Methods and apparatus for developing a vehicle suspension
AssigneePenske Racing Shocks
InventorBill J. Gartner
Life of this patent
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Abstract
An electronically adjustable shock absorber, and a system, method, and algorithm for developing a vehicle suspension. The shock absorber has damping characteristics that can be adjusted electronically to match a desired set of damping characteristics. The test method includes closed loop control of the electronically adjustable shock to achieve user-provided damping characteristics. The characteristics can be selected from a graphical user interface to simulate different internal flow passages of a shock absorber. Some embodiments make possible the simulated testing of different hardware embodiments, without the need to make the actual shock absorbers and without the need interrupt the vehicle suspension testing for multiple shock absorber installations.
Claims36
A method, comprising:
- providing a wheel suspended from a frame by a vehicular suspension;
- providing a shock absorber with electronically adjustable damping for damping the frame relative to the wheel, the shock absorber including
- a piston slidable within a closed cylinder, said piston dividing the interior of the cylinder into first and second chambers, and
- a spool valve external to the cylinder and having an inlet in fluid communication with the first chamber and an outlet in fluid communication with the second chamber, the spool valve being electronically actuatable to vary flow of hydraulic fluid from one chamber to the other chamber;
- providing a sensor for measuring a characteristic of the shock absorber;
- providing a computer having software and being operably connected to the shock absorber and being in electrical communication with the sensor;
- creating a data set with the software corresponding to a predetermined relationship between the stroking velocity of the shock absorber and the desired force exerted by the shock absorber;
- measuring the characteristic of the shock absorber by the computer as the wheel moves relative to the frame;
- using the measured characteristic by the software and selecting data from the data set corresponding to the desired force;
- and
- automatically adjusting the damping of the shock absorber by the computer in response to said selecting.
A method of electronically controlling a hydraulic shock absorber, comprising:
- providing a hydraulic shock absorber with an electronically controllable hydraulic valve for controlling the damping of the shock absorber, the shock absorber having a first end movable relative to a second end;
- predetermining a relationship between a desired damping force and the velocity of the first end relative to the second end;
- preparing a first signal corresponding to the relative velocity of the ends;
- preparing a second signal corresponding to the relative acceleration of the ends;
- using the first signal for selecting data from the relationship corresponding to a first damping force;
- using the second signal for modifying the data;
- and
- adjusting the position of the valve in response to the modified data.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.