Patent ID: 6932367

Claim:
A suspension system for a vehicle having a wheel contacting a surface under the vehicle and a suspension link suspending the wheel from the vehicle and allowing relative movement of the wheel and the vehicle, said suspension system comprising: a compressible fluid; a suspension strut adapted to couple the suspension link and the vehicle; a hydraulic cavity at least partially defined by said suspension strut and adapted to contain a portion of said compressible fluid and to cooperate with said compressible fluid to supply a suspending spring force that biases the wheel toward the surface; a reservoir adapted to contain a portion of said compressible fluid; and a volume modulator coupled to said hydraulic cavity and said reservoir and adapted to selectively push said compressible fluid into said hydraulic cavity and vent said compressible fluid from said hydraulic cavity, thereby actively modulating said suspending spring force, wherein said volume modulator defines a modulator cavity and includes a modulator piston adapted to cycle through a compression stroke and an expansion stroke within said modulator cavity, a cavity-side valve coupled between said hydraulic cavity and said volume modulator and adapted to selectively restrict the passage of said compressible fluid between said hydraulic cavity and said modulator cavity, and a reservoir-side valve coupled between said reservoir and said volume modulator and adapted to selectively restrict the passage of said compressible fluid between said reservoir and said modulator cavity; and a motor coupled to the volume modulator to provide power to move the modulator piston through the compression stroke and the expansion stroke, the motor including: a housing; a shaft supported by the housing and rotatable therein; at least two coil assemblies mounted to one of the housing and the shaft; at least two magnets mounted to the other of the housing and the shaft; and at least two electrical connectors in communication with the at least two coil assemblies, wherein each of the at least electrical connectors provide electrical energy to each of the at least two coil assemblies independently.