JPH06115331A - Suspension for vehicle - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To provide the setting freedom degree of camber change and roll center change similar to that at a multi-link type suspension while the simplicity of the constitution of a strut type suspension is being maintained, in the case of a strut type vehicle suspension. CONSTITUTION:In the case of a strut type suspension, the fitting of a strut damper 2 to a housing 1 is made to be a fitting structure by means of axes 5 so that rotation in a camber direction may be possible and drive torque and brake torque may be restrained. Regulation in the camber direction is conducted by the addition of one piece of an upper link 8, and the coexistence of the simplicity of the strut type suspension and a roll characteristc that is excellent in the operation stability performance of a multi-link type suspension is made possible, and strut friction due to upper and lower spring reaction is made zero, and strut mount height can be set low by being able to arrange a coil spring 3 on the inside of tires, and hood height can be lowered.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a vehicle suspension.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Strut suspensions have been widely used as suspensions for vehicles (see, for example, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2-227309).

As shown in FIG. 3, in the strut suspension, the lower end of a strut damper b provided with a coil spring c on the outer periphery is fixed to the upper part of a housing a that rotatably supports the wheels. Generally, the upper end of b is attached to the vehicle body via a mount rubber, and the tip end of a lower arm d attached to the vehicle so as to be vertically swingable is connected to the lower portion of the housing a via a ball joint. Target.

[0004]

The strut type suspension as described above has an advantage that the structure is extremely simple and lightweight and does not occupy a lot of space, but the camber when the vehicle body is rolled is flat. However, there is a problem that there is a limit to the maneuverability due to the lack of freedom in changing the height of the roll center. Further, the coil spring c must be arranged above the tire in order to reduce the strut friction generated by the spring reaction force of the coil spring c. Therefore, when a strut suspension is used as the front suspension, the height of the front hood must be increased. It cannot be lowered, which is a design disadvantage.

An object of the present invention is to solve the above problems of the strut suspension.

[0006]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION According to the present invention, a strut damper in a strut suspension is attached to a housing with a mounting structure that is rotatable in a camber direction and restrains torque in a wheel rotation direction. Is connected by one upper link capable of swinging up and down, and the camber direction is restricted by the upper link.

[0007]

As described above, by controlling the camber direction with one upper link, while maintaining the simplicity of the strut suspension, the same camber change and roll center change as the multi-link suspension can be achieved. The degree of freedom of setting can be obtained, and the operational safety performance can be improved. In addition, the strut damper supports only the driving force and braking force in the rotational direction of the wheel, and the lateral force is supported by the upper link. Therefore, the strut damper is reduced in weight, vibration noise is reduced, and maneuverability is improved. It is possible to achieve both of the above, and there is no strut friction due to the reaction force of the upper and lower springs, and the coil spring can be placed inside the tire, so the strut mount height can be set low and the hood height and The seat height of a cab-over vehicle can be lowered, which is advantageous in terms of design and body layout. Furthermore, the upper link length can be set to be long so that the camber during bumping does not become excessive and scrub does not increase, and the upper link mounting portion to the housing is located outside and rearward of the kingpin shaft to prevent rolling. The camber at the time of rudder can be changed to a negative change on the outer wheel side and a positive change on the inner wheel side to provide favorable change characteristics for tire grip during vehicle turning.

[0008]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 shows an example in which the strut suspension of the present invention is applied to a front suspension of a vehicle. Reference numeral 1 is a housing for rotatably supporting wheels.
Is a strut damper. The strut damper 2 is composed of an outer cylinder 21 and a piston rod 22 slidably fitted in the outer cylinder 21, and a coil is provided between the outer cylinder 21 and the piston rod 22, as is conventionally known. The structure is such that the spring 3 is substantially concentrically interposed.

The upper end of the strut damper 2, that is, the upper end of the piston rod 22 is mounted with a mount rubber 22a as usual.
The lower end portion of the strut damper 2, that is, the lower end portion of the outer cylinder 21 and the housing 1 are attached to the vehicle body-side member 4 via the fork-shaped bracket 21a integrally fixed to the lower end portion of the outer cylinder 21. 1 has a structure in which it is swingably attached to the front and rear bearing portions 1a by a shaft 5 in the front-rear direction.

The details of the mounting portion between the strut damper 2 and the housing 1 are as shown in FIG. That is, the bearing portion 1a of the housing 1 is below the center O of rotation of the wheel.
A bifurcated bracket 21a fixed to the lower end of the outer cylinder 21 of the strut damper 2 is provided on the front and rear bearings 1a with the shaft 5 substantially in the front-rear direction via a bush 21b. Therefore, it is possible to swing in the camber direction and restrain the drive torque and the brake torque.

Reference numeral 6 is a lower arm having a substantially Y shape,
The lower arm 6 has base ends 6a and 6b attached to a vehicle body via a bush so as to be vertically swingable, and a tip end 6c is coupled to a lower portion of the housing 1 via a lower ball joint 7.

Reference numeral 8 denotes an upper link. The upper link 8 has a base end portion 8a attached to a vehicle body so as to be vertically swingable via a bush or a ball joint, and a tip end portion 8b is attached to an upper portion of the housing 1 with an upper ball joint. It is attached via 9. The attachment point of the upper link 8 to the housing 1, that is, the center of the upper ball joint 9 is outside the kingpin axis formed by a line XX connecting the center of the top mount of the strut damper 2 and the center of the lower ball joint 7. And located behind XX.

Reference numeral 10 is an axle shaft, and 11 is a tie rod of a steering device.

As described above, as compared with the conventional general strut suspension, the mounting structure of the strut damper to the housing is changed, and a single upper link is simply added. It can perform many useful functions as described.

That is, the lateral regulation by the upper link 8 makes it possible to set the camber change, the roll center change, etc., in the same geometry as the multi-link type suspension at the time of rolling the vehicle body, which is a limit of the steering performance in the conventional strut type suspension. The problem can be solved.

Rotational force of the tire such as driving torque and brake torque is supported by the strut damper 2 as usual, and lateral force acting on the tire is supported by the upper link 8 and the lower arm 6, and the coil spring is used. Since the center of 3 is arranged almost coincident with the line connecting the center of the strut mount and the center of the attachment points before and after the lower end of the strut damper 2 to the housing 1, it is based on the reaction force of the upper and lower springs of the coil spring 3. Since the strut damper does not bend, the strut friction due to the reaction force of the upper and lower springs can be eliminated without the coil spring being offset from the center of the strut unlike the conventional strut suspension. Figure 1
It is possible to dispose it on the inner side of the tire as shown in FIG. 3, and it is possible to set the strut mount height to be low and reduce the hood height, which is advantageous in design.

Further, since the attachment point of the upper link 8 to the housing 1 does not serve as the kingpin axis, the upper link 8 is lengthened so that the camber does not become large at the time of bumping, so that the attachment point of the upper link 8 to the housing 1 is illustrated. As shown in FIG. 1 (C), the scrub can be extremely small or minus scrub without increasing the scrub even if it goes to the outside. As described above, since the attachment point of the upper link 8 to the housing 1 does not serve as the kingpin axis and the scrub does not increase, the attachment point of the upper link 8 to the housing 1 is set to the kingpin axis XX as in the illustrated embodiment. Of the upper link 8 during steering, the swing of the upper link 8 works to pull the tire on the outer wheel side and move the tire away from the inner wheel side.
Outer-wheel camber minus and inner-wheel camber plus are obtained, and favorable characteristics can be obtained from the viewpoint of tire grip during turning.

In the above embodiments, the present invention is applied to the front suspension, but the present invention can also be applied to the rear suspension.

[0020]

As described above, according to the present invention, the strut damper of the conventionally known strut suspension is changed in the mounting structure to the housing, and the strut is added by an extremely simple measure. It is possible to achieve both the simplicity, which is an advantage of the multi-type suspension, and the excellent roll characteristics of the multi-link suspension in terms of the steering performance, eliminate the strut friction due to the reaction force of the upper and lower springs, and reduce the strut mount height. The hood height and the seat height of the cab-over vehicle can be lowered, which is advantageous in terms of design and vehicle body layout. In addition, the bending rigidity of the strut damper and the spring of the strut mount rubber do not affect the lateral rigidity of the suspension, so the weight can be reduced. Reducing vibration noise and improving maneuverability Possible and will, and the like as camber also not increase can also scrub so as not to excessively during bump so further be set long upper link length,
All the problems of conventional strut suspensions can be solved.

Furthermore, the mounting point of the upper link to the housing can be arranged outside and rearward of the kingpin shaft constituted by the line connecting the center of the strut mount and the mounting point of the lower arm to the housing. With this configuration, the outer wheel camber becomes negative during steering and the inner wheel camber becomes positive, which is advantageous in terms of tire grip when turning the vehicle. This is because the structure is simple and the cost is low. Therefore, it can bring about a great effect practically.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 shows an embodiment of the present invention, in which (A) is a side view, (B) is a plan view, and (C) is a rear view.

FIG. 2 is a vertical cross-sectional side view of essential parts showing details of an attachment portion of the strut damper of FIG. 1 to a housing.

FIG. 3 is a front view showing an example of a conventional strut suspension.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Housing 1a Bearing part 2 Strut damper 3 Coil spring 5 Axis 6 Lower arm 7 Lower ball joint 8 Upper link 9 Upper ball joint 21 Outer cylinder 21a Bracket 22 Piston rod 22a Strut mount rubber

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. A strut suspension in which a housing for rotatably supporting wheels is rotatably mounted on a vehicle body by a lower arm and a strut damper having coil springs arranged on the outer periphery thereof. The lower end portion of the strut damper attached via a member and the housing are attached by a mounting structure that is rotatable in the camber direction and that torque in the wheel rotation direction can be supported by the strut damper, and the upper portion of the housing and the vehicle body are A vehicle suspension characterized in that it is connected by one upper link capable of swinging up and down, and the upper link restricts the housing in the camber direction. 2. The vehicle suspension according to claim 1, wherein the mounting structure of the lower end portion of the strut damper and the housing is such that front and rear brackets provided at the lower end portion of the outer cylinder of the strut damper and front and rear portions provided in the housing. And a bracket at the lower end of the outer cylinder and a shaft in a substantially front-rear direction that rotatably pivotally mounts a bracket of the lower end of the outer cylinder to the bearing part of the housing via a bush before and after the wheel rotation center. Vehicle suspension. 3. The vehicle suspension according to claim 1, wherein a mounting portion of the upper link to the housing connects a mounting portion of the upper end portion of the strut damper to the vehicle body and a mounting portion of the lower arm to the housing. A vehicle suspension characterized in that it is arranged outside the kingpin shaft constituted by. 4. The vehicle suspension according to claim 1, wherein a mounting portion of the upper link to the housing connects a mounting portion of the upper end portion of the strut damper to the vehicle body and a mounting portion of the lower arm to the housing. A vehicle suspension characterized in that it is arranged outside and rearward of the kingpin shaft constituted by. 5. The vehicle suspension according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the center of the coil spring is located between the upper end of the strut damper attached to the vehicle body and the center of the lower end of the strut damper attached to the housing. A vehicle suspension characterized in that it is arranged so as to substantially coincide with a line connecting between.