Mowag Motorwagenfabrik Ag

Jens Schroeder

Franz Osterwalder

Bernhard Doll

Adolph Greuter

Romano Lorini

The invention concerns a method and apparatus for regulating the distance between the frame and a wheel unit or axle of a motor vehicle by means of a hydrodynamic suspension element by varying the volume of the damping liquid. The vehicle frame is sprung and damped at both sides of the vehicle relative to one or more wheel axles by means of hydropneumatic springs, wherein one of the volumes of the hydropneumatic springs is variable. In this arrangement, to increase the distance the static volume is supplemented by an additonal volume and to reduce the distance the static volume is reduced by a reduction volume. Associated with one or more parallel-connected hydropneumatic springs is a metering unit which can add or withdraw at least one defined additional volume and/or reduction volume with respect to the instantaneous sum of the damping volumes of the associated hydropneumatic springs. The vehicle frame/wheel axle distance can be adjusted in the region of the hydropneumatic springs connected to the metering unit by detecting the condition of the metering unit by means of sensors arranged on the metering unit and readjusting to the reference functional condition.

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Konstanz, Switzerland

Jens Schroeder