Hydro-pneumatic suspension system

In a vehicle having a hydro-pneumatic suspension system, the suspension system having a right side hydro-pneumatic strut cross-coupled to a corresponding left side hydra-pneumatic strut such that an upper chamber of the right side strut is fluidly connected to a lower chamber of the left side strut and an upper chamber of the left side strut is fluidly connected to a lower chamber of the right side strut, the suspension system further comprising:

• a cross-flow valve for selectively fluidly connecting the right side strut with the left side strut;
• an articulation valve for selectively fluidly connecting the upper chamber of the right side strut with the lower chamber of the right side strut;
• a first accumulator fluidly connected with the upper chamber of the right side strut;
• a second accumulator selectively fluidly connected with the upper chamber of the right side strut by a spring-rate valve;
• a hydraulic simply selectively fluidly connected with the right side and left side struts by a ride-height valve;
• and
• a suspension control system adapted to control the cross-flow valve, articulation valve, ride-height valve and spring-rate valve to set the suspension system in one of an on-road configuration and an off-road configuration and wherein the suspension control system opens the ride-height valve and fluidly connects the hydraulic supply to raise the overall height of the vehicle.

A suspension system comprising:

• a right side hydro-pneumatic strut cross-coupled to a left side hydro-pneumatic strut such that an upper chamber of the right side strut is fluidly connected to a lower chamber of the left side strut and an upper chamber of the left side strut is fluidly connected to a lower chamber of the right side strut;
• a first accumulator fluidly connected with the upper chamber of the right side strut;
• a second accumulator selectively fluidly connected with the upper chamber of the right side strut by a spring-rate valve;
• a hydraulic supply selectively fluidly connected with the right side strut by a ride-height valve;
• and
• a suspension control system adapted to control the spring-rate valve, hydraulic pump and ride-height valve to set the suspension system in one of an on-road configuration and an off-road configuration;
• wherein the suspension control system opens the ride-height valve to connect the hydraulic supply to the right side strut to raise the overall height of the vehicle when converting from the on-road configuration to the off-road configuration.