Rotatable air spring upper end cover assembly

Abstract

The invention discloses a rotatable air spring upper end cover assembly. The rotatable air spring upper end cover comprises an upper support cover; the rotating assembly is arranged below the upper supporting cover; the base supporting frame is arranged below the rotating assembly; wherein the center line of the base supporting frame deviates from the axial center line by a certain angle, and the base supporting frame and the upper end cover rotate relative to each other through a rotating assembly. The air spring can bear transverse acting force generated by a vehicle chassis suspension while supporting a vertical load, torsional deformation generated in the working process of the rubber air bag is reduced, transverse shearing force borne by the air spring is reduced, and the service life of the air spring is prolonged.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present invention relates to the technical field of automobile air suspension, and more specifically to a rotatable air spring upper end cover assembly applied to automobile air suspension. Background Art

[0002] Automobile air suspension is mainly used to bear the load of the vehicle body, buffer the impact transmitted to the vehicle body by the road surface, attenuate vibration energy, and ensure stable driving of the vehicle. Among them, the air spring, as an elastic element to replace the traditional metal spring, has ideal nonlinear stiffness characteristics. Its stiffness can be automatically adjusted with the load change, so that the suspension frequency deviation remains basically unchanged. It can adjust the height of the vehicle chassis by inflating and deflating air according to road conditions and needs. It is a key component of the automobile air suspension system. The air spring mainly bears vertical force and has weak resistance to shear force in the circumferential direction. As a part of the suspension, the air spring will also produce a certain deformation in the circumferential direction when the chassis suspension produces a certain torsional deformation. This deformation is not conducive to the working stiffness and service life of the air spring.

[0003] The air spring is mainly composed of an upper end cover, a rubber airbag and a piston. It uses air as the working medium to form a compressed air column, which is stretched and compressed in the vertical direction by the rubber airbag to bear the vehicle body load and alleviate the impact and vibration of the road, thereby improving the vehicle's passability, ride comfort and road friendliness.

[0004] During the driving process of the car, the air spring not only bears vertical loads and vibrations, but also bears the lateral torque generated by the vehicle chassis suspension under conditions such as turning, starting, and emergency braking, which acts on the rubber airbag to generate lateral shear force, causing torsional deformation. When the torsion angle is too large, the rubber airbag will cause fatigue loss or even damage, which greatly affects the vertical stiffness characteristics of the air spring, accelerates the aging rate of the rubber airbag, reduces the service life of the air spring, and further affects the performance of the air suspension. The existing connection between the upper end cover of the air spring and the vehicle body is generally a rigid connection. The lateral shear force will be directly transmitted to the rubber airbag of the air spring, which is insufficient to resist the lateral force and increases the risk of air spring failure. In addition, since most parts of the air spring except the rubber airbag are made of metal, when the air spring is subjected to lateral shear force, the friction between the metal parts will produce abnormal noise, affecting the ride comfort. Summary of the invention

[0005] An object of the present invention is to solve the above-mentioned problems and to provide advantages which will be described later.

[0006] Another object of the present invention is to provide a rotatable upper end cover assembly of an air spring applied to an automobile air suspension. When the air spring is subjected to a lateral shear force, the rubber airbag can rotate relative to the automobile chassis as the base support frame rotates relative to the upper support cover because the upper end cover assembly includes a rotatable rolling bearing. Through this rotating structure, the torsional force on the rubber airbag is reduced, so as to solve the problem that the air spring in the prior art is insufficient in resisting the lateral force while supporting the vertical load and cannot reduce the torsional deformation of the rubber airbag caused by the lateral shear force, thereby extending the service life of the air spring and improving the stability of the vehicle.

[0007] Furthermore, the present invention is achieved through the following technical solutions: A first aspect of the present invention provides a rotatable air spring upper end cover assembly, comprising: upper support cover; A rotating component disposed below the upper support cover; A base support frame is arranged below the rotating assembly; wherein the base support frame realizes relative rotational movement with the upper end cover through the rotating assembly.

[0008] In some technical solutions, the top of the upper support cover is provided with fastening bolts, and the number of the fastening bolts is 3 or more and is evenly distributed on the same circumference.

[0009] In some technical solutions, a positioning pin is further provided on the top of the upper support cover, and the positioning pin is distributed on a circumference different from that of the fastening bolts.

[0010] In some technical solutions, the upper support cover shell is provided with an air valve seat, and the air valve seat is connected to the air intake duct.

[0011] In some technical solutions, an air pipe limiting block is provided inside the upper support cover, and the number of the air pipe limiting blocks is 2 or more, which is used to fix the air intake duct.

[0012] In some technical solutions, the rotating component is provided with a rolling bearing, a first bearing stopper and a second bearing stopper; wherein, The rolling bearing is provided with a sealing ring. The rolling bearing is a deep groove ball bearing or a cylindrical roller bearing. The first bearing limit block and the interior of the upper support cover are assembled together through interference fit. The second bearing limit block and the base support frame are assembled together through interference fit.

[0013] In some technical solutions, the center line of the base support frame deviates from the axial center line at a certain angle and can withstand a certain lateral force.

[0014] In some technical solutions, an anti-slip groove is provided on the outside of the base support frame.

[0015] In some technical solutions, the base support frame is provided with a support column.

[0016] In some technical solutions, the base support frame is provided with a buffer block, and the buffer block is tightly placed outside the support column.

[0017] The technical effects provided by the embodiments of the present invention include: Compared with the existing air springs, the rotatable air spring upper end cover provided in the embodiment of the present invention can withstand the vertical load of the vehicle chassis suspension while resisting a certain lateral force through the base support frame offset at a certain angle. In addition, when the chassis suspension produces a certain torsional deformation, the base support frame tightly connected to the rubber airbag rotates with the upper support cover through the rotating assembly to achieve rotation relative to the vehicle chassis, which can effectively reduce the impact of lateral shear force on the rubber airbag, reduce the torsional force and torsional deformation of the rubber airbag, and extend the service life of the air spring.

[0018] Other advantages, objectives and features of the present invention will be embodied in part through the following description, and in part will be understood by those skilled in the art through study and practice of the present invention. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0019] Figure 1 It is a schematic structural diagram of a rotatable air spring upper end cover assembly applied to an automobile air suspension in some embodiments of the present invention; Figure 2 for Figure 1 A schematic diagram of a cross-sectional structure of an upper support cover; Figure 3 for Figure 1 A schematic diagram of the structure of the rotating part; Figure 4 for Figure 1 Schematic diagram of the three-dimensional structure; Figure numerals: 1. air spring upper end cover assembly; 10. upper support cover; 110. fastening bolt; 120. positioning pin; 130. air nozzle seat; 140. air intake duct; 150. air pipe limit block; 20. rotating assembly; 210. rolling bearing; 220. sealing ring; 230. first bearing limit block; 240. second bearing limit block; 30. base support frame; 310. support column; 320. buffer block. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0020] The present invention is further described in detail below in conjunction with the accompanying drawings so that those skilled in the art can implement the invention with reference to the description.

[0021] It should be noted that, in the description of the present invention, the terms "lateral", "longitudinal", "up", "down", "front", "back", "left", "right", "vertical", "horizontal", "top", "bottom", "inside" and "outside" etc. indicating orientations or positional relationships are based on the orientations or positional relationships shown in the accompanying drawings, and are only for the convenience of describing the present invention and simplifying the description, and do not indicate or imply that the device or element referred to must have a specific orientation, be constructed and operated in a specific orientation, and therefore cannot be understood as a limitation on the present invention.

[0022] The terms "first" and "second" in the embodiments of the present application are only used for descriptive purposes, and cannot be understood as indicating or implying relative importance or implicitly indicating the number of indicated technical features. Thus, the features defined as "first" and "second" can explicitly or implicitly include at least one of the features. In addition, the orientation or positional relationship indicated by "upper", "lower", "top", "bottom", "inside", "outside", etc. is based on the orientation or positional relationship shown in the accompanying drawings, which is only for the convenience of describing the present invention and simplifying the description, and does not indicate or imply that the device or device referred to must have a specific orientation, be constructed and operated in a specific orientation, and therefore cannot be understood as a limitation of the present invention. Furthermore, the terms "including" and "provided with", "having" and any of their variations are intended to cover non-exclusive inclusions. For example, a process, method, system, product or device comprising a series of steps or units is not limited to the listed steps or units, but optionally also includes steps or units that are not listed, or optionally also includes other steps or units inherent to these processes, methods, products or devices.

[0023] In addition to the above, it is still necessary to emphasize that the reference to "embodiment" in this article means that the specific features, structures or characteristics described in conjunction with the embodiment may be included in at least one embodiment of the present application. The appearance of this phrase in various places in the specification does not necessarily refer to the same embodiment, nor is it an independent or alternative embodiment that is mutually exclusive with other embodiments. It is explicitly and implicitly understood by those skilled in the art that the embodiments described herein can be combined with other embodiments.

[0024] In the first aspect, combined Figure 1-4 As shown, the embodiment of the present application provides a rotatable air spring upper end cover assembly 1 applied to an automobile air suspension, comprising: Upper support cover 10; A rotating component 20 disposed below the upper support cover 10; A base support frame 30 is disposed below the rotating assembly 20 ; wherein the base support frame 30 realizes relative rotational motion with the upper end cover 10 through the rotating assembly 20 .

[0025] Furthermore, the center line of the base support frame 30 deviates from the axial center line at a certain angle, and the deviation angle range is between 10° and 30°.

[0026] It can be seen from the above that the air spring upper end cover assembly 1 provided in the embodiment of the present application can withstand a certain lateral force while bearing the vertical load of the vehicle chassis suspension.

[0027] In addition, the base support frame 30 tightly connected to the rubber airbag realizes relative rotational motion with the upper support cover 10 through the rotating assembly 20, which can effectively reduce the influence of the lateral shear force on the rubber airbag, reduce the torsional force and torsional deformation of the rubber airbag, and extend the service life of the air spring.

[0028] In some embodiments, the top of the upper support cover 10 is provided with fastening bolts 110 , and the number of the fastening bolts 110 is 3 or more and is evenly distributed on the same circumference for fixing to the vehicle frame.

[0029] In some embodiments, a positioning pin 120 is further provided on the top of the upper support cover 10 . The positioning pin 120 is distributed on a circumference different from that of the fastening bolts 110 and is used for positioning the air spring upper end cover assembly 1 .

[0030] In some embodiments, the upper support cover 10 shell is provided with an air valve seat 130, and the air valve seat 130 is connected to the air intake duct 140, and an external air source can be used to inflate and deflate the air spring to adjust the chassis height.

[0031] In some technical solutions, an air pipe limit block 150 is provided inside the upper support cover 10, and the number of the air pipe limit blocks 150 is 2 or more to ensure that the air intake duct 140 is fixed during the rotation of the air spring upper end cover assembly 1.

[0032] In some technical solutions, the rotating component 20 is provided with a rolling bearing 210, a first bearing stopper 230 and a second bearing stopper 240; wherein, The rolling bearing 210 is provided with a sealing ring 220. The rolling bearing 210 is a deep groove ball bearing or a cylindrical roller bearing. The first bearing stopper 230 and the interior of the upper support cover 10 are assembled together through interference fit. The second bearing limit block 240 and the base support frame 30 are assembled together through interference fit.

[0033] It should be noted that the sealing ring 220 is made of one of nitrile rubber, fluororubber and silicone rubber, and is used to prevent the lubricating oil of the rolling bearing 210 from leaking out or foreign matter from entering.

[0034] In some embodiments, the base support frame 30 is provided with an anti-slip groove on the outside, which is tightly connected to the rubber airbag and the retaining ring of the air spring assembly to prevent the air spring from leaking.

[0035] In some technical solutions, the base support frame 30 is provided with a support column 310 for docking the damper.

[0036] In some technical solutions, the base support frame 30 is provided with a buffer block 320, and the buffer block 320 is tightly placed outside the support column 310 to alleviate the vertical force and play a safety protection role.

[0037] As can be seen from the above, the air spring upper end cover assembly 1 solves the problem that the prior art air spring is insufficient in resisting the lateral force while supporting the vertical load and cannot reduce the torsional deformation of the rubber airbag caused by the lateral shear force, thereby extending the service life of the air spring. The structure is easy to install, and the rubber airbag part of the air spring and the vehicle body can perform relative rotational motion, thereby improving the stability of the vehicle. The specific principle is as follows.

[0038] During the operation of the air spring, when the chassis suspension applies a lateral force to the air spring, the center line of the base support frame 30 deviates from the axial center line at a certain angle, and resists a certain lateral force while bearing the vertical load of the vehicle chassis suspension. At the same time, the upper end cover assembly 1 will make circumferential rotational motion as the air spring rotates; under the influence of the gravity of the vehicle body, the upper support cover 10 will drive the rotating assembly 20 to make circumferential rotational motion due to the fastening bolts 110; because the rotating component 20 is provided with a rolling bearing 210, it will make relative rotational motion relative to the base support frame 30 in the circumferential direction, keeping the spatial position of the upper support cover 10 unchanged; because the base support frame 30 is tightly connected to the rubber airbag, it also ensures that the rubber airbag is not affected by the circumferential rotational force, preventing the rubber airbag from torsional deformation, extending the service life of the air spring, and improving the stability of the vehicle.

[0039] Although the embodiments of the present invention have been disclosed as above, they are not limited to the applications listed in the specification and the implementation modes, and they can be fully applied to various fields suitable for the present invention. For those familiar with the art, additional modifications can be easily implemented. Therefore, without departing from the general concept defined by the claims and the scope of equivalents, the present invention is not limited to the specific details and the illustrations shown and described herein.

Claims

1. A rotatable upper end cover of an air spring, characterized in that: upper support cover; A rotating component disposed below the upper support cover; A base support frame is arranged below the rotating assembly; wherein the base support frame realizes relative rotational movement with the upper end cover through the rotating assembly.

2. The upper support cover according to claim 1, characterized in that: The top of the upper support cover is provided with fastening bolts, and the number of the fastening bolts is 3 or more and is evenly distributed on the same circumference.

3. The upper support cover according to claim 2, characterized in that: The top of the upper support cover is also provided with positioning pins, and the positioning pins are distributed on a circumference different from that of the fastening bolts.

4. The upper support cover according to claim 2, characterized in that: The upper support cover shell is provided with an air valve seat, and the air valve seat is connected to the air intake duct.

5. The upper support cover according to claim 2, characterized in that: An air pipe limiting block is provided inside the upper support cover, and the number of the air pipe limiting blocks is 2 or more, which is used to fix the air intake duct.

6. The rotating component according to claim 1, characterized in that: The rotating component is provided with a rolling bearing, a first bearing stopper and a second bearing stopper; wherein, The rolling bearing is provided with a sealing ring. The rolling bearing is a deep groove ball bearing or a cylindrical roller bearing. The first bearing limit block and the interior of the upper support cover are assembled together through interference fit. The second bearing limit block and the base support frame are assembled together through interference fit.

7. The base support frame according to claim 1, characterized in that: The center line of the base support frame deviates from the axial center line at a certain angle and can withstand a certain lateral force.

8. The base support frame according to claim 1, characterized in that: An anti-drop groove is arranged on the outside of the base support frame.

9. The base support frame according to claim 7, characterized in that: The base support frame is provided with a support column.

10. The base support frame according to claim 7, characterized in that: The base support frame is provided with a buffer block, and the buffer block is tightly placed outside the support column.

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