least one of the end components is the piston with the non-axisymmetric shape,
- wherein, when the spring assembly is in a rebound position, a tangent point of contact between the piston and the sleeve defines a first cross section,
- wherein when the spring assembly is in a jounce position, the tangent point of contact between the piston and the sleeve defines a second cross section, and
- wherein, between the first and second cross sections, the piston is non-axisymmetric.
4 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.