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Photo courtesy Honda Motor Co., Ltd. Double-wishbone suspension on Honda Accord 2005 Coupe.
When people think of automobile performance, they normally think of horsepower, torque and zero-to-60 acceleration. But all of the power generated by a piston engine is useless if the driver can't control the car. That's why automobile engineers turned their attention to the suspension system almost as soon as they had mastered the four-stroke internal combustion engine. The job of a car suspension is to maximize the friction between the tires and the road surface, to provide steering stability with good handling and to ensure the comfort of the passengers. In this article, we'll explore how car suspensions work, how they've evolved over the years and where the design of suspensions is headed in the future. If a road were perfectly flat, with no irregularities, suspensions wouldn't be necessary. But roads are far from flat. Even freshly paved highways have subtle imperfections that can interact with the wheels of a car. It's these imperfections that apply forces to the wheels. According to Newton's laws of motion, all forces have both magnitude and direction. A bump in the road causes the wheel to move up and down perpendicular to the road surface. The magnitude, of course, depends on whether the wheel is striking a giant bump or a tiny speck. Either way, the car wheel experiences a vertical acceleration as it passes over an imperfection. Without an intervening structure, all of wheel's vertical energy is transferred to the frame, which moves in the same direction. In such a situation, the wheels can lose contact with the road completely. Then, under the downward force of gravity, the wheels can slam back into the road surface. What you need is a system that will absorb the energy of the vertically accelerated wheel, allowing the frame and body to ride undisturbed while the wheels follow bumps in the road.
The study of the forces at work on a moving car is called vehicle dynamics, and you need to understand some of these concepts in order to appreciate why a suspension is necessary in the first place. Most automobile engineers consider the dynamics of a moving car from two perspectives:
y y y
Ride - a car's ability to smooth out a bumpy road Handling - a car's ability to safely accelerate, brake and corner These two characteristics can be further described in three important principles - road isolation, road holding and cornering. The table below describes these principles and how engineers attempt to solve the challenges unique to each.
Principle Definition
Goal
Solution
Road Isolation
Absorb energy from road Allow the vehicle bumps and The vehicle's ability to body to ride dissipate it absorb or isolate road undisturbed while without shock from the passenger traveling over causing undue compartment rough roads. oscillation in the vehicle. The degree to which a car maintains contact with the road surface in various types of directional changes and in a straight line (Example: The weight of a car will shift from the rear tires to the front tires during braking. Because the nose of the car dips toward the road, this type of motion is known as "dive." The opposite effect -- "squat" - occurs during acceleration, which shifts the weight of the car from the front tires to the back.)
Road Holding
Keep the tires in contact with the ground, because it is the friction between the tires and the road that affects a vehicle's ability to steer, brake and accelerate.
Minimize the transfer of vehicle weight from side to side and front to back, as this transfer of weight reduces the tire's grip on the road.
Minimize body roll, which occurs as centrifugal force pushes outward on a car's The ability of a vehicle to center of gravity Cornering travel a curved path while cornering, raising one side of the vehicle and lowering the opposite side.
Transfer the weight of the car during cornering from the high side of the vehicle to the low side.
A car's suspension, with its various components, provides all of the solutions described. The suspension system functions are as follows: y Support the weight of the frame, body, engine, transmission, drive train, passengers, and cargo. y Provide a smooth, comfortable ride by allowing the wheels and tires to move up and down with minimum movement of the vehicle. y Work with the steering system to help keep the wheels in correct alignment. y Keep the tires in firm contact with the road, even after striking bumps or holes in the road. y Allow rapid cornering without extreme body roll (vehicle leans to one side). y Prevent excessive body squat (body tilts down in rear) when accelerating or with heavy loads. y Prevent excessive body dive (body tilts down in the front) when braking.
Let's look at the parts of a typical suspension, working from the bigger picture of the chassis down to the individual components that make up the suspension proper.
Chassis
So the suspension is just one of the major systems in any vehicle. With this big-picture overview in mind, it's time to look at the three fundamental components of any suspension: springs, dampers and anti-sway bars.
Springs
Today's springing systems are based on one of four basic designs: y
Coil springs - This is the most common type of spring and is, in essence, a heavy-duty torsion bar coiled around an axis. Coil springs compress and expand to absorb the motion of the wheels.
Leaf springs - This type of spring consists of several layers of metal (called "leaves") bound together to act as a single unit. Leaf springs were first used on horse-drawn carriages and were found on most American automobiles until 1985. They are still used today on most trucks and heavy-duty vehicles.
Torsion bars - Torsion bars use the twisting properties of a steel bar to provide coil-spring-like
performance. This is how they work: One end of a bar is anchored to the vehicle frame. The other end is attached to a wishbone, which acts like a lever that moves perpendicular to the torsion bar. When the wheel hits a bump, vertical motion is transferred to the wishbone and then, through the levering action, to the torsion bar. The torsion bar then twists along its axis to provide the spring force. The torsion bar replaces both Coil spring and Leaf springs in some suspension systems. The main advantage of the torsion bar over the Coil spring in the Front suspension is the ease of adjusting front suspension height. Some are mounted longitudinally (i.e., front of car to back of car) or transversely (i.e., from the left side to right side of the car). European carmakers used this system extensively, as did Packard and Chrysler in the United States, through the 1950s and 1960s.
Torsion bar
Air springs - Air springs, which consist of a cylindrical chamber of air positioned between the wheel and the car's body, use the compressive qualities of air to absorb wheel vibrations. The concept is actually more than a century old and could be found on horse-drawn buggies. Air springs from this era were made from air-filled, leather diaphragms, much like a bellows; they were replaced with molded-rubber air springs in the 1930s.
Based on where springs are located on a car -- i.e., between the wheels and the frame -- engineers often find it convenient to talk about the sprung mass and the unsprung mass.
Unless a dampening structure is present, a car spring will extend and release the energy it absorbs from a bump at an uncontrolled rate. The spring will continue to bounce at its natural frequency until all of the energy originally put into it is used up. A suspension built on springs alone would make for an extremely bouncy ride and, depending on the terrain, an uncontrollable car. Enter the shock absorber, or snubber, a device that controls unwanted spring motion through a process known as dampening. Shock absorbers slow down and reduce the magnitude of vibratory motions by turning the kinetic energy of suspension movement into heat energy that can be dissipated through hydraulic fluid. To understand how this works, it's best to look inside a shock absorber to see its structure and function. A shock absorber is basically an oil pump placed between the frame of the car and the wheels. The upper mount of the shock connects to the frame (i.e., the sprung weight), while the lower mount connects to the axle, near the wheel (i.e., the unsprung weight). In a twin-tube design, one of the most common types of shock absorbers, the upper mount is connected to a piston rod, which in turn is connected to a piston, which in turn sits in a tube filled with hydraulic fluid. The inner tube is known as the pressure tube, and the outer tube is known as the reserve tube. The reserve tube stores excess hydraulic fluid.
When the car wheel encounters a bump in the road and causes the spring to coil and uncoil, the energy of the spring is transferred to the shock absorber through the upper mount, down through the piston rod and into the piston. Orifices perforate the piston and allow fluid to leak through as the piston moves up and down in the pressure tube. Because the orifices are relatively tiny, only a small amount of fluid, under great pressure, passes through. This slows down the piston, which in turn slows down the spring. Shock absorbers work in two cycles -- the compression cycle and the extension cycle. The compression cycle occurs as the piston moves downward, compressing the hydraulic fluid in the chamber below the piston. The extension cycle occurs as the piston moves toward the top of the pressure tube, compressing the fluid in the chamber above the piston. A typical car or light truck will have more resistance during its extension cycle than its compression cycle. With that in mind, the compression cycle controls the motion of the vehicle's unsprung weight, while extension controls the heavier, sprung weight. All modern shock absorbers are velocity-sensitive -- the faster the suspension moves, the more resistance the shock absorber provides. This enables shocks to adjust to road conditions and to control all of the unwanted motions that can occur in a moving vehicle, including bounce, sway, brake dive and acceleration squat.
Another common dampening structure is the strut -- basically a shock absorber mounted inside a coil spring. Struts perform two jobs: They provide a dampening function like shock absorbers, and they provide structural support for the vehicle suspension. That means struts deliver a bit more than shock
absorbers, which don't support vehicle weight -- they only control the speed at which weight is transferred in a car, not the weight itself. Because shocks and struts have so much to do with the handling of a car, they can be considered critical safety features. Worn shocks and struts can allow excessive vehicle-weight transfer from side to side and front to back. This reduces the tire's ability to grip the road, as well as handling and braking performance.
Anti-sway Bars
Anti-sway bars (also known as anti-roll bars) are used along with shock absorbers or struts to give a moving automobile additional stability. An anti-sway bar is a metal rod that spans the entire axle and effectively joins each side of the suspension together. When the suspension at one wheel moves up and down, the anti-sway bar transfers movement to the other wheel. This creates a more level ride and reduces vehicle sway. In particular, it combats the roll of a car on its suspension as it corners. For this reason, almost all cars today are fitted with anti-sway bars as standard equipment, although if they're not, kits make it easy to install the bars at any time.
Shock Absorbers and Struts Shock absorbers are necessary because springs do not "settle down" fast enough. After a spring has been compressed and released, it continues to shorten and lengthen for a time. Such spring action on a vehicle would produce a very bumpy and uncomfortable ride. It would also be dangerous because a bouncing wheel makes the vehicle difficult to control; therefore, a dampening device is needed to control the spring oscillations. This device is the shock absorber. The most common type of shock absorber (fig. 8-8) used on modern vehicles is the double-acting, direct-action type, because it allows the use of more flexible springs. One end of the shock absorber connects to a suspension component, usually a control arm. The other end fastens to the frame. In this way, the shock absorber piston rod is pulled in and out and resists these movements. MacPherson strut, is similar to a conventional shock absorber. However, it is longer and has provisions (brackets and connections) for mounting and holding the steering knuckle (front of vehicle) or bearing support (rear of vehicle) and spring. The strut assembly consists of a shock absorber, coil spring (in most cases), and an upper damper unit. The strut assembly replaces the upper control arm. Only the lower control arm and strut are required to support the front-wheel assembly. In a MacPherson strut type suspension, only one control arm and a strut is used to support each wheel assembly. A conventional lower control arm attaches to the frame and to the lower ball joint. The ball joint holds the control arm to the steering knuckle or bearing support. The top of the steering knuckle or bearing support is bolted to the strut. The top of the strut is bolted to the frame or reinforced body structure. This type of suspension is the most common type used on late model passenger vehicles. The advantages are a reduced number of parts in the suspension system, lower unsprung weight, and a smoother ride. On some vehicles you may find a MODIFIED STRUT SUSPENSION that has the coil springs mounted on the top of the control arm, not around the strut.
The double-wishbone suspension (British name), also known as an A-arm (shape of an A or V) suspension, is another common type of front independent suspension. While there are several different possible configurations, this design typically uses two wishbone-shaped arms to locate the wheel. Each wishbone, which has two mounting positions to the frame and one at the wheel, bears a shock absorber and a coil spring to absorb vibrations. Double-wishbone suspensions allow for more control over the camber angle of the wheel, which describes the degree to which the wheels tilt in and out. They also help minimize roll or sway and provide for a more consistent steering feel. Because of these characteristics, the double-wishbone suspension is common on the front wheels of larger cars.
Photo courtesy Honda Motor Co., Ltd. Double-wishbone suspension on Honda Accord 2005 Coupe
Independent Rear Suspensions If both the front and back suspensions are independent, then all of the wheels are mounted and sprung individually, resulting in what car advertisements tout as "four-wheel independent suspension." Any suspension that can be used on the front of the car can be used on the rear, and versions of the front independent systems described in the previous section can be found on the rear axles. Of course, in the rear of the car, the steering rack -- the assembly that includes the pinion gear wheel and enables the wheels to turn from side to side -- is absent. This means that rear independent suspensions can be simplified versions of front ones, although the basic principles remain the same.
Next, we'll look at the suspensions of specialty cars. For the most part, this article has focused on the suspensions of mainstream front- and rearwheel-drive cars -- cars that drive on normal roads in normal driving conditions. But what about the suspensions of specialty cars, such as hot rods, racers or extreme off-road vehicles? Although the suspensions of specialty autos obey the same basic principles, they do provide additional benefits unique to the driving conditions they must navigate. What follows is a brief overview of how suspensions are designed for three types of specialty cars -- Formula One races. Specialized Suspensions: Formula One Racer
The Formula One racing car represents the pinnacle of automobile innovation and evolution. Lightweight, composite bodies, powerful V10 engines and advanced aerodynamics have led to faster, safer and more reliable cars. To elevate driver skill as the key differentiating factor in a race, stringent rules and requirements govern Formula One racecar design. For example, the rules regulating suspension design say that all Formula One racers must be conventionally sprung, but they don't allow computer-controlled, active suspensions. To accommodate this, the cars feature multi-link suspensions, which use a multi-rod mechanism equivalent to a double-wishbone system. Recall that a double-wishbone design uses two wishbone-shaped control arms to guide each wheel's up-and-down motion. Each arm has three mounting positions -- two at the frame and one at the wheel hub -- and each joint is hinged to guide the wheel's motion. In all cars, the primary benefit of a double-wishbone suspension is control. The geometry of the arms and the elasticity of the joints give engineers ultimate control over the angle of the wheel and other vehicle dynamics, such as lift, squat and dive. Unlike road cars, however, the shock absorbers and coil springs of a Formula One racecar don't mount directly to the control arms. Instead, they are oriented along the length of the car and are controlled remotely through a series of pushrods and bell cranks. In such an arrangement, the pushrods and bell cranks translate the up-and-down motions of the wheel to the back-and-forth movement of the spring-and-damper apparatus.
Photo courtesy BOSE Bose Suspension Front Module While there have been enhancements and improvements to both springs and shock absorbers, the basic design of car suspensions has not undergone a significant evolution over the years. But all of that's about to change with the introduction of a brand-new suspension design conceived by Bose -- the same Bose known for its innovations in acoustic technologies. Some experts are going so far as to say that the Bose suspension is the biggest advance in automobile suspensions since the introduction of an all-independent design. How does it work? The Bose system uses a linear electromagnetic motor (LEM) at each wheel in lieu of a conventional shock-and-spring setup. Amplifiers provide electricity to the motors in such a way that their power is regenerated with each compression of the system. The main benefit of the motors is that they are not limited by the inertia inherent in conventional fluidbased dampers. As a result, an LEM can extend and compress at a much greater speed, virtually eliminating all vibrations in the passenger cabin. The wheel's motion can be so finely controlled that the body of the car remains level regardless of what's happening at the wheel. The LEM can also counteract the body motion of the car while accelerating, braking and cornering, giving the driver a greater sense of control. Unfortunately, this paradigm-shifting suspension won't be available until 2009, when it will be offered on one or more high-end luxury cars. Until then, drivers will have to rely on the triedand-true suspension methods that have smoothed out bumpy rides for centuries.