Variable rate spring
AssigneeThe Dynamic Engineering Solution Pty Ltd
InventorMax O'Connell
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A spring assembly for mounting between a chassis and an unsprung mass of a vehicle, the spring assembly comprising a coil spring and a hydropneumatic spring acting in series, wherein the hydropneumatic spring is configured to be switchable between a compressible state and an incompressible state, such that when the hydropneumatic spring is in the compressible state, the equivalent spring rate of the spring assembly is a function of the spring rate of the coil spring and the hydropneumatic spring, and when the hydropneumatic spring is in the incompressible state, the equivalent spring rate of the spring assembly is a function of the spring rate of the coil spring.
Claims6
A spring assembly for mounting between a chassis and an unsprung mass of a vehicle, the spring assembly comprising a coil spring and a hydropneumatic spring acting in series, wherein the hydropneumatic spring is configured to be switchable between a compressible state and an incompressible state, such that when the hydropneumatic spring is in the compressible state, the equivalent spring rate of the spring assembly is a function of the spring rate of the coil spring and the hydropneumatic spring, and when the hydropneumatic spring is in the incompressible state, the equivalent spring rate of the spring assembly is a function of the spring rate of the coil spring.
The spring assembly as claimed in any one of the preceding claims, further comprising a third spring configured to act in parallel to the first and second spring acting in series.
A suspension strut for mounting between a chassis and an unsprung mass of a vehicle, the strut comprising a hydraulic damper, comprising a damper cylinder, a damper piston slidably retained within the damper cylinder and a piston rod for driving the piston within the damper cylinder in compression and rebound, the strut further comprising a spring assembly as described in any one of the preceding claims, attached with respect to the damper cylinder at a first end, and to the piston rod at a second end.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.