Vehicle having adjustable compression and rebound damping

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10987987-B2
Application number	US-201816198280-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Nov 21, 2018
Priority date	Nov 21, 2018
Publication date	Apr 27, 2021
Grant date	Apr 27, 2021

Abstract

A damping control system for a vehicle having a suspension located between a plurality of ground engaging members and a vehicle frame are disclosed. The vehicle including at least one adjustable shock absorber having an adjustable damping characteristic.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A recreational vehicle comprising:
a plurality of ground engaging members;
a frame supported by the plurality of ground engaging members;
a plurality of suspensions, wherein each of the plurality of suspensions couples a ground engaging member, from the plurality of ground engaging members, to the frame, wherein the plurality of suspensions includes a plurality of adjustable shock absorbers;
at least one sensor positioned on the recreational vehicle and configured to provide airborne information and landing information to a controller; and
the controller operatively coupled to the at least one sensor and the plurality of adjustable shock absorbers, wherein the controller is configured to:
receive, from the at least one sensor, the airborne information;
determine, based on the airborne information, an airborne event indicating the recreational vehicle is airborne;
provide, based on the airborne event, one or more first commands to result in decreasing a rebound damping characteristic for the plurality of adjustable shock absorbers from a pre-takeoff rebound value to a free-fall rebound value;
receive, from the at least one sensor, landing information;
determine, based on the landing information, a landing event indicating the recreational vehicle has landed subsequent to the airborne event;
determine, based on the airborne event and the landing event, a time duration that the recreational vehicle is airborne;
provide, based on the landing event and the time duration the recreational vehicle is airborne, one or more second commands to result in increasing the rebound damping characteristic for the plurality of adjustable shock absorbers from the free-fall rebound value to a post-landing rebound value to prevent a landing hop; and
provide one or more third commands to result in decreasing the rebound damping characteristic for the plurality of adjustable shock absorbers from the post-landing rebound value to the pre-takeoff rebound value.

2. The recreational vehicle of claim 1 , wherein the at least one sensor comprises at least one of: an accelerometer and an inertial measurement unit (IMU).

3. The recreational vehicle of claim 1 , wherein the one or more third commands cause the rebound damping characteristic for the plurality of adjustable shock absorbers to gradually decrease from the post-landing rebound value to the pre-takeoff rebound value.

4. The recreational vehicle of claim 1 , wherein the controller is further configured to:
increase the post-landing rebound value as the time duration that the recreational vehicle is airborne increases.

5. The recreational vehicle of claim 1 , wherein the controller is further configured to:
in response to determining the time duration is below a first threshold, set the post-landing rebound value to a same value as the pre-takeoff rebound value.

6. The recreational vehicle of claim 1 , wherein the controller is configured to:
in response to determining the time duration is below a first threshold, bias the post-landing rebound value for a front shock absorber of the plurality of adjustable shock absorbers different from a rear shock absorber of the plurality of adjustable shock absorbers; and
generate the one or more second commands based on the biasing the post-landing rebound value.

7. The recreational vehicle of claim 6 , wherein the controller is configured to bias the post-landing rebound value by additionally increasing the post-landing rebound value for the front shock absorber.

8. The recreational vehicle of claim 1 , wherein the controller is configured to:
provide, based on the airborne event, one or more fourth commands to result in gradually increasing a compression damping characteristic for the plurality of adjustable shock absorbers from a pre-takeoff compression value to a post-landing compression value;
provide, based on the landing event and the time duration, one or more fifth commands to result in maintaining the compression damping characteristic for the plurality of adjustable shock absorbers at the post-landing compression value; and
provide one or more sixth commands to result in decreasing the compression damping characteristic for the plurality of adjustable shock absorbers from the post-landing compression value to the pre-takeoff compression value.

9. The recreational vehicle of claim 8 , wherein the controller is further configured to:
in response to determining the time duration is below a first threshold, set the post-landing compression value to a same value as the pre-takeoff compression value.

10. The recreational vehicle of claim 8 , wherein the controller is further configured to:
in response to determining the time duration is below a first threshold, bias the post-landing compression value for a front shock absorber of the plurality of adjustable shock absorbers different from a rear shock absorber of the plurality of adjustable shock absorbers; and
generate the one or more fifth commands based on the biasing the post-landing compression value.

11. The recreational vehicle of claim 1 , wherein the free-fall rebound value is substantially zero.

12. The recreational vehicle of claim 1 , wherein the controller is further configured to:
receive, from the at least one sensor, additional sensor information;
determine, based on the additional sensor information, a cornering event corresponding to the recreational vehicle executing a turn; and
provide, to at least one of the plurality of adjustable shock absorbers and based on the determining of the cornering event, one or more commands to result in a decrease of a damping characteristic of the at least one of the plurality of adjustable shock absorbers.

13. The recreational vehicle of claim 12 , wherein the controller is further configured to:
determine, based on the additional sensor information, a direction of the turn corresponding to the cornering event;
determining, based on the direction of the turn, at least one inner adjustable shock absorber of the plurality of adjustable shock absorbers, and
wherein the controller is configured to provide the one or more commands by providing, to the at least one inner adjustable shock absorber, one or more commands to result in a decrease of a compression damping characteristic and an increase of a rebound damping characteristic.

14. The recreational vehicle of claim 13 , wherein the controller is further configured to:
determine, based on the direction of the turn, at least one outer adjustable shock absorber of the plurality of adjustable shock absorbers, and
wherein the controller is configured to provide the one or more commands by providing, to the least one outer adjustable shock absorber one or more commands to result in a decrease of a rebound damping characteristic and an increase of a compression damping characteristic.

15. The recreational vehicle of claim 12 , wherein:
the at least one sensor comprises an inertial measurement unit (IMU);
the additional sensor information comprises acceleration information indicating a lateral acceleration value; and
the controller is configured to determine the cornering event by determining that the recreational vehicle is turning based on comparing the lateral acceleration value to a first threshold.

16. The recreational vehicle of claim 15 , wherein:
the additional sensor information further comprises yaw rate information indicating a yaw rate; and
the controller is further configured to determine the cornering event by determining that the recreational vehicle is turning based on comparing the yaw rate to

Assignees

• Polaris Inc

Inventors

• Graus Jonathon P
• Helgeson David D
• Scheuerell Alex R

Classifications

• B60G2202/24

  Fluid damper · CPC title

• B60G2202/20

  Type of damper · CPC title

• B60G2401/28

  Gyroscopes · CPC title

• B60G2500/10

  Damping action or damper · CPC title

• B60G17/08

  Characteristics of fluid dampers (adjusting fluid dampers in general F16F9/44 - F16F9/53) · CPC title