The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Jan. 04, 1994
Filed:
Nov. 27, 1991
Paul T Wolfe, Erie, PA (US);
Lord Corporation, Erie, PA (US);
Abstract
A method and apparatus for controlling suspension deflection in a semiactive damping system is disclosed. A semiactive control policy operates to set the damper force to a low magnitude when the relative position of the suspension members is within a 'null band,' and to a high magnitude when the relative position is within an 'overshoot' band. The null band is a predefined range of displacement about the equilibrium position of the members and the overshoot band is a range about the end stops. When in the overshoot band, the high damper force limits the incidence of suspension end stop collisions that cause damaging shock inputs to the system. The high damper force is maintained once the overshoot band is entered until the relative position of the members again reaches the equilibrium position. One or more intermediate or 'active' bands are defined to exist between the null and overshoot bands. When in the active band(s), the damper force is set to an intermediate magnitude to thus stiffen the suspension. A controller produces an output signal indicative of the instantaneous relative position of the members for use by the control policy from a relative velocity signal.