Vehicle suspension adjustment

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11014608-B2
Application number	US-201916378346-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Apr 8, 2019
Priority date	Apr 8, 2019
Publication date	May 25, 2021
Grant date	May 25, 2021

Abstract

An assembly includes a suspension link, a worm screw, a worm wheel rotatably engaged with the worm screw, and an arm fixed to the worm wheel and connected to the suspension link.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An assembly, comprising:
a suspension link;
a worm screw;
a worm wheel rotatably engaged with the worm screw;
an arm fixed to the worm wheel and connected to the suspension link, the arm defining an elongated slot;
a rod extending from the worm wheel to the arm; and
a pin extending from the arm to the suspension link and movable along the elongated slot to move the suspension link to a specified suspension link position.

2. The assembly of claim 1 , further comprising a motor, wherein the worm screw is mounted to the motor.

3. The assembly of claim 1 , wherein the worm screw is rotatable to a specified rotation angle corresponding to a specified camber angle.

4. The assembly of claim 1 , wherein the pin is movable from a first position in the elongated slot, the first position defining a first suspension link position, to a second position in the elongated slot, the second position defining a second suspension link position.

5. The assembly of claim 1 , further comprising a vehicle wheel, wherein the suspension link is connected to the vehicle wheel.

6. The assembly of claim 5 , wherein the suspension link is movable from a first position defining a first camber angle of the vehicle wheel to a second position defining a second camber angle of the vehicle wheel.

7. The assembly of claim 6 , wherein the worm screw is rotatable to a first rotation angle to move the suspension link to the first position to a second rotation angle to move the suspension link to the second position.

8. The assembly of claim 6 , wherein the second position is outboard relative to the first position.

9. The assembly of claim 1 , further comprising a second arm and the pin extends between the arm and the second arm.

10. The assembly of claim 9 , wherein the suspension link is supported by the pin between the arm and the second arm.

11. The assembly of claim 1 , further comprising a computer programmed to receive user input specifying an operation mode of a vehicle, the operation mode associated with a specified camber angle, and to rotate the worm wheel to move the suspension link to provide the specified camber angle.

12. The system of claim 1 , wherein the pin is movable from a first end of the elongated slot to a second end of the elongated slot.

13. A system, comprising a computer including a processor and a memory, the memory storing instructions executable by the processor to:
receive user input specifying an operation mode of a vehicle, the operation mode associated with a specified camber angle of a vehicle wheel; and
rotate a worm wheel and a rod extending from the worm wheel to an arm, the arm fixed to the worm wheel and connected to a suspension link, to move a pin extending from the arm to the suspension link along an elongated slot of the arm to provide the specified camber angle.

14. The system of claim 13 , wherein the instructions further include instructions to actuate a motor to rotate the arm to move the suspension link.

15. The system of claim 13 , further comprising a worm screw rotatably engaged with the worm wheel, wherein the instructions further include instructions to rotate the worm screw to a specified rotation angle corresponding to the specified camber angle.

16. The system of claim 13 , wherein the instructions further include instructions to move the suspension link from a first position defining a first camber angle of the vehicle wheel to a second position defining a second camber angle of the vehicle wheel.

17. The system of claim 16 , wherein the instructions further include instructions to rotate the arm from a first position corresponding to the first position of the suspension link to a second position corresponding to the second position of the suspension link.

18. An assembly, comprising:
a suspension link;
a worm screw;
a worm wheel rotatably engaged with the worm screw;
an arm fixed to the worm wheel and connected to the suspension link, the arm defining an elongated slot;
a second arm; and
a pin extending from the arm to the suspension link and movable along the elongated slot to move the suspension link to a specified suspension link position, the pin extending between the arm and the second arm.

Assignees

• Ford Global Tech Llc

Inventors

• Quatrano Nicholas Anthony

Classifications

• B62D17/00 Primary

  Means on vehicles for adjusting camber, castor, or toe-in · CPC title

• B60G3/26

  Means for maintaining substantially-constant wheel camber during suspension movement {; Means for controlling the variation of the wheel position during suspension movement (B60G3/202, B60G3/22, B60G7/003, B60G7/006 take precedence; means for adjusting camber, castor, or toe-in B62D17/00)} · CPC title

• B60G2200/46

  camber angle · CPC title

• B60G2202/42

  Electric actuator · CPC title

• B60G17/0162

  mainly during a motion involving steering operation, e.g. cornering, overtaking (B60G17/0164 takes precedence) · CPC title