Suspension device

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9765842-B2
Application number	US-201314429628-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Oct 4, 2013
Priority date	Oct 9, 2012
Publication date	Sep 19, 2017
Grant date	Sep 19, 2017

Abstract

A suspension device includes a shock absorber, an air spring that consists of a compressed gas that is sealed within an air chamber that expands/contracts in volume as the shock absorber extends/compresses so as to constantly bias the shock absorber in an extension direction, and a volume expanding mechanism that expands a volume of the air chamber according to an increase in a compression amount of the shock absorber when the compression amount of the shock absorber has reached or exceeded a predetermined amount.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A suspension device, comprising:
a shock absorber,
an air spring that consists of a compressed gas that is sealed within an air chamber that expands/contracts in volume as the shock absorber extends/compresses so as to constantly bias the shock absorber in an extension direction, and
a volume expanding mechanism that expands a volume of the air chamber as a compression amount of the shock absorber increases when the compression amount of the shock absorber has reached or exceeded a predetermined amount, wherein the volume expanding mechanism comprises:
a sub-cylinder,
an auxiliary chamber that is formed within the sub-cylinder, and
a movable partition wall that slidingly contacts an inner peripheral surface of the sub-cylinder to divide the air chamber and the auxiliary chamber,
wherein the movable partition wall moves further to an auxiliary chamber side as the compression amount of the shock absorber increases when the compression amount of the shock absorber has reached or exceeded a predetermined amount.

2. The suspension device according to claim 1 , wherein the volume expanding mechanism further comprises:
a biasing means that biases the movable partition wall to an air chamber side, and
a stopper that prevents the movable partition wall from moving to the air chamber side when the compression amount of the shock absorber is less than the predetermined amount.

3. The suspension device according to claim 2 , wherein the biasing means consists of a compressed gas sealed within the auxiliary chamber.

4. The suspension device according to claim 1 , wherein the shock absorber includes a shock absorber main body having an outer tube and an inner tube that is retractably inserted into the outer tube, and
the sub-cylinder is accommodated within the shock absorber main body and the air chamber is formed within the shock absorber main body.

5. A suspension device, comprising:
a shock absorber,
an air spring that consists of a compressed gas that is sealed within an air chamber that expands/contracts in volume as the shock absorber extends/compresses so as to constantly bias the shock absorber in an extension direction, and
a volume expanding mechanism that expands a volume of the air chamber as a compression amount of the shock absorber increases when the compression amount of the shock absorber has reached or exceeded a predetermined amount, wherein the volume expanding mechanism comprises:
a sub-cylinder,
an auxiliary chamber that is formed within the sub-cylinder, and
a movable partition wall that slidingly contacts an inner peripheral surface of the sub-cylinder, and separates the air chamber and the auxiliary chamber so as to maintain fluid separation between the air chamber and the auxiliary chamber as the compression amount of the shock absorber increases when the compression amount of the shock absorber has reached or exceeded the predetermined amount.

Assignees

• Kayaba Industry Co Ltd
• Kyb Corp

Inventors

• Noguchi Nobuhiro

Classifications

• F16F9/062

  Bi-tubular units · CPC title

• F16F9/088

  comprising a gas spring with a flexible wall provided within the cylinder on the piston rod of a monotubular damper or within the inner tube of a bitubular damper · CPC title

• F16F9/48 Primary

  Arrangements for providing different damping effects at different parts of the stroke ({F16F9/346, F16F9/516} , F16F9/53 take precedence) · CPC title

• F16F9/06

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