Showa Corporation

Hitachi Astemo Ltd.

Hiroyuki Miyata

Yosuke Murakami

Fumiaki Ishikawa

Ryo Oike

A hydraulic shock absorber includes: a cylinder that has an opening portion in a side wall surface on an axle side thereof; a reservoir that stores oil; a control unit that generates a damping force; and a movement prevention member at least a part of which is disposed outside the cylinder and on a vehicle body side of the opening portion, and that obstructs the oil from moving from the axle side to the vehicle body side.

Hydraulic shock absorber

A flow path control device includes: an on-off valve for opening or closing a flow path through which fluid flows from a first chamber to a second chamber; a control valve which controls the opening and closing of the on-off valve by transiting between a first state and a second state; and a push rod which includes a rod-shaped portion of which one end is pressed and moved to the other side and the other end causes the control valve to transition from the first state to the second state and a protruding portion which protrudes radially outward of the rod-shaped portion from an outer peripheral surface of the rod-shaped portion so as to receive pressure of fluid flowing from the first chamber to the second chamber.

Flow path control device and vehicle height adjustment device

A hydraulic shock absorber includes: a cylinder; a piston rod on which a first piston, a valve, and a second piston are disposed sequentially from one end side; and an oil lock portion that is disposed on the one end side inside the cylinder, and that forms a gap flow path between the oil lock portion and an outer circumferential surface of the first piston. The first piston has a piston internal flow path, and is displaceable in an axial direction of the piston rod. When the piston rod moves toward the one end side, the first piston relatively moves toward the other end side with respect to the piston rod and the other end side of the first piston abuts against the valve, so that due to a flow of working oil passing through the piston internal flow path, the valve bends to generate damping force.

A vehicle height adjustment device includes a rear suspension, an electromagnetic valve control unit, and a weight estimation unit. The rear suspension includes a support member. The electromagnetic valve control unit determines a target movement based on an interrelation between the target movement and a weight applied to a vehicle, under which the target movement is set to an upper limit when the weight is larger than a predetermined weight, so that an actual movement of the support member reaches the target movement. The electromagnetic valve control unit determines the target movement based on a temporary weight. The weight estimation unit increases the temporary weight, even when the actual movement reached the target movement. The electromagnetic valve control unit decreases the target length, even when the temporary weight increased. The weight estimation unit estimates as the weight the temporary weight when the actual length has finally reached the target length.

Vehicle height adjustment device

A vehicle height adjustment device includes front forks, a rear suspension, a weight estimation unit, and a front wheel-side target movement amount determination unit. The front fork includes a front wheel-side suspension spring and a front wheel-side support member, which supports one end of the front wheel-side suspension spring, and moves toward another end of the front wheel-side spring to change the front wheel-side suspension spring length. The rear suspension includes a rear wheel-side suspension spring and a rear wheel-side support member, which supports one end of the rear wheel-side suspension spring, and moves toward another one end of the rear wheel-side spring to change the rear wheel-side suspension spring length. The weight estimation unit estimates a weight applied to a vehicle. The front wheel-side target movement amount determination unit decreases, a movement amount of the front wheel-side support member as the estimated weight increases.

A vehicle height adjustment device includes an actuator, a detector, and a controller. The actuator is driven when supplied with a current and is configured to change a relative position of a body of a vehicle relative to an axle of a wheel of the vehicle. The detector is configured to detect the relative position. The controller is configured to control the current supplied to the actuator to make the relative position a target value so as to adjust a vehicle height of the body. When a detection value of the detector is smaller than the target value of the relative position, the controller is configured to alternately supply an increase current and a maintenance current to the actuator. The increase current increases the relative position to increase the vehicle height. The maintenance current maintains the relative position to maintain the vehicle height.

A vehicle height adjustment apparatus according to one embodiment includes a spring, a spring-length changing unit, a first valve, a control valve and a second valve. The spring-length changing unit changes a length of the spring in accordance with an amount of oil in a jack chamber that accommodates the oil. The first valve opens and closes a first communication path in which the oil supplied from a pump is oriented toward a reservoir chamber that stores the oil. The control valve opens and closes a discharge flow path oriented toward the reservoir chamber from a chamber that accommodates the oil to close the first valve. The second valve opens and closes a second communication path in which the oil supplied from the pump is oriented toward the jack chamber when the first valve is closed.

Vehicle height adjustment apparatus

A vehicle height adjustment device includes a spring having one end supported on a vehicle body side and another end supported on a wheel side. An adjustor includes an accommodation chamber accommodating fluid and adjusts a length of the spring in accordance with an amount of fluid in the accommodation chamber. A storage chamber stores fluid. A guide passage guides fluid from the accommodation chamber to the storage chamber. An actuator includes an operation rod to press a push rod. A valve body closes the guide passage when seated on a seat and opens the guide passage when pressed and detached from the seat by the push rod. A press member includes a contact portion and a shaft. The press member presses and seats the valve body on the seat. An accommodation member accommodates the valve body and the contact portion. A support member supports the shaft movably.

A vehicle height adjustment apparatus includes a control device. The control device controls the opening degree of the solenoid valve to allow a movement amount of the support member to reach a movement amount target value that corresponds to the vehicle height set in advance, in accordance with the weight applied to the vehicle. The control device controls the opening degree of the solenoid valve to change the movement amount of the support member based on a difference between a value based on the information related to the vehicle height and a vehicle height-related target value, on condition that the movement amount of the support member reaches the movement amount target value and the value based on the information related to the vehicle height obtained by the information obtaining device does not reach the vehicle height-related target value that corresponds to the vehicle height set in advance.

A flow path control device according to one embodiment includes a first valve which transitions between a closed state where a first flow is closed and an open state where the first flow path is open by moving toward an space from the closed state. The first valve is formed with an axial through-hole that communicates with the first flow path and the space. A pressure-receiving area of the first valve against a jack chamber is smaller than that against the space. Further, a second valve is provided in the space on a second flow path so as to transition between a first state where the axial through-hole is closed and an inflow path oriented toward the space from the jack chamber is open and a second state where it is closed and the axial through-hole is open.

Flow path control device and vehicle height adjustment apparatus

A flow path control device according to one embodiment includes a first valve, a unit main body and a control valve. The unit main body has an accommodation portion, a first radial communication hole and a side recess portion. The accommodation portion is recessed from a chamber accommodating the oil to cause the first valve to close the first radial communication hole. The side recess portion is recessed from the chamber so as to be continuous to the accommodation portion and not to be continuous to the first radial communication hole. The control valve is movable in the accommodation portion of the unit main body between a position at which a groove of the control valve communicates with the side recess portion and the first radial communication hole and a position at which the groove does not communicate with them.

In a vehicle height adjustment device, an operation amount of an actuator increases in accordance with supplied current, a detector detects a vehicle height, and a changer changes the vehicle height in accordance with the operation amount of the actuator. The changer shifts to a vehicle height increasing state or to a vehicle height decreasing state based on whether the operation amount is not higher than a predetermined amount. A controller controls the current supplied to the actuator to make the relative position have a target value. The controller determines a target current supplied to the actuator based on a control map that correlates a deviation between the target value of the relative position and a detection value to the target current.

A seat damper attached between a vehicle body and a seat in a seat suspension structure. The seat damper capable of allowing misalignment of mounting positions of mounting parts between the vehicle body side and the seat side, and being configured with reduced rigidity. The seat damper includes: a resilient member interposed between a vehicle body and a seat, supporting a load applied thereto; a seat-side bearing plate and a vehicle body-side bearing plate sandwiching the resilient member; a rod including a joint for pivotably coupling the rod to the seat-side bearing plate and a locking portion at the other end locking the rod to a lower face of the vehicle body-side bearing plate, with this joint being received in and locked to the seat-side bearing plate; and a ring-like rod guide provided to the vehicle body-side bearing plate for the rod to pass through.

Growing community of inventors

Fukuroi, Japan

Hiroyuki Miyata