Patent ID: 9340253
Filing Date: 2016-05-17
CPC Classification: B62K,F16F

Claim Text:
1. A suspension apparatus interposed between a vehicle body and a vehicle wheel, comprising: a shock absorber having a cylinder and a piston rod inserted retractably into the cylinder; and a biasing member that biases the shock absorber in an expansion direction, wherein the shock absorber includes: a pair of chambers housing a working fluid; a flow passage that connects the pair of chambers such that the working fluid passes through the flow passage as the shock absorber expands and contracts; a damping force generation mechanism that is configured to apply resistance to the working fluid passing through the flow passage; a bypass passage that connects the pair of chambers so as to bypass the flow passage; a variable throttle member that is inserted into the bypass passage to be capable of advancing and retreating in a first linear direction in order to modify an opening of the bypass passage; an actuator that is configured to drive the variable throttle member, and includes a motor, an acting portion disposed on a back surface side of the variable throttle member and provided eccentrically relative to the variable throttle member, and a motion conversion mechanism that is configured to convert a rotary motion of the motor into a linear motion of the acting portion so that the acting portion is movable in a second linear direction, the second linear direction being a different direction than the first linear direction; and a power transmission mechanism interposed between the acting portion and the variable throttle member in order to transmit the linear motion of the acting portion to the variable throttle member so that the variable throttle member moves in the first linear direction.