Land vehicles – Wheeled – Running gear
Patent
1995-06-07
1997-12-16
Culbreth, Eric D.
Land vehicles
Wheeled
Running gear
280675, 280660, B60G 300
Patent
active
056976330
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
(1) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a suspension system of front wheels for a vehicle, and more particularly to a multi-link suspension system of front wheels for a vehicle which can absorb an impact from the wheel to the vehicle body, reduce the impact by spreading the suspension loads to the body over a wider area, maximize the effective space for an engine room, and increase a free layout degree for the front wheel alignments.
(2) Description of the Conventional Art
The common designs for the front suspension of the vehicle are Wishbone and MacPherson types. FIG. 6A and 6B show a conventional MacPherson type suspension system which comprises a steering knuckle 100, a strut 104 having a shock absorber 102, a lower arm 106, and a ball joint 108. The MacPherson strut provides major advantages in package space for a transverse engine.
When the offset A (FIG. 6B) becomes small, the knuckle loads and kingpin loads are reduced and the tendency of toe-out is reduced during driving. In order to make the offset A smaller or negative (-), a supporting point 110 of the strut 104 should be moved to the engine room side or the ball joint 108 should be moved to the outside of the wheel. However, in case of the former, the effective volume of the engine room is reduced and the kingpin angle B becomes too large, which adversely affects cornering performance. In case of the latter, it is difficult to move the ball joint 108 toward the wheel, because of the interference with the brake disc.
FIG. 7A and 7B show a conventional Wishbone type suspension system which comprises lower and upper arms 122 and 120, a steering knuckle 124, a spring assembly 128 having a shock absorber 126, and ball joints 132 and 130 for connecting the lower and upper arms 122 and 120 to the steering knuckle 124, respectively. In the Wishbone type suspension system, the problem of making the offset A smaller or negative (-) is similar to the MacPherson type suspension system.
As described above, in the conventional MacPherson and Wishbone type suspension systems, a free layout degree for establishing the kingpin angle B is limited within a small range and there is a limit to improve the functions of suspension systems. Also, since the bounce and rebound of the wheel is dependent on a short control link such that the change of the roll-center height is large, the driving stability is relatively lacking. Further, since the number of the links of the suspension systems is small, the impact applied to the vehicle body can not be spread over a wide area and the ability of the suspension system to absorb impact is not good, which causes the ride comfort and impact safety to be bad.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
Therefore, the present invention has been made in an effort to solve the above-described problems.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a multi-link type suspension system which has a high free layout degree for wheel alignments and makes the change of the roll-center height small, thereby improving a steering stability.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a multi-link type suspension system which can maximize the effective volume of the engine room.
It is still another object of the present invention to provide a multi-link type suspension system which can spread the suspension loads over a wider area to reduce any impact transmitted to the vehicle body, thereby improving ride comfort.
In order to achieve the above objects, the invention provides a multi-link suspension system which comprises a wheel carrier, a curved connecting arm assembly having upper and lower portions, wherein the upper portion of the connecting arm assembly is higher than the wheel carrier, an upper control link, a pair of middle control links, and a pair of lower control links.
Other and further objects of this invention will become obvious upon an understanding of the illustrative embodiments about to be described or will be indicated in the appended claims, and various advantages not re
REFERENCES:
patent: 4238261 (1980-12-01), Ogiso
patent: 4538831 (1985-09-01), Kami et al.
patent: 4705292 (1987-11-01), Hespelt et al.
patent: 4875703 (1989-10-01), Murakami
patent: 4878688 (1989-11-01), Kubo
patent: 4964651 (1990-10-01), Kubo
patent: 5346241 (1994-09-01), Lee
patent: 5348334 (1994-09-01), Giltinan
patent: 5362091 (1994-11-01), Lee
patent: 5372377 (1994-12-01), Lee
patent: 5405162 (1995-04-01), Chun
Bulls Jonathan E.
Culbreth Eric D.
Hyundai Motor Company
LandOfFree
Suspension system of front wheels for a vehicle does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this patent.
If you have personal experience with Suspension system of front wheels for a vehicle, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Suspension system of front wheels for a vehicle will most certainly appreciate the feedback.
Profile ID: LFUS-PAI-O-200037