Floating-Slider Hydraulic End Stop for Load-Adaptive Damping
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Existing hydraulic shock absorbers for motor vehicles lack an automatic mechanism to adapt to varying loads, leading to inadequate braking performance during changes in vehicle load, which affects comfort and safety.
Innovation Solution
A hydraulic damper with a sliding valve in a compensation chamber that adjusts braking based on fluid levels, using magnets and return springs to control adjustable holes in the stop tube, allowing for adaptive braking in response to vehicle load changes, ensuring comfort and safety across different loading conditions.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If a manual control system is used to adjust the closing of holes in the end stop, then the braking force can be regulated, but the system cannot automatically adapt to different loads
Solution Approach 1:
The end stop system automatically adjusts its braking force by using the vehicle's own load to drive the floating slider. The slider rises or falls with the fluid level in the compensation chamber, which changes with vehicle load, thereby self-regulating the braking force without external control input.
Solution Approach 2:
The system uses the fluid level in the compensation chamber as a feedback mechanism that reflects the vehicle's load condition. This fluid level directly controls the slider position, which in turn controls which holes are closed, creating a closed-loop feedback system that automatically adapts to load changes.
2Adaptability or versatility
If a slide valve with controlled fluid passage is used to slow valve movement, then comfort is improved for lightly loaded vehicles, but the valve may not respond quickly enough to prevent bottoming out when heavily loaded
Solution Approach 1:
The system uses multiple holes at different heights in the stop tube, closing them progressively as the piston approaches the end stop. This progressive closure provides increasing braking force as needed, rather than applying full braking from the start, allowing the valve to move at controlled speeds while still preventing bottoming out when necessary.
3Reliability
If holes in the stop tube are closed to increase braking force, then safety is improved by preventing bottoming out, but comfort is reduced due to increased stiffness
Solution Approach 1:
Different holes are closed at different positions and under different load conditions, creating locally optimized braking characteristics. The system closes specific holes based on the slider position and load condition, providing appropriate braking force at each stage of compression rather than uniform braking throughout.
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 solution provides self-adaptive, passive adjustment of the limit stop, ensuring comfort with progressive braking for lightly loaded vehicles and significant braking for heavily loaded vehicles, maintaining comfort and road holding without external connections or electrical systems, while minimizing component count and cost.
Implementation Method 1
forming a float that moves according to the level of fluid in this compensation chamber
Implementation Method 2
a compensation chamber surrounding the inner tube and receiving the fluid displaced by the inlet of a main rod in the shock absorber
Data Source
Figure 1
Figure 2
AI summary
The invention relates to a hydraulic shock absorber comprising a shock absorber piston (6) secured to a main rod (8), sliding in an inner tube (4), and a compensation chamber (20) surrounding the inner tube (4), receiving the fluid displaced by the entry of the main rod (8) into the shock absorber, the shock absorber piston (6) supporting, towards the front, a limit stop rod (10) comprising, at its end, a stop piston (12) entering into a stop tube (14) having holes for the discharge of fluid (18, 34), the compensation chamber (20) comprising a plug valve (22) sliding axially around the inner tube (4) with a braking system, forming a float moving according to the level of fluid in this compensation chamber (20), which acts according to its movement on the adjustable holes (34) of the stop tube (14).