Suspension damper with remotely-operable valve

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9239090-B2
Application number	US-201113189216-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jul 22, 2011
Priority date	Jan 7, 2009
Publication date	Jan 19, 2016
Grant date	Jan 19, 2016

Abstract

A vehicle damper comprising a cylinder and a piston; a working fluid within the cylinder; a reservoir in fluid communication with the working fluid to receive working fluid from the cylinder in a compression stroke; and a remotely-operable valve, the valve operable to permit and restrict flow of the working fluid between the cylinder and the reservoir.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A vehicle damper comprising:
a cylinder and a piston;
a working fluid within the cylinder;
a reservoir in fluid communication with the working fluid, the reservoir operable to receive working fluid from the cylinder in a compression stroke;
a reservoir valve assembly located intermediate of the cylinder and the reservoir, the reservoir valve assembly including:
a single fluid path opening into the reservoir valve assembly;
a remotely-operable valve having a first fluid path having a seat at an end thereof and a plunger selectively positionable with respect to the seat and the first fluid path, the remotely-operable valve operable to permit and restrict flow of the working fluid between the cylinder and the reservoir, the plunger positionable in a retracted position and a closed position, whereby in the closed position the plunger abuts the seat and closes off the first fluid path, and at least one intermediate position between the closed position and retracted position wherein the plunger is not in contact with the seat and is spaced from the seat and permits the working fluid to flow from the cylinder to the reservoir independent of fluid force;
a second fluid path;
a third fluid path; wherein the second fluid path includes a second valve that is configured to block fluid flow from the reservoir to the cylinder and restrict fluid flow from the cylinder to the reservoir, and the third fluid path includes a third valve that is configured to restrict fluid flow from the reservoir to the cylinder and block fluid flow from the cylinder to the reservoir,
wherein the first fluid path and the second fluid path of the reservoir valve assembly are configured to simultaneously permit the working fluid to flow from the single fluid path to the reservoir, and
wherein the first fluid path and the third fluid path of the reservoir valve assembly are configured to simultaneously permit the working fluid to flow from the reservoir to the single fluid path.

2. The damper of claim 1 , wherein the plunger is openable to a plurality of positions between the retracted position and the closed position.

3. The damper of claim 1 , further including a passageway through the piston and limiting a flow rate of the working fluid through the piston in at least one direction.

4. The damper of claim 3 , further including a bypass whereby at least some of the working fluid moves from one side of the piston to a second side thereof without utilizing the passageway through the piston.

5. The damper of claim 1 , wherein the piston is solid with no passageway there through.

6. The damper of claim 1 , wherein the first fluid path, the second fluid path, and the third fluid path each define an independent fluid path into a fluid portion of the reservoir.

7. The damper of claim 6 , wherein the second fluid path and the third fluid path include shims for restricting fluid flow there through.

8. The damper of claim 1 , wherein the remotely-operable valve is controlled from a location of an operator in a vehicle.

9. The damper of claim 1 , wherein control of the remotely operable valve is by a manually operable switch having at least two positions.

10. The damper of claim 9 , wherein the switch is located in a passenger compartment of a vehicle.

11. The damper of claim 10 , wherein control of the remotely operable valve is by an electrically operated solenoid actuated by the manually operable switch.

12. The damper of claim 10 , wherein control of the remotely operable valve is hydraulic.

13. The damper of claim 10 , wherein control of the remotely operable valve is pneumatic.

14. The damper of claim 1 , wherein the remotely-operated valve is operated automatically based upon one of a terrain or vehicle operation variable.

15. The damper of claim 14 , further including a load transducer for sensing a piston rod force created by a damper piston rod.

16. The damper of claim 15 , further comprising a transducer arranged to measure an angle associated with a steering wheel of a vehicle.

Assignees

• Marking John
• Fox Factory Inc

Inventors

• Marking John

Classifications

• B60G17/08

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

• F16F9/065 Primary

  Expansion chamber provided on the upper or lower end of a damper, separately there from or laterally on the damper · CPC title

• F16F7/09

  in dampers of the cylinder-and-piston type · CPC title

• F16F9/06

  using both gas and liquid {(F16F9/486 take precedence; self-pumping fluid springs B60G17/044)} · CPC title

• F16F9/466 Primary

  Throttling control, i.e. regulation of flow passage geometry (F16F9/464, F16F9/465 take precedence) · CPC title