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US4888696A Expired / Lapsed US ⏱️ 0.0 years remaining

Actively controlled automotive suspension system with acceleration and angular velocity dependent anti-pitching and/or anti-rolling feature

Assignee: Nissan Motor Co Ltd
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Filing: 1988-03-31
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Granted: 1989-12-19
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Expires: 2008-03-31
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Abstract

Abstract An actively controlled automotive suspension system employs a factor representative of self-induced attitude change creative factor as a correction factor in attitude regulating suspension control. Suspension characteristics is controlled on the basis of rolling and/or pitching energy representing parameter. The correction factor representative of self-induced attitude change is derived on the basis of vehicular attitude change velocity for canceling the self-induced rolling and/or pitching. By canceling the self-induced rolling and/or pitching creative component from the rolling and/or pitching acceleration factor, higher rolling and/or pitching response characteristics can be provided so as to satisfactory high driving stability and riding comfort.

Inventors

  • 👤 Yohsuke Akatsu
  • 👤 Naoto Fukushima
  • 👤 Yukio Fukunaga
  • 👤 Sunao Hano
  • 👤 Masaharu Satoh

Bibliographic Details

Application Number —
Jurisdiction US
Data Source google_patents
Last Synchronized 2026-10-26 04:41
CPC Classifications
B; B60; B60G; B60G17/00; B60G17/015; B60G17/016

Claims Analysis

Total Claims: 26
Claim 1
Independent Claim 195 words
A control system for an automotive suspension system for controlling vehicular attitude comprising: said suspension system disposed between a vehicle body and a suspension member which rotatably supports a vehicular wheel, said suspension system having a variable pressure chamber filled with a working fluid of controlled pressure; a pressure adjusting means, associated with said variable pressure chamber, for adjusting the pressure of said working fluid in said pressure chamber; a first sensor means sensing acceleration in vehicular attitude change to produce a first sensor means signal indicative of said attitude change acceleration; a second sensor means sensing an attitude change creative component which is contained in said first sensor means signal, to produce a second sensor means signal indicative thereof; a control unit receiving said first and second sensor means signals, deriving a suspension control second value on the basis of said first sensor means signal and modifying said suspension control signal value on the basis of said second sensor means signal, said control unit outputting a control signal based at least on said modified suspension control signal value to control said pressure adjusting means for adjusting suspension characteristics to suppress said vehicular attitude change.
Claim 2
Dependent Claim 195 words
A control system for an automotive suspension system for controlling vehicular attitude comprising: said suspension system disposed between a vehicle body and a suspension member which rotatably supports a vehicular wheel, said suspension system having a variable pressure chamber filled with a working fluid of controlled pressure; a pressure adjusting means, associated with said variable pressure chamber, for adjusting the pressure of said working fluid in said pressure chamber; a first sensor means sensing acceleration in vehicular attitude change to produce a first sensor means signal indicative of said attitude change acceleration; a second sensor means sensing an attitude change creative component which is contained in said first sensor means signal, to produce a second sensor means signal indicative thereof; a control unit receiving said first and second sensor means signals, deriving a suspension control second value on the basis of said first sensor means signal and modifying said suspension control signal value on the basis of said second sensor means signal, said control unit outputting a control signal based at least on said modified suspension control signal value to control said pressure adjusting means for adjusting suspension characteristics to suppress said vehicular attitude change.
Claim 3
Dependent Claim 28 words
A control system as set forth in claim 1, wherein said second sensor means senses the vehicular attitude change for deriving said attitude change creative component based thereon.
Claim 4
Dependent Claim 52 words
A control system as set forth in claim 1, wherein said first sensor means includes means for sensing response characteristics of suspension control in response to said attitude change acceleration and said second sensor means includes means for sensing response characteristics of suspension control in response to said attitude change creative component.
Claim 5
Dependent Claim 37 words
A control system as set forth in claim 3, wherein each of said response characteristics sensing means of said first and second sensor means comprises an amplifier provided with a given gain which determines said response characteristics.
Claim 6
Dependent Claim 63 words
A control system as set forth in claim 1, which is designed to perform anti-rolling suspension control for suppressing rolling motion of the vehicle, and said first sensor means is designed to sense lateral acceleration for producing lateral acceleration indicative first sensor signal and said second sensor means is designed to sense rolling velocity for producing a rolling velocity indicative second sensor signal.
Claim 7
Dependent Claim 63 words
A control system as set forth in claim 1, which is designed to perform anti-pitching suspension control for suppressing pitching motion of the vehicle, and said first sensor means is designed to sense longitudinal acceleration for producing longitudinal acceleration indicative first sensor signal and said second sensor means is designed to sense pitching velocity for producing a pitching velocity indicative second sensor signal.
Claim 8
Dependent Claim 80 words
A control system as set forth in claim 1, wherein said pressure adjusting means comprises a pressurized fluid source connected to said variable pressure chamber and a pressure control valve incorporating an electrically operable actuator, said actuator being connected to said control unit to receive said control signal to operate said pressure control valve for adjusting the amount of working fluid to be introduced into and removed from said variable pressure chamber for adjusting damping characteristics of said suspension system.
Claim 9
Dependent Claim 28 words
A control system as set forth in claim 7, wherein said second sensor means senses the vechicular attitude change for deriving said attitude change creative component based thereon.
Claim 10
Dependent Claim 52 words
A control system as set forth in claim 7, wherein said first sensor means includes means for sensing response characteristics of suspension control in response to said attitude change acceleration and said second sensor means includes means for sensing response characteristics of suspension control in response to said attitude change creative component.
Claim 11
Dependent Claim 37 words
A control system as set forth in claim 9, wherein each of said response characteristics sensing means of said first and second sensor means comprises an amplifier provided with a given gain which determines said response characteristics.
Claim 12
Dependent Claim 63 words
A control system as set forth in claim 7, which is designed to perform anti-rolling suspension control for suppressing rolling motion of the vehicle, and said first sensor means is designed to sense lateral acceleration for producing lateral acceleration indicative first sensor signal and said second sensor means is designed to sense rolling velocity for producing a rolling velocity indicative second sensor signal.
Claim 13
Dependent Claim 63 words
A control system as set forth in claim 7, which is designed to perform anti-pitching suspension control for suppressing pitching motion of the vehicle, and said first sensor means is designed to sense longitudinal acceleration for producing longitudinal acceleration indicative first sensor signal and said second sensor means is designed to sense pitching velocity for producing a pitching velocity indicative second sensor signal.
Claim 14
Dependent Claim 191 words
A control system for an automotive suspension system for controlling vehicular attitude comprising: said suspension system disposed between a vehicle body and a suspension member which rotatably supports a vehicular wheel, said suspension system having a variable pressure chamber filled with a working fluid of controlled pressure; a pressure adjusting means, associated with said variable pressure chamber, for adjusting the pressure of said working fluid in said pressure chamber; a first sensor means sensing acceleration in vehicular rolling to produce a first sensor means signal indicative of said rolling acceleration; a second sensor means sensing a rolling creative component which is contained in said first sensor means signal, to produce a second sensor means signal indicative thereof; a control unit receiving said first and second sensor means signals, deriving a suspension control signal value on the basis of said first sensor means signal and modifying said suspension control signal value on the basis of said second sensor means signal, said control unit outputting a control signal based at least on said modified suspension control signal value to control said pressure adjusting means for adjusting suspension characteristics to suppress said vehicular rolling.
Claim 15
Dependent Claim 191 words
A control system for an automotive suspension system for controlling vehicular attitude comprising: said suspension system disposed between a vehicle body and a suspension member which rotatably supports a vehicular wheel, said suspension system having a variable pressure chamber filled with a working fluid of controlled pressure; a pressure adjusting means, associated with said variable pressure chamber, for adjusting the pressure of said working fluid in said pressure chamber; a first sensor means sensing acceleration in vehicular rolling to produce a first sensor means signal indicative of said rolling acceleration; a second sensor means sensing a rolling creative component which is contained in said first sensor means signal, to produce a second sensor means signal indicative thereof; a control unit receiving said first and second sensor means signals, deriving a suspension control signal value on the basis of said first sensor means signal and modifying said suspension control signal value on the basis of said second sensor means signal, said control unit outputting a control signal based at least on said modified suspension control signal value to control said pressure adjusting means for adjusting suspension characteristics to suppress said vehicular rolling.
Claim 16
Dependent Claim 26 words
A control system as set forth in claim 13, wherein said second sensor means senses the vehicular rolling for deriving said rolling creative component based thereon.
Claim 17
Dependent Claim 51 words
A control system as set forth in claim 13, wherein said first sensor means includes means for sensing response characteristics of suspension control in controlling response to said rolling acceleration and said second sensor means includes means for sensing response characteristics of suspension control in response to said rolling creative component.
Claim 18
Dependent Claim 37 words
A control system as set forth in claim 15, wherein each of said response characteristics sensing means of said first and second sensor means comprises an amplifier provided with a given gain which determines said response characteristics.
Claim 19
Dependent Claim 79 words
A control system as set forth in claim 15, wherein said pressure adjusting means comprises a pressurized fluid source connected to said variable pressure chamber and a pressure control valve incorporating an electrically operable actuator, said actuator being connected to said control unit to receive said control signal to operate said pressure control valve for adjusting amount of working fluid to be introduced into and removed from said variable pressure chamber for adjusting damping characteristics of said suspension system.
Claim 20
Dependent Claim 191 words
A control system for an automotive suspension system for controlling vehicular attitude comprising: said suspension system disposed between a vehicular body and a suspension member which rotatably supports a vehicular wheel, said suspension system having a variable pressure chamber filled with a working fluid of controlled pressure; a pressure adjusting means, associated with said variable pressure chamber, for adjusting the pressure of said working fluid in said pressure chamber; a first sensor means sensing acceleration in vehicular pitching to produce a first sensor means signal indicative of said pitching acceleration; a second sensor means sensing a pitching creative component which is contained in said first sensor means signal, to produce a second sensor means signal indicative thereof; a control unit receiving said first and second sensor means signals, deriving a suspension control signal value on the basis of said first sensor means signal and modifying said suspension control signal value on the basis of said second sensor means signal, said control unit outputting a control signal based at least on said modified suspension control signal value to control said pressure adjusting means for adjusting suspension characteristics to suppress said vehicular pitching.
Claim 21
Dependent Claim 191 words
A control system for an automotive suspension system for controlling vehicular attitude comprising: said suspension system disposed between a vehicular body and a suspension member which rotatably supports a vehicular wheel, said suspension system having a variable pressure chamber filled with a working fluid of controlled pressure; a pressure adjusting means, associated with said variable pressure chamber, for adjusting the pressure of said working fluid in said pressure chamber; a first sensor means sensing acceleration in vehicular pitching to produce a first sensor means signal indicative of said pitching acceleration; a second sensor means sensing a pitching creative component which is contained in said first sensor means signal, to produce a second sensor means signal indicative thereof; a control unit receiving said first and second sensor means signals, deriving a suspension control signal value on the basis of said first sensor means signal and modifying said suspension control signal value on the basis of said second sensor means signal, said control unit outputting a control signal based at least on said modified suspension control signal value to control said pressure adjusting means for adjusting suspension characteristics to suppress said vehicular pitching.
Claim 22
Dependent Claim 26 words
A control system as set forth in claim 18, wherein said second sensor means senses the vehicular pitching for deriving said pitching creative component based thereon.
Claim 23
Dependent Claim 50 words
A control system as set forth in claim 18, wherein said first sensor means includes means for sensing response characteristics of suspension control in response to said pitching acceleration and said second sensor means includes means for sensing response characteristics of suspension control in response to said pitching creative component.
Claim 24
Dependent Claim 37 words
A control system as set forth in claim 20, wherein each of said response characteristics sensing means of said first and second sensor means comprises an amplifier provided with a given gain which determines said response characteristics.
Claim 25
Dependent Claim 63 words
A control system as set forth in claim 18, which is designed to perform anti-pitching suspension control for suppressing pitching motion of the vehicle, and said first sensor means is designed to sense lateral acceleration for producing lateral acceleration indicative first sensor signal and said second sensor means is designed to sense the vehicular pitching for producing a pitching indicative second sensor signal.
Claim 26
Dependent Claim 79 words
A control system as set forth in claim 21, wherein said pressure adjusting means comprises a pressurized fluid source connected to said variable pressure chamber and a pressure control valve incorporating an electrically operable actuator, said actuator being connected to said control unit to receive said control signal to operate said pressure control valve for adjusting amount of working fluid to be introduced into and removed from said variable pressure chamber for adjusting damping characteristics of said suspension system.

References Cited (Backward Citations)

US4605244A Cited
US4691284A Cited
US4741554A Cited
US4697237A Cited
US4669749A Cited
US4702490A Cited
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USPTO Annuity & Maintenance Windows

Annuity Stage Window Opens Payment Deadline Surcharge Period Until Estimated Fee Status
3.5 Years (Year 4) 1992-12-18 1993-06-19 1993-12-19 $2000.00 Window Closed / Lapsed
7.5 Years (Year 8) 1996-12-18 1997-06-19 1997-12-19 $3760.00 Window Closed / Lapsed
11.5 Years (Year 12) 2000-12-18 2001-06-19 2001-12-19 $7700.00 Window Closed / Lapsed

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