Controllable Vibration Damper Valve Subassembly Design
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing vibration dampers for motor vehicles have complex valve subassemblies that require expensive components and lack variability, making it difficult to adjust individual functions for different applications by replacing only specific components.
Innovation Solution
A controllable vibration damper design featuring simplified valve subassemblies with adjustable pilot chambers and upstream restrictor arrangements, using a dimensionally stable cover and base to reduce the number of parts and eliminate elastic elements, allowing for adaptation by exchanging fewer components, such as the cover, to change the damping characteristics.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If complex valve subassemblies with multiple components are used, then the damping function can be achieved, but the device complexity increases and manufacturing cost increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent combines multiple valve functions (damping valve, pilot valve, upstream restrictor) into a single integrated valve subassembly with a common valve disk that performs all functions through its interaction with different valve seats and channels, eliminating the need for separate valve components for each function
Solution Approach 2:
The valve disk is designed as a universal component that simultaneously serves as the damping valve disk, pilot valve disk, and upstream restrictor by utilizing different regions of the same disk and its interaction with various valve seats and channels, allowing one component to perform multiple critical functions
2Ease of operation
If elastic elements are used in the valve subassembly, then the valve can return to closed position, but wear-prone components are introduced
Solution Approach 1:
The patent removes elastic elements entirely from the valve subassembly by using a magnetically actuated system where the valve disk is attracted to and held against valve seats by magnetic fields, eliminating the need for rubber seals, springs, or other elastic components that would wear over time
Solution Approach 2:
The patent replaces traditional mechanical spring-based valve return mechanisms with a magnetic field-based system where electromagnetic actuators control the valve disk position, substituting mechanical elasticity with electromagnetic forces for more reliable, wear-free operation
3Ease of manufacture
If fixed damping characteristics are designed into the damper, then manufacturing is simplified, but adaptability to different applications is reduced
Solution Approach 1:
The patent enables dynamic adjustment of damping characteristics through electronically controllable magnetic actuators that can vary the magnetic field strength to adjust valve opening positions and restrictor effects, allowing the same physical hardware to adapt to different damping requirements through software control rather than physical reconfiguration
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The design reduces the number of parts required, eliminates wear-prone elastic elements, and allows for increased variability in damping characteristics by adjusting the pilot pressure and restrictor effects, enabling the vibration damper to be adapted for different applications with minimal component changes.
Implementation Method 1
Each valve subassembly has a pilot chamber, wherein a pressure in the pilot chamber pushes the valve disk into the closed valve position in addition to a spring force
Implementation Method 2
a pressure in the pilot chamber pushes the valve disk into the closed valve position in addition to a spring force
Data Source
AI summary
A controllable vibration damper may include a cylinder tube with hydraulic fluid, a piston movable axially within the cylinder tube along an axis and that divides the cylinder tube into two working spaces, a piston rod parallel to the cylinder tube axis and connected at one end to the piston, fluid passages from one working space into another working space, a first valve subassembly on a first fluid passage for damping piston movement in a first direction, and a second valve subassembly on a second fluid passage for damping piston movement in a second direction. Each valve subassembly may include a valve disk seated on a valve seat in a closed position and spaced apart from the valve seat in an open position, as well as a pilot chamber containing an adjustable pressure that pushes the valve disk into the closed position. One of the pilot chambers may be delimited by a base, a cylindrical side wall fixed relative to the base and arranged coaxially with the cylinder tube axis, and a dimensionally stable cover that is held radially within the cylindrical side wall and can be moved parallel to the cylinder tube axis.