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US 4,729,459 AGranted
Adjustable damping force type shock absorber
AssigneeNippon Soken, Inc.
InventorsMitsuo Inagaki, Hideaki Sasaya, Kenji Takeda, Hiromichi Nakano, Sigeru Kamiya, Toshinobu Ishida
Life of this patent
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Abstract
An adjustable damping force type shock absorber having a function to detect a damping force generated thereon and a function to adjust the damping force thereof.
Claims17
An adjustable damping force type shock absorber having first and a second oil-containing chambers on opposite sides of a piston slidably mounted in a cylinder, the shock absorber comprising:
- a communicating path formed in the piston for communicating between the first and the second chambers;
- a sliding member for changing the passage area of the communicating path by a sliding displacement thereof, one end surface of said sliding member being exposed to the oil in said second oil containing chamber and responsive to the oil pressure from said second oil chamber;
- and
- a piezo-electric body coupled to said sliding member and responsive to the stress applied thereto by said sliding member to generate a voltage in response to the stress, said stress being a direct compressive force exerted along the direction of an axis of a rod of said piston in accordance with an oil pressure generated in said first and second chambers when said shock absorber expands or contracts, and for causing displacement of said sliding member by expansion and contraction of said piezo-electric body in response to a voltage applied thereto;
- wherein said displacement of said piezo-electric body is transmitted to said sliding member via a sealed chamber comprising a casing, a plunger following said piezo-electric body in said casing, and the other end surface of said sliding member, said sealed chamber being filled with a non-compressible fluid, said displacement of said piezo-electric body being amplified by the ratio of a cross-sectional area of said plunger to that of said other end surface of said sliding member.
2 more elements
An adjustable damping force type shock absorber comprising:
- a cylinder;
- a piston slidably inserted in the cylinder so that an inner space of the cylinder is substantially separated into two chambers, and having a communicating path for communicating between the chambers, said chambers and said communicating path containing a working fluid;
- a sliding member arranged in the piston in a slidable manner so that an area of the communicating path of the piston can be adjusted;
- a piezo-electric body positioned in the piston and coupled to the sliding member to effect sliding movement thereof in response to expansion and contraction of the piezo-electric body to adjust the area of the communicating path on the basis of a reverse piezo-electric effect;
- a damping force sensor arranged at a predetermined position in a rod supporting the piston to receive a compressive force exerted along the direction of the axis of the rod via the piston when the piston moves within the cylinder and to convert the received compressive force into an electric signal;
- and
- a control circuit for outputting a driving signal adjusting a damping force of the shock absorber to the piezo-electric body on the basis of the electric signal from the damping force sensor.
4 more elements
An adjustable damping force type shock absorber comprising:
- a cylinder;
- a piston slidably inserted in the cylinder so that an inner space of the cylinder is substantially separated into two chambers, and having a communicating path for communicating between the chambers;
- a mechanism means for adjusting the damping force by changing a cross-sectional area of the communicating path;
- a damping force sensor arranged at a predetermined position in a rod supporting the piston, where at a compressive force exerted along the direction of the axis of the rod via the piston when the piston slides within the cylinder is exerted, to output an electric signal corresponding to the compressive force as a damping force signal;
- and
- a control circuit for outputting an adjusting signal adjusting the damping force to the mechanism means on the basis of the damping force signal from the damping force sensor.
3 more elements
An adjustable damping force type shock absorber comprising:
- a cylinder;
- a piston slidably inserted in the cylinder so that an inner space of the cylinder is substantially separated into two chambers, said piston having a communicating path for communicating between the chambers;
- a mechanism means for adjusting the damping force by changing a cross-sectional area of the communicating path;
- and
- a damping force sensor made of a piezo-electric device, which is arranged at a predetermined position in a rod supporting the piston to receive a compressive or tractive force exerted along the direction of the axis of the rod via the piston when the piston slides within the cylinder to output an electric signal corresponding to the compressive or tractive force as a damping force signal.
2 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.