Patent ID: 8881875

Claim:
A suspension apparatus for a vehicle to suspend a body of the vehicle, comprising: a damper disposed between the body of the vehicle and a wheel holding member which rotatably holds a wheel, wherein the damper includes: a cylinder device including a housing connected to one of the body of the vehicle and the wheel holding member and a piston connected to the other of the body of the vehicle and the wheel holding member and configured to be slidable in the housing, the housing and the piston defining a chamber whose volume is decreased when the body of the vehicle and the wheel holding member approach each other, a colloidal-solution sealed body which is accommodated in the chamber and which includes: (A) a colloidal solution in which are mixed a first working fluid and porous bodies each having a multiplicity of pores; and (B) a hermetically sealed container which has flexibility and which hermetically seals the colloidal solution contained therein, the colloidal-solution sealed body being configured such that a volume of the colloidal-solution sealed body decreases by an inflow of the first working fluid into the pores of each of the porous bodies where a pressure applied to the colloidal-solution sealed body increases and such that the volume of the colloidal-solution sealed body increases by an outflow of the first working fluid from the pores of each of the porous bodies where the pressure applied to the colloidal-solution sealed body decreases, and a second working fluid contained in the chamber together with the colloidal-solution sealed body, wherein in a state in which the body of the vehicle is stationary with respect to the wheel holding member and the damper is at rest, the damper supports the body of the vehicle by a pressure in the chamber in a state in which the first working fluid has flowed into the porous bodies, the damper is configured to damp the relative movement of the body of the vehicle and the wheel holding member by the inflow and the outflow of the first working fluid into and out of the pores of each of the porous bodies upon the relative movement of the body of the vehicle and the wheel holding member, where the colloidal-solution sealed body is a first colloidal-solution sealed body, the colloidal damper comprises another colloidal-solution sealed body as a second colloidal-solution sealed body, the first colloidal-solution sealed body and the second colloidal-solution sealed body being accommodated in the chamber, and where the colloidal solution of the first colloidal-solution sealed body is a first colloidal solution, the second colloidal-solution sealed body includes a second colloidal solution different from the first colloidal solution in composition.