Patent ID: 6070863
Filing Date: 2000-06-06
Classification: B60G,F16F

Abstract:
A piston-cylinder unit, said piston-cylinder unit having a longitudinal axis, said piston-cylinder unit comprising:a work cylinder containing damping medium;a piston rod sealingly projecting into said work cylinder;said piston rod being axially movable along the longitudinal axis with respect to said work cylinder;a piston being attached to said piston rod;said piston being slidably disposed in said work cylinder to sealingly divide said work cylinder into first and second work chambers;apparatus to attach said piston-cylinder unit to a first member;apparatus to attach said piston-cylinder unit to a second member;a fluid spring being operatively connected to one of said first member attaching means and second member attaching means;said fluid spring comprising a positioning actuator to regulate the distance between said first member attaching means and said second member attaching means;said positioning actuator being axially disposed away from said work cylinder along the longitudinal axis;said positioning actuator comprising a first positioning cylinder;said positioning actuator comprising a second positioning cylinder;one of: said first positioning cylinder and said second positioning cylinder extending into the other one of: said first positioning cylinder and said second positioning cylinder to permit axial telescoping of said first and second positioning cylinders with respect to one another along the longitudinal axis;the axial telescoping of said first and second positioning cylinders with respect to one another representing a stroke length of said positioning actuator;said piston-cylinder unit further comprising an arrangement to prevent environmental contamination from entering said piston-cylinder unit;said arrangement to prevent environmental contamination comprising:a bellows disposed to enclose at least a portion of each of said first and second positioning cylinders;said bellows comprising a first end portion and an axially opposite second end portion;an arrangement to fasten said first end portion of said bellows to one of: said first positioning cylinder and said second positioning cylinder; andsaid first and second end portions of said bellows being axially displaceable with respect to one another for at least the stroke length of said positioning actuator.