Shock absorber

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9404553-B2
Application number	US-201414304396-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jun 13, 2014
Priority date	Dec 3, 2013
Publication date	Aug 2, 2016
Grant date	Aug 2, 2016

Abstract

Provided is a shock absorber, which has a cylinder filled with a fluid, a piston valve dividing the cylinder into a rebound chamber and a compression chamber, and a piston rod extending to the outside of the cylinder in a state of being connected to the piston valve. The shock absorber includes: a free piston which divides the compression chamber into an upper chamber and a lower chamber in such a state that the piston rod vertically passes through the free piston, and forms a vertical passage such that the upper chamber and the lower chamber are connected to each other; and a support which is connected to the piston rod, with a larger diameter, increases a pressure of the upper chamber by locally tightly contacting and ascending the free piston from below during a rebound stroke of the piston rod, and forms a horizontal passage connected to the vertical passage.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A shock absorber, comprising:
a cylinder filled with a fluid;
a piston valve dividing the cylinder into a rebound chamber and a compression chamber;
a piston rod extending to the outside of the cylinder, and connected to the piston valve;
a free piston which
divides the rebound chamber into an upper chamber and a lower chamber, wherein the piston rod is configured to vertically pass through the free piston, and
forms a vertical passage, wherein the upper chamber and the lower chamber are connected to each other through the vertical passage; and

a support which
is disposed below the free piston,
is connected to the piston rod,
has a larger diameter than the piston rod,

is configured to increase a pressure of the upper chamber by approaching to the free piston from below during a rebound stroke of the piston rod, and
forms a horizontal passage connected to the vertical passage,

wherein the piston rod includes a locking groove disposed along a horizontal direction of the piston rod,
wherein the free piston includes a locking portion configured to move downward together with the locking groove during only compression stroke of the piston rod, and
wherein, when the locking portion moves downward, the locking portion is locked to and supported by the locking groove.

2. The shock absorber according to claim 1 , wherein the free piston further includes:
a hollow portion which vertically penetrates the free piston, wherein the hollow portion is connected to the piston rod;
an installation groove which is disposed inside the free piston, wherein the locking portion is positioned in the installation groove, wherein the installation groove is opened toward the hollow portion, and wherein the installation groove is locked to and supported by the locking groove; and
an orifice groove which has a concave shape, is disposed in a bottom surface of the free piston, and forms the horizontal passage while locally tightly contacting the support.

3. The shock absorber according to claim 2 , wherein the locking portion includes:
a locking member which is installed inside the installation groove, the locking member protruding toward the hollow portion, and having a protruding front end configured to be inserted into the locking groove; and
an elastic member configured to apply an elastic compression force between the locking member and the installation groove.

4. The shock absorber according to claim 3 , further comprising:
a guide protrusion which is disposed on an inner top surface of the installation groove, wherein the guide protrusion protrudes toward the hollow portion; and
a guide groove which is disposed in a top surface of the locking member, wherein the guide groove is paired with the guide protrusion for guiding the guide protrusion in a protruding and inserting direction.

5. The shock absorber according to claim 3 , wherein the locking groove and the front end of the locking member have flat top surfaces, and bottom surfaces inclined in opposite directions.

6. The shock absorber according to claim 1 ,
wherein the free piston and the support are configured to move upward, when the free piston and the support are contacted with each other during the rebound stroke of the piston rod, and
wherein the free piston and the support are configured to move downward, when the free piston and the support are separated from each other during a compression stroke of the piston rod.

7. The shock absorber according to claim 1 , further comprising:
a first stopper which is disposed at an upper end of the free piston, and
a second stopper which is disposed at a lower end of the support,
wherein the stoppers are configured to absorb shock at the time of collision.

Assignees

• Mando Corp

Inventors

• Yoon Kyong Hag
• Lee Jin Kee

Classifications

• F16F9/585

  within the cylinder, in contact with working fluid · CPC title

• F16F2230/0041

  Locking; Fixing in position · CPC title

• F16F9/516

  resulting in the damping effects during contraction being different from the damping effects during extension {, i.e. responsive to the direction of movement (F16F9/504 takes precedence)} · CPC title

• F16F9/5126 Primary

  Piston, or piston-like valve elements (F16F9/504 takes precedence) · CPC title

• F16F9/34 Primary

  Special valve constructions ({F16F9/44, F16F9/50 take precedence; filtering details F16F9/3285} ; valves in general F16K); Shape or construction of throttling passages · CPC title