Suspension mechanism, multi-suspension mechanism and damper

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11440448-B2
Application number	US-201917057203-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	May 20, 2019
Priority date	May 22, 2018
Publication date	Sep 13, 2022
Grant date	Sep 13, 2022

Abstract

There are improved a vibration absorption characteristic and an impact absorption characteristic. In a suspension mechanism 1 of the present invention, first and second dampers (150, 160) are suspended in parallel between an upper frame (120) and a lower frame (110) with mounting angles different from each other. For this reason, the smaller mounting angle the damper has, the smaller a vertical component of damping force becomes, and the damping force which acts on the upper frame (120) and the lower frame (110) which move up and down relatively is moderate in effectiveness as compared with a case of disposing all the dampers at the same mounting angle. Thus, a sense of incongruity in which strong damping force acts abruptly is suppressed and the vibration absorption characteristic and the impact absorption characteristic are improved, which leads to improvement in ride comfort.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A suspension mechanism disposed between a vehicle body structure and a seat, the suspension mechanism comprising:
a link mechanism which supports an upper frame mounted on the seat side to be movable up and down relative to a lower frame mounted on a vehicle body structure side;
a spring mechanism which elastically biases the upper frame relative to the lower frame; and
a damper which exhibits damping force to absorb energy when the upper frame moves up and down relative to the lower frame,
wherein the damper is
a telescopic one including a cylinder and a piston which moves relatively in the cylinder in accordance with up-down movement of the upper frame relative to the lower frame, and
suspended in plurality in parallel at different mounting angles between the upper frame and the lower frame, and
wherein in at least one of the plurality of dampers, a moving zone of the piston in the cylinder corresponding to a predetermined up-down movement range including a balanced point when the upper frame moves up and down relative to the lower frame is a free running zone where the damping force does not act.

2. The suspension mechanism according to claim 1 , Wherein the free running zone is set in the plurality of dampers, and distances of the free running zones in at least the two dampers are different from each other.

3. The suspension mechanism according to claim 2 ,
wherein the cylinder has an outer stationary cylinder linked to one of the upper frame and the lower frame and an inner movable cylinder provided to be movable in the outer stationary cylinder,
wherein the piston is arranged in the inner movable cylinder and supported by a piston rod linked to the other of the upper frame and the lower frame,
wherein, around an outer peripheral surface of the piston, a linear member which exhibits friction damping force between the inner movable cylinder and the piston is wound, and a viscous fluid is made to adhere to the linear member,
wherein the linear member has a function in which tension is changed by relative movement of the piston in the cylinder, thereby changing friction damping force between the linear member and the inner movable cylinder and viscous damping force of the viscous fluid, and
wherein the damping force is exhibited when the inner movable cylinder does not move relatively in the outer stationary cylinder and the piston moves relatively in the inner movable cylinder.

4. The suspension mechanism according to claim 1 , wherein the spring mechanism has a characteristic in whith a change amount of a load value is a constant load equal to or less than a predetermined amount in a predetermined up-down movement range including the balanced point as a load-deflection characteristic When the upper frame moves up and down relative to the lower frame.

5. The suspension mechanism according to claim 4 ,
wherein the spring mechanism includes:
a linear spring which exhibits a linear characteristic; and
a magnetic spring which includes stationary magnets and a movable magnet whose relative position to the stationary magnets is displaced in accordance with up-down movement of the upper frame relative to the lower frame, and exhibits a nonlinear characteristic in which a spring constant is changed depending on a relative position of the stationary magnets and the movable magnet, and
wherein a load-deflection characteristic of a combination of the linear spring and the magnetic spring includes a characteristic of being the constant load in a displacement range corresponding to a predetermined up-down movement range including the balanced point of the upper frame.

6. The suspension mechanism according to claim 4 , wherein a low-repulsion material is provided for at least either of portions where the upper frame and the lower frame come close to each other at a stroke end in an up-down movement direction.

7. The suspension mechanism according to claim 1 , wherein a low-repulsion material is provided at stroke ends in a relative movement direction between the cylinder and the piston.

8. A multi-suspension mechanism comprising:
the suspension mechanism according to claim 1 ; and
another suspension mechanism stacked on the suspension mechanism.

9. The multi-suspension mechanism according to claim 8 , wherein the suspension mechanism and the another suspension mechanism are identical.

10. A damper being a telescopic damper including a cylinder and a piston which moves relatively in the cylinder,
wherein the cylinder has an outer stationary cylinder linked to one of controlled objects and an inner movable cylinder provided to be movable in the outer stationary cylinder,
wherein the piston is arranged in the inner movable cylinder and supported by a piston rod linked to the other of the controlled objects,
wherein, around an outer peripheral surface of the piston, a linear member which exhibits friction damping force between the inner movable cylinder and the piston is wound, and a viscous fluid is made to adhere to the linear member,
wherein the linear member has a function in which tension is changed according to the relative movement, thereby changing friction damping force between the linear member and the inner movable cylinder and viscous damping force of the viscous fluid, and
wherein a predetermined damping force is exhibited in a case where the inner movable cylinder does not move relatively in the outer stationary cylinder and the piston moves relatively in the inner movable cylinder.

11. The damper according to claim 10 ,
wherein the inner movable cylinder is longer in axial-direction length than the piston, and
wherein the inner movable cylinder moves relatively with the piston in the outer stationary cylinder until each end portion thereof abuts on either of a stopper portion on one end side and a stopper portion on the other side of the outer stationary cylinder, and after abutting on either of the stopper portions, when the piston moves relatively in the inner movable cylinder, the predetermined damping force acts.

12. The damper according to claim 11 , wherein a low-repulsion material is provided at stroke ends in a relative movement direction between the cylinder and the piston.

Assignees

• Delta Kogyo Co

Inventors

• Fujita Etsunori
• Sugimoto Eiji
• Ogura Yumi
• Makita Soichi
• MASHINO Masahiro
• Kojima Shigeyuki
• Nishida Atsushi
• Fukuda Jun
• Kuwano Ryuji

Classifications

• B60N2/505

  Adjustable suspension including height adjustment · CPC title

• F16F6/005

  using permanent magnets only · CPC title

• B60N2/544

  Compression or tension springs (B60N2/542 takes precedence) · CPC title

• B60N2/548

  Torsion springs, e.g. torsion helicoidal springs · CPC title

• B60N2/507 Primary

  Parallelogram-like structure · CPC title