Suspension system for four-wheeled vehicles
AssigneeYamaha Hatsudoki Kabushiki Kaisha
InventorKoji Sakai
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Abstract
A number of embodiments of suspension systems for vehicles having at least two and, in all illustrated embodiments, four wheels, each of which is independently suspended by a respective shock absorber. The shock absorbers are generally conventional in nature but are interconnected by a system that includes an accumulator and a flow control so as to provide a damping for vehicle characteristics that is independent of the individual damping of each wheel's shock absorber. A wide variety of accumulator structures and flow controls for achieving these purposes are disclosed, as are a number of ways in which various wheels of the vehicle can have their shock absorbers interconnected.
Claims112
A suspension system for a vehicle having at least two wheels, each supported for suspension movement by the vehicle body, a first damping element having a pair of relatively moveable members defining a first fluid chamber and interposed between one of said wheels and the vehicle body for varying the volume of said first fluid chamber upon suspension movement of said one wheel, first damping means for damping the flow of fluid from said first fluid chamber, a second damping element having a pair of relatively moveable members defining a second fluid chamber and interposed between another of said wheels and the vehicle body for varying the volume of said second fluid chamber upon suspension movement of said other wheel, second damping means for damping the flow of fluid from said second fluid chamber, a conduit interconnecting said first and said second fluid chambers, and control means in said conduit for precluding fluid flow through said conduit in response to a first suspension condition and for providing a damped flow through said conduit in response to a second suspension condition.
An accumulator and control device for interconnection between a pair of hydraulic damping units for controlling their respective damping action comprising a housing defining first and second fluid chambers each adapted to exchange fluid with a respective one of said damping units, first and second accumulator pistons each received in a respective one of said fluid chambers and defining a fluid side for exchanging hydraulic fluid with the respective hydraulic damping unit and a gas pressure side receiving a pressurized gas for maintaining a pressure in said hydraulic fluid, and a conduit having a flow control therein for interconnecting said fluid chambers and for controlling the flow therebetween.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.