A valve arrangement controls a flow of damping medium in a shock absorber. Pressurized damping fluid acts around a whole circumference of the slidable valve member and the impact of flow forces on the slidable valve member is minimized, which vastly decrease the disturbing axial forces and thereby achieves a more dependable valve arrangement with a reliable operation.

A damping force controlling shock absorber includes: retainers respectively connected to top and bottom surfaces of the piston, a connection passage communicating with a main passage being formed to vertically penetrate the retainers; housings respectively disposed on corresponding opposite surfaces of the retainers to form pilot chambers on mutual corresponding surfaces of the housings, a pilot passage being formed to vertically penetrate the housings so as to communicate the pilot chambers with the outside; pilot valves that are in close contact with the connection passage between the retainers and the housings to generate a main damping force; and a spool guide that penetrate and connects to the retainers, the housings, and the pilot valves and guides the spool in a state of surrounding the outside of the spool.

A valve arrangement controls a flow of damping medium in a shock absorber. A radial column is provided with an axial failsafe flow such that the fail safe flow is not dependent on the exact axial position of the control valve member for creating the fail safe restriction, and less turbulence arise affecting the axial position of the control valve member. Thereby a valve arrangement is provided which has a more stable and reliable failsafe operation, resulting in a more dependable valve arrangement.

A method for operating a controllable shock absorber may involve damping movement of a valve body by loading the valve body with a back pressure on an outflow side. Further, the controllable shock absorber may include a cylinder tube, a piston within the cylinder tube that divides the cylinder tube into two working spaces and includes a couple fluid leadthroughs connecting the working spaces, and first and second valve assemblies for damping piston movement in first and second actuating directions that are disposed on the leadthroughs. Each valve assembly may have a pilot control chamber and a valve plate that is either seated on or spaced apart from a valve seat in closed and open valve positions. Each valve plate can be prestressed closed by pressure loading the pilot control chamber. The pressures of the pilot control chambers can be set by a pilot control valve that comprises a movable valve body. As a result, an outflow cross section between the pilot control chambers and the working spaces can be set. The valve body may be loaded on an outflow side with a back pressure, as a result of which movement of the valve body is damped.”

An electromagnetic and pilot-operated proportional valve with a valve slide unit (12) mounted in a valve housing (10) so as to be movable along an axial direction, which unit can be driven by an electromagnetic actuator assembly (16) provided at one axial end for the pilot-operated opening of a useful fluid inlet and/or outlet (24) of the valve housing as a response to energisation of a stationary coil (20) of the actuator assembly and interacts with mechanical force storage means (48, 50), more particularly is held in an unenergised stable axial position in the valve housing by said means, wherein the valve slide unit having a closure section (22) extending radially from one body section (30) of the valve slide unit (12) for sealing interaction with the useful fluid inlet or outlet (24) formed on a circumferential inner wall of the housing (10) interacts axially at one end, by means of the preferably cylindrical and/or coaxially extending body section (22), with a stationary guide section (40) of the valve housing to form an axial sliding bearing (62) and, at the other end, is mounted with radial play (56), wherein preferably ring-shaped sealing means (32) seal a circumferential section of the body section with radial play to the circumferential inner wall of the valve housing.

An electronically controlled internal damper includes: a main passage formed by a working fluid flowing through a main piston; a pilot passage formed by a working fluid as much as a predetermined amount discharged from a first pilot chamber and a second pilot chamber so as to maintain internal pressures of the first pilot chamber and the second pilot chamber to a predetermined level when pressures of the first pilot chamber and the second pilot chamber are increased beyond the predetermined level; and a bypass passage formed by a working fluid passing through the compression retainer and the rebound retainer symmetrically disposed above and under the main piston and a plurality of holes formed transversely to a vertical length direction of a spool rod. Accordingly, the electronically controlled internal damper is capable of implementing damping performance in both a soft mode and a hard mode with a relatively simple structure and increasing sealing performance while reducing rigidity.

An adjustable damping valve (12) includes a pressure space (22c) for controlling the damping valve (12), which pressure space (22c) is arranged inside the damping valve (12) and is connected to a further space (20) via at least one choke orifice (30) for the flow of damping medium, and the pressure space (22c) is operatively connected to the further space (20) via a pressure relief valve (32).

PROBLEM Provided is a damping force control type shock absorber capable of obtaining an appropriate damping force even in the event of a failure independently of the stoke of a valving element of a solenoid valve. MEANS FOR SOLVING A piston 5 having a piston rod 6 connected thereto is fitted in a cylinder 2 having hydraulic oil sealed therein, and a flow of hydraulic oil induced by movement of the piston 5 is controlled by a damping force generating mechanism 26 to generate a damping force. In the damping force generating mechanism 26, damping force is generated by a pilot-type main valve 27 and a normally-open pilot valve 28 which is a solenoid valve, and the damping force is adjusted by energization of a coil 37. A fail-safe valve 100 is provided downstream of the pilot valve 28. During normal operations, the fail-safe valve 100 opens the flow path through excitation of the coil 37 of the pilot valve 28. In the event of a failure, due to loss of excitation, the fail-safe valve 100 restricts the flow path to generate an appropriate damping force in place of the pilot valve 28, which has become inoperable.

A front fork has a damping variable leg including: an outer tube at an upper end side; an inner tube at a lower end side and inserted into the outer tube; a piston rod attached to the outer tube and extending toward the lower end side; a piston at a lower end of the piston rod; and a damping force variable device at the piston so as to generate variable damping force by controlling a flow of an operating fluid. The damping variable leg further includes: a conductor member attached to the piston; and a coil conductor covered with an insulating member and attached to the inner tube. The conductor member is configured to be inserted into the coil conductor. The damping variable leg detects a stroke amount of the damping variable leg based on a change in inductance of the coil conductor.

A valve arrangement for a vibration damper, as may be used on a vehicle. The vibration damper can be a telescopic suspension fork leg of a motorbike, or a shock absorber for a vehicle with more than one track, for example an automobile. The valve arrangement is for a vibration damper that has a valve housing with an annular valve seat, and is configured to receive damping fluid, and further having a valve piston arranged in an axially displaceable manner relative to the valve seat in an inner space of the valve housing. The valve piston has a main valve which has a flexible circular valve disc which can be removed from contact with a contact surface side on the valve seat. The valve disc is arranged on the valve piston by a guide pin, such that it can be moved axially relative to the latter and is guided radially.