Honda Motor Co., Ltd.

Honda Giken Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha

Hajime Kajiwara

Takehiko Hakui

Shoichi Sano

Kotaro Yamaguchi

Masanori Watanabe

Masami Ogura

Atsushi Yuta

Suguru Yoshida

Yoshitomo Azekatsu

Kazuo Inoue

Kunimichi Hatano

Yasuji Shibahata

Yutaka Horiuchi

Tsuneo Konno

Yoshimitsu Akuta

Kimio Okamoto

Kenichi Nagahiro

Kiyoshi Nakajima

Yasuhiko Fujita

Koichi Suyama

Masatoshi Mori

Masataka Kumata

Masashi Kitagawa

Yasuhiro Terada

Hiroshi Ogasa

Yoshinobu Tada

Hiroo Shimada

Tateo Kawade

Kaoru Kusaka

Hidetoshi Amano

Yoshinobu Ono

Shinji Yamashita

Hajime Hirata

Masao Ohno

Ken Uchida

Masahiro Hashiguchi

Yohei Kondo

Yoshimoto Azekatsu

A suspension device in which a knuckle for supporting a wheel is supported by arms and a damper is connected to the knuckle. A suspension device () is configured in such a manner that the intersection () between a line extended from an elastic kingpin axis () of a rear wheel () and a road surface () is located on the rear side, relative to the vehicle, of the ground contact center () of the rear wheel. The elastic kingpin axis is tilted forward relative to the vehicle and is disposed below the rotation center () of the rear wheel in the vertical direction. A lower connection section () of a damper () is provided on a line () drawn in substantially the vertical direction from the rotation center of the rear wheel. A damper axis () is tilted inward in the width direction of the vehicle and tilted forward relative to the vehicle.

Suspension device

A variable damping-force damper includes a cylinder tube filled with magnetic particles (MRF), a piston that is slidably disposed within the cylinder tube, a piston rod connected with the piston and is disposed so as to protrude out of one end of the cylinder tube and a rod guide that closes one end of the cylinder tube and slidably supports the piston rod. The cylinder tube has a Ni plating film whose Vickers hardness is 800 VHN or more on its inner peripheral surface and the piston slides relative to the Ni plating film. The rod guide has a structure having a predetermined base material portion and a fluorine resin contained Ni plating film that is treated by heat and is provided on the surface of the base material portion. The piston rod slides relative to the fluorine resin contained Ni plating film.

Variable damping-force damper and manufacturing method of the same

In a magneto-rheological variable damper (), the piston () comprises an inner yoke (), an outer yoke () concentrically surrounding the inner yoke and held in position by pair of end plates () made of non-magnetic material and disposed on either axial end surfaces of the piston. The piston may be circumferentially surrounded by a piston cover () that may be made of non-magnetic material and serves a slide member that engages the inner circumferential surface of a cylinder (). Alternatively, the end plates may serve as the slide member. In either case, the durability of the damper can be improved by using a wear resistant material for the slide member. In particular, the outer yoke may be made of material such as Permendur which has a high saturation magnetic flux density but a poor mechanical property. Thereby, the range of the damping force can be expanded. The slide member may be made of non-magnetic material having a favorable wear resistance such as austenite stainless steel and aluminum alloy. It is also possible to apply a plating or other surface processing to the sliding surface of the slide member to improve the wear resistance thereof.

Magneto-rheological damper

Left and right actuators () for a vehicle are provided that include a first housing () and a second housing () connected in a direction of an axis (L), a coupling flange () of the first housing () and a coupling flange () of the second housing () being connected by a plurality of bolts () disposed at equal intervals on a circumference having the axis (L) as the center, and since a component mounting part via which a stroke sensor () is mounted on the second housing () is provided at an intermediate position between two bolts () of the plurality of bolts () or at a position of any one bolt (), the stroke sensors () of the left and right actuators () can be disposed at positions that are mirror-symmetric relative to a central plane (P) of a vehicle body while reducing the number of components by using in common for each of the left and right actuators () the second housing () on which the stroke sensor () is mounted.

Actuator for vehicle

A telescopic actuator includes a motor having a rotation shaft, a reduction gear which decelerates an output rotation of the rotation shaft, a feed screw mechanism having a male screw member and a female screw member which are relatively rotated by an output rotation of the reduction gear, a first housing accommodating the motor, and a second housing accommodating the reduction gear and the feed screw mechanism. The first housing and the second housing are detachably attached.

Telescopic actuator

A ring gear of a planetary reduction gear is screwed into an inner peripheral surface of a first housing through an opening thereof, while the thrust-receiving flange of a screw feed mechanism is held by the locknut screwed into an inner peripheral surface of a second housing through an opening thereof. In addition, the locknut and the ring gear face each other in an axial direction with a slight gap provided therebetween when the openings, respectively, of the first and second housings are connected to each other in the axial direction. Accordingly, even if the threaded connection of any one component of the locknut and the ring gear is loosened, the one component is prevented from moving by the other component.

A first rotor () and a second rotor () are arranged in a coaxial and mutually rotatable relationship and are provided with a first driven gear () and a second driven gear (), respectively. A drive shaft () is also provided with a first drive gear () and a second drive gear () which are commonly connected to an output shaft of an electric motor (), and mesh with the first and second driven gears, respectively, at slightly different gear ratios. The first and second rotors are connected via a thread feed mechanism () that converts a relative rotation between the first and second rotors into an axial linear movement between the first and second rotors that is used for changing a distance between a vehicle body part and a corresponding end of a suspension spring in a vehicle height adjusting system (). Owing to a differential rotation of a high gear ratio between the first and second rotors, a significant torque amplification is possible with a compact arrangement. The use of spur gears instead of a worm gear mechanism minimizes torque loss.

Vehicle height adjusting system

A telescopic actuator includes a motor, an input flange rotated by the motor, a male screw member coupled to the input flange, a female screw member threadedly engaged with the male screw member, an output rod coupled to the female screw member, the output rod being moved in an axial direction thereof to output a thrust force when the input flange is rotated, and a housing inside which the male screw member and the female screw member are accommodated. The input flange is supported by the housing such that a relative movement of the input flange with respect to the housing is allowed in a radial direction but restricted in the axial direction.

A telescopic actuator is adapted to be used on a right side or a left side of a body. The telescopic actuator includes a housing having a cylindrical shape and formed with an opening portion, an output rod supported inside the housing so as to be protrudable and retractable with respect to the housing, and a stroke sensor comprising a detectable portion provided on the output rod so as to be movable inside the opening portion of the housing and a detecting portion provided on the housing so as to face the detectable portion. A direction in which the detectable portion is eccentrically disposed with respect to a vertical plane including an axial line of the output rod is different depending on whether the telescopic actuator is used on the right side or on the left side of the body.

A telescopic actuator includes a housing, an output rod which is slidable in an axial direction with respect to the housing, at least two slide bearings via which the output rod is supported by the housing, and a stopper disposed between the two slide bearings. The stopper regulates a moving end position of the output rod.

A suspension system for the steered wheels of a vehicle include knuckles, the lower portions of which are pivotally supported at tip ends of a lower arm and a radius rod through two ball joints. Each of the steered wheels is steered about a phantom king pin axis passing through an intersection a of extensions of the lower arm and the radius rod so that, during clockwise turning of the vehicle, the point a of an outer wheel during turning of the vehicle is little moved, but the point a of an inner wheel during turning of the vehicle is moved inwards of a vehicle body through a distance .alpha..sub.R whereby a distance between a ground point of the inner wheel and the phantom king pin axis is larger than a distance between a ground point of the outer wheel and the phantom king pin axis and, hence, left and right steering moments generated by driving forces of the left and right steered wheels are countervailed with each other, whereby the generation of unnecessary steering moments is prevented as a whole.

Suspension system for steered wheels in vehicle

A suspension system on a motor vehicle includes a transverse leaf spring interconnecting knuckles on which road wheels are rotatably supported. The suspension system includes a pair of knuckle members on which the road wheels are rotatably mounted, an elongate leaf spring which is vertically resilient and extends transversely with respect to the vehicle body, the leaf spring having opposite ends coupled to the knuckle members, respectively, a support member supporting the leaf spring at two supporting points thereon which are spaced from each other transversely with respect to the vehicle body, for allowing the leaf spring to move transversely but limiting the leaf spring against vertical movement with respect to the vehicle body, and a transverse movement limiting mechanism for allowing the leaf spring to move vertically but limiting the leaf spring against transverse movement with respect to the vehicle body. The transverse movement limiting mechanism comprises a link mechanism which couples a portion of the leaf spring between the two supporting points to the vehicle body.

Suspension system with transverse leaf spring

Disclosed is a suspension having an improved transverse leaf spring with its longitudinal axis extending transversely of a car body. The leaf spring is operatively associated at opposite ends with the right and left wheels of a car and is curved along its intermediate length in the direction in which the car moves ahead or back. The curved portion may be along a full length of the leaf spring or along a length defines between support points on the leaf spring, and in the latter case, lengths extending from the respective support points to the ends of the leaf spring most adjacent thereto remain linear to form linear portions extending substantially perpendicularly with respect to respective suspension arm rocking shafts. Various forms of support elements are described for securing the leaf spring for only pivotal movement about one of the support points and both pivotal and linear movement about the other thereof.

Transverse leaf spring type suspension

A power unit mounting structure in a motor vehicle includes a power unit comprising an engine having a crankshaft, a transmission coupled to the crankshaft of the engine, and a differential interposed between drive axles connected to a pair of laterally spaced front road wheels of the motor vehicle and the transmission. The power unit is mounted in a front portion of the motor vehicle with its center of gravity positioned rearwardly of the drive axles extending from the differential toward front road wheels serving as the drive road wheels. A steering gearbox extends parallel to the drive axles and is disposed forwardly of the drive axles.

Mounting structure for the power unit of a motor vehicle

The part-mounting structure of the present invention includes a part-mounting portion of a sandwich structure constituted by a core layer and plastic skin layers formed on both surfaces of the core layer, and a part-mounting metal member, at least one of the skin layers having a tapered recess having a sloped side wall and a flat bottom wall, the bottom wall being constituted by the skin layers bonded together, the part-mounting metal member having a bottom plate, and a pair of side plates vertically extending from the bottom plate substantially on both sides, at least one of the side plates having a dent tapered complementarily to the tapered recess of the sandwich structure. The part-mounting metal member is mounted to the part-mounting portion of the sandwich structure with a surface of the tapered recess of the sandwich structure and a surface of the tapered dent of the part-mounting metal member bonded together by an adhesive. This structure is suitable for mounting various parts such as engines, suspension beams, upper arms, radius rods, dampers, seat slide rails, etc. to the vehicle body.

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Wako, Japan

Hajime Kajiwara