Gas Spring Damper Assembly Segmented Chambers
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing gas spring and gas damper assemblies face challenges in balancing spring rate with damping performance, as increased damping often results in undesirable increases in spring rate, which can lead to a less comfortable vehicle ride.
Innovation Solution
The design incorporates a gas spring and gas damper assembly with a damping chamber and a piston that allows for reciprocal movement, enabling gas transfer between the spring chamber and the damping chamber to dissipate kinetic energy, while maintaining a differential pressure that minimizes the impact on the spring rate, allowing for higher damping performance without increasing the spring rate undesirably.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If increased internal gas pressure is used to achieve increased damping performance, then damping performance is improved, but spring rate undesirably increases
Solution Approach 1:
The gas spring and gas damper are segmented into separate functional chambers: a spring chamber for providing suspension force and a damping chamber for providing damping performance. This segmentation allows each chamber to operate at optimized pressure levels independently, resolving the contradiction between damping performance and spring rate.
Solution Approach 2:
A gas transfer passage acts as an intermediary between the spring chamber and damping chamber, allowing controlled gas flow to equalize pressure differences while maintaining separate functional zones. This intermediary enables the system to achieve high damping performance without proportionally increasing spring rate.
2Ease of operation
If softer spring elements with lower spring rates are used to improve ride comfort, then ride quality is improved, but damping performance decreases
Solution Approach 1:
By segmenting the gas spring into separate spring and damping chambers, the system can use softer springs for comfort while maintaining adequate damping performance through the separate damping chamber operating at higher pressure.
Solution Approach 2:
The invention merges the gas spring and gas damper into a single integrated assembly, combining the functions of spring support and damping control in one device, allowing both ride comfort and damping performance to be achieved simultaneously.
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 solution achieves significantly improved damping performance, increasing force by up to 200% compared to conventional systems, while maintaining a comfortable ride by selectively managing gas pressures within the spring and damping chambers.
Implementation Method 1
a spring chamber is at least partially defined therebetween... gas can be transferred between the first portion and the spring chamber during reciprocal movement of the damper piston
Implementation Method 2
the gas damper portion permits gas flow between two or more volumes of pressurized gas, such as through one or more orifices... there is some resistance to the movement of pressurized gas through these passages or ports, and this resistance acts to dissipate energy associated with the gas spring portion
Data Source
AI summary
A gas spring and gas damper assembly includes a first end member, a second end member and a flexible wall that at least partially defines a first spring chamber therebetween. A damping chamber wall at least partially defines a damping chamber. A damper piston is received within the damping chamber and is operatively connected between the first and second end members and within the first spring chamber. A suspension system that includes a gas spring and gas damper assembly as well as a method of assembly are also included.