Back to results
US 4,535,977 AGranted
Apparatus and method for a suspension system
AssigneePACCAR Inc
InventorJohn R. Strong
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Loading patent…
Loading patent…
AssigneePACCAR Inc
InventorJohn R. Strong
Estimating the term…
An apparatus for a suspension system in a vehicle provides both spring and damping characteristics in a single unit. Within a closed container that has a variable volume (similar to commonly available shock absorbers), a gas-liquid interfacial system acts under input deflection from the axle of a vehicle to provide both spring and damping characteristics. To increase the damping response time of the system, the interfacial area in contact between the gas and the liquid is increased over the ordinary cross-sectional area of the container. The gas is soluble in the liquid and preferably increases in solubility with an increase in temperature so that, as the temperature increases and the gas expands, the static condition of the container is substantially maintained by the increase in absorption of the gas into the liquid. Preferably, pentane thickened with 3% aluminum octoate and 4% oleic acid is the liquid. It is stored in an open-cell urethane foam having an average pore cell size of approximately 0.05 inch (0.127 cm). This liquid is saturated with hydrogen gas at a pressure of about 500 psi when the apparatus is in its static position.
An apparatus for a suspension system in a vehicle which provides both spring and damping characteristics in a single unit, the apparatus acting like a pneumatic spring for a pressure change of short duration and acting like a damper for repeated pressure oscillations over a moderate time frame, the apparatus comprising:
An apparatus for a suspension system in a vehicle which provides both spring and damping characteristics in a single unit, the apparatus acting like a pneumatic spring for a pressure change of short duration and acting like a damper for repeated pressure oscillations over a moderate time frame, the apparatus comprising:
In a method of suspension for a vehicle in which a gas-liquid interfacial system absorbs energy by dissolving a gas into a liquid during positive pressure changes and releases energy by having the gas leave solution during negative pressure changes caused by compression or expansion of a container holding the gas and liquid, the improvement comprising using a gas in the system which has increasing solubility in the liquid with increasing temperature so that the suspension apparatus has a relatively constant length over an operating range of temperature.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.