A control device controls a vehicle including a seat suspension which is provided between a chassis and a seat of the vehicle and restricts vibration and of which each of a spring constant and a damping coefficient is changeable and controllable. The control device detects, as vehicle information, a vehicle speed, an acceleration, a state of acceleration operation by a driver, a state of deceleration operation by the driver, and a state of steering by the driver. The control device determines, based on the vehicle information, whether the driver has driving preference of emphasizing the steering stability performance of the vehicle or driving preference of emphasizing the ride comfort performance of the vehicle, and, according to the determined driving preference, changes an acceleration of the seat by controlling the seat suspension.

An oblong, resilient, semi-rigid cantilevered support member can have a pair of spaced apart tapering rods joined by a medial webbing strip. The strip can have a substantially planar back surface tangent with the back edges of the tapering rods to form a substantially quadrangular and planar back side to the member albeit with rounded side edges. The strip can have a generally trapezoidal front surface that is scalloped in a concave manner. The member can be made from a unitary piece of fiber composite material where the orientations of the fibers are varied to provide both bending and torsional strength and stiffness that varies along the length of the member. The member can be coupled to a second latitudinally spaced apart oblong resilient member connected by a pair of longitudinally spaced apart blocks for greater adjustability.

A spring system of a vehicle, in particular a utility vehicle, includes a first spring/damper unit with a first stiffness and a first damping; a second spring/damper unit with a second stiffness and a second damping; and an additional mass as a tuned-mass absorber. The tuned-mass absorber is coupled to at least one negative stiffness. A vehicle having such a spring system and a method for adapting the stiffness of a spring system are provided.

A suspension characteristic is changed depending on a travel state by a simple structure. An ECU uses a vehicle speed-spring constant setting part to calculate a target spring constant depending on a vehicle speed, and uses a spring constant-frequency setting part to calculate a set frequency corresponding to the target spring constant. An oscillation input calculation part generates a signal representing an oscillation input oscillating at the set frequency. A superimposition part sets a value acquired by superimposing the oscillation input on a target driving force to a new target driving force. As a result, the wheel exhibits a minute oscillation in a longitudinal direction, resulting in an input of the minute oscillation to a suspension bush. The suspension bush changes in a spring constant and a damping coefficient depending on the frequency of the input minute oscillation. As a result, the suspension characteristic can be changed.

A pneumatically operable adjusting device (1) is provided for acting on a spring device (5) of a spring damper device (3) having a tubular body (2), with a tubular piece-shaped housing (4) which is designed to surround the tubular body (2) and has a passage (6) passing through a peripheral wall of the housing (4), and the adjusting device (1) has an adjusting nut (9) with an internal thread (10) which is attached to an external thread (11) of a tubular body (2), 37) of the spring damper device (3) can be brought into screw engagement, the housing (4) being designed for releasable abutment against the adjusting nut (9) and having an inner recess (7) for forming a pressure chamber (8) which is in fluid connection with the passage (6) and the inner recess (7) forming a pressure wall (24), the fluid admission of which causes a force acting on the housing (4) in the axial longitudinal direction and the housing (4) has an abutment surface (54) designed for spring force admission by the spring device.

A shock-absorbing front fork assembly of a motorcycle includes a front fork, a pressure buffering cylinder and a control valve disposed between the front fork and the pressure buffering cylinder and electrically connected with a brake system to control the communication between the front fork and the pressure buffering cylinder according to the operation of the brake system. When the brake system is not actuated, the control valve is open to make the front fork communicate with the pressure buffering cylinder, thereby making the spring supporting force relatively smaller. When the brake system is actuated, the control valve is close to make the front fork not communicate with the pressure buffering cylinder, thereby making the spring supporting force relatively larger. Therefore, the spring supporting force is adjusted by the brake operation, that raises the riding comfort and safety.

Pressure-sensitive vales are incorporated within a dampening system to permit user-adjustable tuning of a shock absorber. In one embodiment, a pressure-sensitive valve includes an isolated gas chamber having a pressure therein that is settable by a user.

A device for connecting the elastic elements and dissipaters of variable type of a mechanical suspension interposed between two vibrating or tilting mechanical systems, the source body and the receiving body, respectively, in order to reduce the forces acting on the receiving body, and/or the displacement thereof, and/or the speed thereof, or combinations of the previous physical magnitudes and/or of any other ones, which are produced on the receiving body due to the motion or forces to which the source is subjected. The device consists of elastic elements, such as metal components or compressed gases, energy dissipating elements, either by means of friction between fluid and solid, and between solid and solid, or by means of suitable electromagnetic couplings the damping ability of which can be automatically varied by a suitable control system according to the operating conditions of the suspension; elements forming the kinematic connection structure between the elastic elements, damping elements, source and receiving bodies, such connections being solid or fluid or electromagnetic connections.

Methods and systems for vehicle suspension are provided. A leveling manifold includes, in one example, a plurality of electrically-activated valves arranged between, on a first end, a rod-side and a piston-side of one or more hydraulic cylinders, and on a second end, a pressure source and a tank, wherein the plurality of electrically-activated valves include a first valve, a second valve, a third valve, and a fourth valve. The leveling manifold further includes a first flow path extending through the first and second valves and from the rod-side to the second end and a second flow path extending through the third and fourth valves and from the piston-side to the second end, the leveling manifold is designed to manage operation of the first, second, third, and/or fourth valves to independently adjust a position and a stiffness of the one or more hydraulic cylinders.

A wheel suspension arrangement including a suspension spring, at least one control member arranged to control a stiffness of said suspension spring. The control member is displaceable relative to said suspension spring between a retracted position, in which the control member does not interfere with an operation of the suspension spring, and an advanced position, in which it interferes with the operation of the suspension spring in a way that the stiffness of said suspension spring is increased. The wheel suspension arrangement further includes a biasing means configured to bias said control member towards said retracted position.