JPH0443813B2 - - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a vehicle height adjusting device that has vehicle height adjusting sections for a low pressure section and a high pressure section, and that adjusts pressure in the order of the low pressure section and the high pressure section.

Normally, when a motorcycle is equipped with a vehicle height adjustment device and the vehicle height is adjusted on the front and rear sides, the pressure gas supplied to change the vehicle height is set to low pressure on the front side and high pressure on the rear side. This is generally set. This is to accommodate the fact that in general, in a vehicle, the load applied to the front side is small and the load applied to the rear side is large.

By the way, in order to adjust the vehicle height, high-pressure air is selectively supplied to the gas chamber formed in the front forks and the gas chamber formed in the rear suspension from a common pressure source via a switching valve, based on an exhaust valve. This is done by supplying and discharging.

However, since there is generally only one pressure source such as a compressor, for example, after adjusting the vehicle height by supplying high-pressure air to a high-pressure part such as the rear gas chamber, it is necessary to If you try to raise the vehicle height by sending air to the low pressure area, the high pressure air used to adjust the rear side vehicle height will remain in the pressure source and will be sent to the low pressure area gas chamber, and the front side gas chamber This will cause problems with the pressure resistance and the properties of the front forks.

In view of the above-mentioned problems, the inventors have created the present invention to effectively solve the problems.

An object of the present invention is to provide a vehicle height adjustment device having a part for supplying low pressure gas and a part for supplying high pressure gas as a part for adjusting vehicle height. The objective is to prevent high-pressure gas from being supplied to the parts to which it is supplied, and to supply gas at appropriate pressures to each vehicle height adjustment section, thereby effectively demonstrating the performance of each device.

A feature of the present invention is that, regarding the vehicle height adjustment gas chambers formed in the front and rear suspension systems of the vehicle, the pressure values of the air supplied to the front and rear gas chambers are significantly different, and a common pressure source is used. Or, in a vehicle height adjustment device that adjusts the vehicle height by selectively supplying and discharging high-pressure air using an exhaust valve, the vehicle height is adjusted in the order of the low pressure side and the high pressure side based on the control of the control device. The reason is that the high pressure state of the pressure source is released when the vehicle height is adjusted on the high pressure side.

An embodiment of the present invention will be described below based on the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 1 shows a configuration diagram of a vehicle height adjustment device according to the present invention, and FIG. 2 shows a system diagram of the same adjustment device. In this embodiment, it is configured as a vehicle height adjustment device for a motorcycle.

In FIGS. 1 and 2, reference numeral 1 denotes a compressed air generator, which is comprised of a compressor 2 that compresses atmospheric air to generate high-pressure air, and a dryer 3 that removes moisture from the high-pressure air. Numerals 4 and 4 are front forks at the front of the vehicle, and numerals 5 and 5 are rear suspensions at the rear of the vehicle, each of which has a gas chamber (shown in the figure below) that expands and contracts its length in the axial direction to change the vehicle height. ing. The compressed air generator 1 and the gas chambers of the front forks 4, 4 and the rear suspensions 5, 5 are connected by an air pipe 6, and there is a part in the middle of the air pipe 6 as shown in the figure. A control valve unit 13 is provided which includes solenoid valves 7 and 8 which are front and rear switching valves, a relief solenoid valve 9 which is an exhaust valve for opening to the atmosphere, a pressure sensor 10, a pressure limiter 11, and further includes a check valve 12. .

In the above configuration, the compressor 2 and the solenoid valves 7, 8, and 9 are operated based on commands from a control device 14 composed of, for example, a CPU. That is, by opening the solenoid valve 7 and closing the solenoid valve 8, the compressor 2
When activated, high-pressure air is supplied to each gas chamber of the front forks 4, 4 to raise the vehicle height at the front of the vehicle, and the solenoid valves 7, 8 are kept in the same state as described above, and the relief solenoid valve is activated. 9 is opened and closed intermittently, high pressure air is gradually released from each gas chamber of the front forks 4, 4, and the vehicle height is lowered. Conversely, if the solenoid valve 8 is opened, the solenoid valve 7 is closed, and either the compressor 2 or the relief solenoid valve 9 is operated, high-pressure air is supplied and discharged to the gas chambers of the rear suspensions 5, 5, and the vehicle height at the rear of the vehicle is adjusted. It can be performed. Note that when the vehicle height is not adjusted, both the solenoid valves 7 and 8 are closed, the compressor 2 is stopped, and the relief solenoid valve 9 is in a closed state.

Regarding the vehicle height adjustment device having the above configuration, furthermore, the manual/auto selection switch 1
5. Operating means such as a manual front/rear selection switch 16, a manual up/neutral/down selection switch 17, a vehicle height sensor 18 that outputs vehicle height information, a brake sensor 19 that detects the brake state, and a gas chamber in the front fork. A display 20 for digitally displaying the internal pressure of the gas chamber of the reaction, and a display 21 for digitally displaying the internal pressure of the gas chamber of the reaction.
Output signals from each operating means and vehicle height sensor 1
8. The output signal from the brake sensor 19 is input to the control device 14, and the pressure data obtained from the pressure sensor 10 at the time of vehicle height adjustment is calculated and calculated in the control device 14 on the displays 20 and 21. The pressure value is output and displayed.

The vehicle height adjustment device as described above has a brake sensor 1
Based on the signal given from 9, if other requirements such as the fact that the brake has not been applied are met, the brake becomes ready for operation. The vehicle height adjustment method is as follows:
Manual/auto selection switch 15 allows manual vehicle height adjustment or automatic vehicle height adjustment. In the case of manual vehicle height adjustment, use switch 16 to select either the front or rear side, and use switch 17 to adjust the height up or down.
By selecting one of these, the driver can adjust the vehicle height to suit his/her preference under a certain pressure limit while visually checking the changes in the pressure display on the display devices 20 and 21. On the other hand, in the case of automatic vehicle height adjustment, predetermined "OK", "HIGH", and "LOW"
Based on the vehicle height information output from the vehicle height sensor 18, etc., the vehicle height is adjusted so that whenever the vehicle height changes with respect to the standard vehicle height, the vehicle height is always set to the standard vehicle height ("OK" state). .

In the above, a well-known vehicle height sensor 18 itself used for automatic vehicle height adjustment is used.
As described above, the vehicle height sensor 18 outputs a signal related to predetermined vehicle height information. In this case, it is assumed that the vehicle height sensor 18 includes a front side sensor and a rear side sensor.

In the above, when high-pressure air is supplied to the gas chambers of the front forks 4, 4 or the gas chambers of the rear suspensions 5, 5 to increase the vehicle height at the front and rear of the vehicle,
The compressor 2, which is the same pressure source, is operated and the solenoid valves 7 and 8 are appropriately switched to selectively supply high-pressure air.

By the way, the loads applied to the suspension system are generally different at the front and rear of the vehicle. Therefore, as a matter of course, the pressure setting values of the air applied to the gas chambers of the front forks 4, 4 and the gas chambers of the rear suspensions 5, 5 are also predetermined to be significantly different. For example, in the gas chamber of front fork 4, the lower limit is 0.0Kg/cm ² and the upper limit is 1.0Kg/cm ² , while in the gas chamber of reaction 5, the lower limit is 2.0Kg/cm ² and the upper limit is 6.4.
It is set as Kg/ ^cm2 .

Therefore, based on the vehicle height information from the vehicle height sensor 18,
In the case of an automatic type vehicle height adjustment system in which vehicle height is adjusted to increase the vehicle height at the front and rear of the vehicle based on control commands from the control device 14, first, high-pressure air is supplied to the gas chambers of the front forks 4, 4, and the front The vehicle height on the side is raised to adjust the vehicle height to an appropriate height, and then high-pressure air is sent to the gas chambers of the rear suspensions 5 and 5 to adjust the vehicle height on the rear side. do. Specifically, first the solenoid valve 7 is opened and the solenoid valve 8 is closed to operate the compressor 2, and then the solenoid valve 8 is opened and the solenoid valve 7 is closed to operate the compressor.

Immediately after the rear side vehicle height adjustment is completed, the relief solenoid valve 9 is opened and the compressor 2, dryer 3, unit 13, and air pipe 6 are
The high pressure air remaining inside is released to the atmosphere to reduce the pressure in that area below a certain value.

Due to such an action, high pressure air for the rear action 5 is not supplied to the front fork 4, where the vehicle height is adjusted at a lower pressure setting than the original rear side, and the air is always Since high-pressure air at an appropriate pressure is supplied, there is no problem in adjusting the vehicle height on the front side.

Furthermore, according to the above-mentioned action, the compressor 2
When the compressor 2 operates, the load applied to the compressor 2 is reduced, so the compressor 2 can be started smoothly. Furthermore, since the required pressure value is quickly reached, the adjustment time can be shortened.

Although the above embodiment has been described with respect to a pneumatic vehicle height adjustment device for a motorcycle, it goes without saying that the present invention can be applied to various vehicle height adjustment devices, such as hydraulic type or for automobiles.

As is clear from the above description, according to the present invention,
When adjusting the vehicle height by selectively supplying pressure gas to the vehicle height adjustment section where the supply pressure at the front and rear of the vehicle is significantly different from the same pressure source, it can be applied to the vehicle height adjustment section on the pressure side. This prevents the pressure on the high pressure side from affecting the vehicle height adjustment section on the low pressure side without any trouble, and allows quick and smooth vehicle height adjustment.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram of a vehicle height adjustment device according to the present invention,
FIG. 2 is a control system diagram of the adjustment device. In the drawing, 2 is a compressor, 4 is a front fork, 5 is a rear action, 7 and 8 are solenoid valves for front/rear switching, 9 is a relief solenoid valve for opening to the atmosphere, 10 is a pressure sensor, 14 is a control device, and 18 is a vehicle height. It is a sensor.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1 Gas chambers are formed in the suspension system of the vehicle to adjust the vehicle height using different adjustment pressures, and these gas chambers are equipped with a pressure source that supplies pressurized air and an exhaust valve that discharges the pressurized air. An on-off valve is provided which communicates with the flow path for pressurized air intake and exhaust, and between the flow path and the gas chamber, is capable of shutting off the flow path in accordance with the adjustment pressure classification of the gas chamber, Vehicle height adjustment that allows the amount of extension of the suspension system to be adjusted by selectively operating the on-off valves mentioned above to communicate the gas chamber with the intake/exhaust flow path for each adjustment pressure category, and intake/exhaust pressurized air. This vehicle height adjustment device sequentially controls the pressure source, the on-off valve, and the exhaust valve to adjust the vehicle height in order from the low pressure side for each adjustment pressure, and then controls the pressure source, each on-off valve, and the exhaust valve in order. A vehicle height adjustment device comprising a control device configured to discharge pressurized air in a flow path between the vehicle height adjustment device and the vehicle height adjustment device.