Patent ID: 7690663

Claim:
An air suspension system for selected wheels of a vehicle, wherein the selected wheels are a single pair of wheels on opposite sides of the vehicle, the air suspension system comprising: at least one air bag operatively associated with each selected vehicle wheel to control relative movement between the wheel and a supporting frame structure of the vehicle, a high flow-rate air tube connected to and associated with each opposed air bag, air flow controlling means between the high flow-rate air tube and the air bag, the air flow controlling means regulating air flow from the high flow-rate air tube into the air bag such that an increase in a pressure differential between the high flow-rate air tube and the air bag results in an increase in the flow rate from the high flow-rate air tube into the air bag that occurs at a lower rate than the rate of the increase in the pressure differential, said air flow controlling means thereby controlling the rate of air pressure build-up in the air bag when air flows into the air bag, the high flow-rate air tube forming a manifold to which air is passed in a manner that is substantially un-regulated by the air-flow controlling means when air pressure in the air bag increases above that in the manifold, and air pressurising/exhausting means connected to the manifold through a low flow-rate air tube to maintain a required pressure therein to thereby maintain a selected, predetermined vehicle ride height; wherein the high flow-rate air tubes associated with each opposed air bag are interconnected by a low flow-rate connection to form a restriction to the flow of air between the high flow-rate air tubes whereby air is able to flow from the air bags to the respective connected manifold as a result of a sudden pressure increase, but pressure differences between manifolds resulting from said sudden pressure increases on one or the other of the air bags are substantially not conveyed to the other manifold, wherein the high flow-rate air tube has a diameter of approximately 2 inches and said restriction has a minimum diameter of approximately ¼ of an inch.