Patent ID: 11892054
Assignee: HORSTMAN SYSTEMS INC.
Field: Mechanical elements (Mechanical engineering)
Classification: CPC F | IPC F

Claim 18:
19. A position-relative damper assist system (1) for use with a vehicle, the position-relative damper assist system (1) comprising:
top and bottom mounting components (5,3) cooperating with one another to define a corresponding stroke distance (7) between them, and being operable with respect to one another between compression and extension modes along said stroke distance, the top mounting component (5) being operatively connectable to a frame of the vehicle, and the bottom mounting component (3) being operatively connectable to a supporting component of the vehicle;
a piston assembly (9) being operatively disposed between the top and bottom mounting components (5,3), the piston assembly (9) having a piston head (11) being displaceable within a chamber (13) defined about a portion of one of the top and bottom mounting components (5,3), the piston head (11) being provided with at least one fluid passage (15) for allowing fluid (17) of the chamber (13) to travel from one side of the chamber (13) to another side of the chamber (13) via the piston head (11) of the piston assembly (9), in order to provide a corresponding damping effect;
an adjustment assembly (19) cooperating with the piston head (11) of the piston assembly (9) for adjustably varying an effective cross-sectional profile of the at least one fluid passage (15) in order to in turn vary a corresponding flow rate of fluid (17) passing through said at least one fluid passage (15), and in turn vary the resulting damping effect; and
a biasing assembly (21) cooperating with the adjustment assembly (19) for selectively varying a configuration of the adjustment assembly (19) in response to a given input indicative of the positioning of the piston assembly (9) within the stroke distance (7), in order in vary the resulting damping effect in response to a corresponding displacement-profile (23) provided by the biasing assembly (21);
wherein the at least one fluid passage (15) of the piston head (11) comprises at least one active jounce fluid passage (15a) for allowing fluid (17) of the chamber (13) to travel from one side of the chamber (13) to another side of the chamber via the piston head (11) of the piston assembly (9) during the compression mode, and wherein the adjustment assembly (19) comprises a jounce adjustment component (19a) being configured for adjustably varying an effective cross-sectional profile of the at least one active jounce fluid passage (15a) in order to in turn vary a corresponding flow rate of fluid (17) passing through said at least one active jounce fluid passage (15a) during the compression mode;
wherein the at least one fluid passage (15) of the piston head (11) comprises at least one passive fluid passage (15c) for allowing fluid (17) of the chamber (13) to travel from one side of the chamber (13) to another side of the chamber via the piston head (11) of the piston assembly (9) during either one of the compression and extension modes;
wherein the at least one fluid passage (15) of the piston head (11) comprises a pair of passive fluid passages (15c) for allowing fluid (17) of the chamber (13) to travel from one side of the chamber (13) to another side of the chamber (13) via the piston head (11) of the piston assembly (9) during either one of the compression and extension modes;
wherein the at least one fluid passage (15) of the piston head (11) includes at least one fluid passage (15) being internal to the piston head (11) of the piston assembly (9); and
wherein the at least one fluid passage (15) of the piston head (11) includes at least one fluid passage (15) being external to the piston head (11) of the piston assembly (9).