Fluid flow device for a shock absorber

Claim 2

A shock absorber for damping relative movements of a pair of structures comprising: a housing member defining a chamber, and fluid substantially filling said chamber; a piston disposed in said housing and slidable therein so as to divide said chamber into portions; a fluid flow device carried by said piston and forming a fluid flow path connection through said piston, including a vortex valve disposed having radial and tangential inlets with connected passages communicating with one of said chamber portions and a central outlet with a connected passage communicating with the other chamber portion, and also including means for creating square-law flow through at least a portion of said passage connected to said tangential inlet for a range of pressure differences across said piston and means for creating laminar flow through at least a portion of said passage connected to said radial inlet in said pressure difference range; and means for drivingly connecting said piston to one of said structures and means drivingly connecting said housing to the other of said structures, whereby a tailored damping force is created by relative movement of said structures.

Claim 3

A shock absorber for damping relative movements of a pair of structures comprising: a housing defining a chamber containing fluid; a member disposed in said housing and fluid, and movable along a path therethrough, dividing said chamber into portions; a plurality of fluid flow paths in said member disposed so that fluid flow tends to occur therethrough upon movement of said movable member along said path, at least two of said flow paths having different flow characteristics such that the relative share of the total combined flow occurring through said at least two of said flow paths varies in response to changes in the pressure difference thereacross; fluid flow means having at least two inlets and a common outlet with the relationship between fluid flow and pressure difference across said at least two inlets and said common outlet for a given pressure difference varies with variations in the relative shares of the total flow carried by said inlets; means providing a fluid connection with said at least two fluid flow paths with a respective one of said at least two inlets; means for drivingly connecting said housing and said member with a respective structure, whereby relative movements therebetween are damped with a force characteristic that varies with the pressure difference created by relative movement of said member according to the fluid flow means flowpressure difference relationship.

Claim 4

A shock absorber for damping relative movements of a pair of structures comprising: a housing defining a chamber containing fluid; a member disposed in said housing and fluid, and movable along a path therethrough, dividing said chamber into portions; a plurality of fluid flow paths in said member disposed so that fluid flow tends to occur therethrough upon movement of said movable member along said path, at least two of said flow paths having different flow characteristics such that the relative share of the total combined flow occurring through said at least two of said flow paths varies in response to changes in the pressure difference thereacross; fluid flow means having at least two inlets and a common outlet with the relationship between fluid flow and pressure difference across said at least two inlets and said common outlet for a given pressure difference varies with variations in the relative shares of the total flow carried by said inlets; means providing a fluid connection with said at least two fluid flow paths with a respective one of said at least two inlets; means for drivingly connecting said housing and said member with a respective structure, whereby relative movements therebetween are damped with a force characteristic that varies with the pressure difference created by relative movement of said member according to the fluid flow means flowpressure difference relationship.

Claim 5

The shock absorber of claim 2 wherein an increased relative share of flow by one of said at least two inlets of said fluid flow means causes an increased fluid flow through said fluid flow means for a given pressure difference, and wherein one of said at least two flow paths through Which the relative share of flow increases upon an increase in pressure difference thereacross is connected to said one of said at least two inlets, whereby said flow rate-pressure difference relationship is flattened as said pressure difference increases.

Claim 6

The shock absorber of claim 3 wherein said at least two flow paths includes an orifice restriction in said one flow path and a laminar flow restrictor in the other of said at least two flow paths whereby different flow characteristics are provided-.

Claim 7

The shock absorber of claim 3 wherein said fluid flow means comprises a vortex valve having a supply inlet, a control inlet, and an outlet and wherein said other of said fluid flow inlets comprises the supply inlet, said one of said inlets comprises said control inlet and said fluid flow outlet comprises said vortex valve outlet.

Claim 8

The shock absorber of claim 5 wherein said flow paths and said vortex valve form a flow path through said movable member, with said vortex valve outlet communicating with the housing chamber portion on one side of said member along said path and said at least two fluid flow paths communicating with the other chamber portion on the other side of said member along said path.

Claim 9

The shock absorber of claim 6 wherein said vortex valve outlet is disposed communicating with the chamber portion which is increased in volume by relative movements of said structures toward each other, whereby said movements are damped with higher forces than relative movements of said structures away from each other.