Vehicle Dampening Device Thermal Management via Cooling Element
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing damping devices for vehicles suffer from varying suspension and damping properties due to thermal dependencies, leading to unfavorable performance, especially in off-road conditions, and have complex or heavy designs.
Innovation Solution
A damping device with a hydraulic accumulator featuring a cooling element that dissipates heat from the damping medium to the environment, combined with a telescopic spring cylinder and separate hydraulic and spring media circuits, allowing for effective thermal decoupling and reduced heat transfer to the spring medium.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If a hydraulic accumulator with damping medium and compressed gas is used without a cooling element, then the suspension system has a simple structure, but the damping medium heats up quickly due to throttling, causing temperature increase and pressure rise that lead to varying and unfavorable suspension and damping properties
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces a cooling element as an intermediary component between the damping medium and the environment. This cooling element acts as a heat transfer mediator, allowing thermal energy to be dissipated from the damping medium through its outer surface to the surrounding environment, thereby maintaining consistent damping properties without compromising the simple accumulator design
Solution Approach 2:
The patent changes the thermal parameters of the system by introducing a dedicated cooling mechanism. The cooling element modifies the temperature parameter of the damping medium by facilitating heat transfer to the environment, thereby stabilizing the temperature and preventing the pressure rise that would otherwise occur due to throttling heating
2Reliability
If a separate damping circuit with independent damping cylinder and damping valve is used, then thermal dependency is minimized and suspension properties remain stable, but the device complexity and installation volume increase significantly
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges the damping circuit with the spring accumulator by using the same hydraulic accumulator housing for both the damping medium and the compressed gas. The piston separates these two media within the same accumulator, combining functions that would traditionally require separate components, thereby reducing overall device complexity while maintaining thermal stability through the external cooling element
Solution Approach 2:
The hydraulic accumulator is designed to serve multiple functions simultaneously: it houses both the damping medium and the compressed gas, acts as both a damping chamber and a spring chamber, and provides mounting for the cooling element. This multi-functionality reduces the number of separate components needed while maintaining the thermal stability benefits of a separate damping circuit
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
This design enhances the stress capacity of the suspension system, improving driving performance by maintaining consistent spring and damping properties, particularly in off-road vehicles, while maintaining a simple and compact structure.
Implementation Method 1
a cooling element for dissipating heat from the damping medium to the outside to the environment
Implementation Method 2
heat is emitted from the inside to the outside via an outer, tubular housing to the environment
Implementation Method 3
The prestressing pressure p is applied to the damping medium DM located in the storage space 8 by compressed gas DG
Implementation Method 4
The compressed gas is thereby compressed, and the gas pressure, acting as a pneumatic spring, produces a load-bearing capacity in the spring strut via the hydraulic medium
Implementation Method 5
a hydraulic damping valve (4) for throttling—in each case caused by suspension movements—flows of a hydraulic damping medium (DM)
Implementation Method 6
due to the damping (throttling), the hydraulic medium assigned to the spring medium is heated quickly and, in some cases, strongly
Implementation Method 7
the piston (26) separates two working chambers (28, 30) from one another in a media-tight manner within the cylinder (24)
Data Source
Figure 1
Figure 2
AI summary
The device (1) has a spring cylinder (2) with a piston (6) that is guided in a cylinder (4). The piston provided inside the cylinder separates two working chambers (10, 12) from each other to define the working chambers, where one of the working chambers is associated with a spring medium (FM) and the other working chamber is associated with a damping medium (DM). The latter working chamber is connected via a damper valve arrangement (14) to a hydraulic container (16) to pressurize the damping medium to a defined initial pressure of about 3 to 5 bar.