Bridgestone Corporation

Satoru Kawamata

Takeshi Kimura

Isao Watanabe

Kiyoshi Ohno

Yasuhiro Suzuki

Yasumichi Wakao

Norio Nihei

Hiroki Sawada

Masatoshi Ohishi

Keita Ishii

Hiroshi Sato

Toshiyuki Ohsaki

A torsion beam type suspension device comprises a pair of trailing arms () spaced from each other axially of an axle and connected at front ends thereof to a car body and at rear ends thereof rotatably supporting wheels through brackets, and a torsion beam () extending axially of the axle and interconnecting the pair of trailing arms () by connecting portions () at both ends, the rear ends of the pair of trailing arms () being connected to the brackets () through rubber cushions, whereby the steering stability can be improved without raising problems about cost, weight and space or without impairing NVH performance associated with road noise, trembling feeling and harshness.

Axle with rubber cushion

A device using an electrorheological fluid filled in a fluid enclosing space comprises passages or fins for cooling the electrorheological fluid disposed around the fluid enclosing space and is useful for a vibration damper, a clutch, an engine mount, a shock absorber and the like. The power consumption can be maintained at a sufficiently low level and thermal runaway of electric current can effectively be prevented.

Device using electrorheological fluid

A vibration damping device comprises two cylindrical and flexible membrane members liquid-tightly connected at its end portion to respective end portion of a piston member and at its other end portions to respective face plates, a connecting member connecting the face plates to each other to form a closed chamber, a liquid filled in the closed chamber, and fastening members arranged onto the piston member and face plate, respectively. Moreover, at least one restricted passage is formed in the piston member or the connecting member. When an electrorheological fluid is used as a liquid, electrodes are arranged on opposed walls of the restricted passage.

Vibration damping device

Vibration damping devices

In order to develop sufficient vibration damping performance and effectively prevent transmission of goading vibrations and others in a vibration damping device using an electrorheological fluid, if the moving directions of vibration input side member and vibration output side member of the device are opposite to each other, a voltage applied to electrodes in the device is increased to increase the viscosity of the electrorheological fluid, while if absolute value of vibration acceleration velocity in the vibration input side member exceeds a given value, a voltage applied to the electrodes is always decreased to decrease the viscosity of the fluid.

Process for controlling vibration damping force in a vibration damping

A restricted passage system is used in a vibration damping device, and comprises at least three cylindrical members concentrically arranged from each other at an interval and alternately serving as positive and negative electrodes and having a hole per each member in a position opposite to each other in diameter direction and insulation members fixed to upper and lower end portions of these members.

Growing community of inventors

Higashimurayama, Japan

Satoru Kawamata