Patent ID: 8191874
Filing Date: 2012-06-05
Classification: B60G,F16F

Abstract:
1. A suspension system for a vehicle, comprising: a suspension spring elastically interconnecting a vehicle body and a wheel of the vehicle; an actuator disposed in parallel with said suspension spring and having an electric motor, such that said actuator is capable of generating, based on a force of said electric motor, an actuator force forcing the vehicle body and the wheel toward and away from each other, and causing the generated actuator force to act as a damping force against displacement of the vehicle body and the wheel toward and away from each other; and a control device configured to control the actuator force generated by said actuator, by controlling operation of said electric motor, wherein said control device is capable of establishing a constant-force generating state in which the actuator force is constantly generated as a constant actuator force by said actuator with supply of an electric power thereto from a battery as an electric power source of said electric motor such that the generated constant actuator force acts in one of a rebound direction for forcing the vehicle body and the wheel away from each other and a bound direction for forcing the vehicle body and the wheel toward each other, wherein said control device is configured to control said constant-force generating state, based on a charge state of said battery, wherein said control device is configured to control the actuator force such that the actuator force includes (i) a vibration-damping-directed actuator force that acts for damping relative vibration of the wheel and the vehicle body, (ii) a roll-restraining-directed actuator force that acts for restraining roll of the vehicle body, and (iii) a pitch-restraining-directed actuator force that acts for restraining pitch of the vehicle body, such that the vibration-damping-directed actuator force, the roll-restraining-directed actuator force and the pitch-restraining-directed actuator force are constituted by respective components of the actuator force that are other than a component of the actuator force that constitutes the constant actuator force.