Active hydraulic fluid vehicular suspension damper

In an active suspension damper having a cylindrical tube, a piston rod located in and movable relative to the tube and carrying a piston at its end dividing the tube into a rebound chamber on one side of the piston and a compression chamber on an opposite side of said piston, a flux plate on the tube carrying a solenoid for moving a solenoid cylindrical valve into select positions in a central passageway formed in the end of the piston rod and a valve plate between the piston and flux plate having soft channels extending therethrough, each soft channel having an end opening to the central passageway and selectively closed by the solenoid valve and, each soft channel having another end adjacent valve seats contacting a bi-directional soft digressive valve disc for opening the soft channels when the piston axially moves in either rebound or compression and develops pressures beyond a set limit, the improvement comprising:

• said piston having a plurality of rebound channels and a plurality of compression channels extending therethrough, each rebound channel and compression channel having a rebound end opening to said rebound channel and a compression end opening to said compression channel;
• a firm digressive rebound valve in valved contact with said compression end openings of said rebound channels allowing valved flow at a set rebound pressure from said rebound chamber through said rebound channels to said compression chamber;
• and,
• a firm digressive compression valve in valved contact with said rebound end openings of said compression channels allowing valved flow at a set compression pressure from said compression chamber through said compression channels to said rebound chamber whereby said fluid flow through said firm digressive compression and rebound valves are controlled independently of one another.

A damper comprising:

• a cylinder;
• a piston rod disposed in said cylinder, said piston rod having an axial rod passage formed therein, at least one of said rod and cylinder being movable relative to the other;
• a piston affixed to said rod and dividing said cylinder into a compression chamber and a rebound chamber, said piston having at least one firm rebound channel and at least one firm compression channel extending therethrough, said at least one rebound channel including an outlet and said at least one compression channel including an outlet;
• a uni-directional rebound working disc in valved contact with the outlet of said at least one rebound channel;
• a uni-directional compression working disc in valved contact with the outlet of said at least one compression channel;
• a valve plate located on said rod and having at least one soft channel;
• a actuable valve located in said axial rod passage and being movable to selectively allow or block flow of said fluid between said rebound and compression chambers through said at least one soft channel whereby valved parallel flow through said valve plate and said piston occurs when said actuable valve allows flow through said soft channels while said uni-directional rebound working disc and said uni-directional compression working disc independently control flow at all times through said firm rebound and compression channels.

A damper comprising:

• a cylinder arranged to receive a damping fluid therein, said cylinder having an inner chamber;
• a piston located inside and movable relative to said cylinder, said piston generally sealingly engaging an inner wall of said cylinder to divide said inner chamber into a rebound chamber located on a first side of said piston and a compression chamber located on a second side of said piston opposite said first side, said piston having at least one valved rebound channel and at least one valved compression channel extending therethrough, said at least one valved rebound channel being configured to selectively allow fluid to flow from said rebound chamber to said compression chamber therethrough, but generally blocking the flow of fluid from said compression chamber to said rebound chamber therethrough, said at least one valved compression channel being configured to selectively allow fluid to flow from said compression chamber to said rebound chamber therethrough, but generally blocking the flow of fluid from said rebound chamber to said compression chamber;
• and
• an actuable valve located in said cylinder, said valve being movable between an actuated state wherein said actuable valve selectively allows bidirectional fluid flow between said rebound chamber and said compression chamber, and a non-actuated state wherein said actuable valve generally blocks any fluid flow between said rebound chamber and said compression chamber.