Toyota Jidosha Kabushiki Kaisha

Yoshimasa Okada

Ichisei Kamimura

Kiyoshi Kono

An actuator disposed within a piston rod of a variable-damping force shock absorber has coils mounted at an inner peripheral face of the piston rod, permanent magnets disposed facing a stator, and a cylindrical body supported rotatably about the piston rod axis. The permanent magnets are fixed to a side face of an upper portion of the cylindrical rotating body and an insert hole into which an upper end portion of a shaft is inserted extends through a lower portion of the rotating body. A female thread is formed in the insert hole, and engaged with a male thread formed on an outer peripheral face of the upper end portion of the shaft. A spool is mounted on a lower end portion of the shaft so that, as the rotating body rotates, the spool moves in the direction of the piston rod axis and thereby changes the opening of a communication passage between upper and lower chambers of a cylinder. The piston rod of the variable-damping force shock absorber has a reduced diameter.

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Okazaki, Japan

Yoshimasa Okada