Support ring for a jounce bumper of a suspension system, jounce bumper assembly and use thereof

Abstract

A support ring for a resiliently deformable jounce bumper is made of a cast material. The support ring contains an inner circumferential surface that defines a through-opening extending along a longitudinal axis, an outer circumferential surface, a first axial end face, an opposing second axial end face, and a plurality of recesses configured to reduce the material mass which the support ring is made of. The through-opening is configured to fit around the jounce bumper. The plurality of recesses may be formed in at least one of the two end faces such that the recesses extend from the respective end face in the axial direction into the material of the support ring.

Claims

1-13. (canceled)

14. A support ring for a resiliently deformable jounce bumper of a suspension system, said support ring being configured to be placed on an outer periphery in a correspondingly shaped groove on the jounce bumper to stiffen the jounce bumper during deformation, the support ring comprising: an inner circumferential surface that defines a through-opening extending along a longitudinal axis, said through-opening being configured to fit around the jounce bumper, an outer circumferential surface, a first axial end face and an opposing second axial end face, and at least one plurality of recesses configured to reduce a material mass which the support ring is made of; wherein the support ring is made of a cast material, wherein the first axial end face comprises a first plurality of recesses of the at least one plurality of recesses, and the second axial end face comprises a second plurality of recesses of the at least one plurality of recesses, wherein both the first plurality of recesses and the second plurality of recesses extend from a respective end face in an axial direction into the cast material of the support ring, and wherein recesses of the second plurality of recesses are rotationally shifted about the longitudinal axis of the support ring relative to the first plurality of recesses.

15. The support ring of claim 14, wherein within each of the first plurality of recesses and the second plurality of recesses, all recesses are equidistantly angularly spaced from one another.

16. The support ring of claim 14, wherein a rotational shift of the recesses of the second plurality of recesses amounts to half a distance of two adjacent oppositely positioned recesses of the first plurality of recesses.

17. The support ring of claim 14, wherein the first plurality of recesses and second plurality of recesses comprise an identical number of recesses.

18. The support ring of claim 14, wherein a number of recesses on each of the first axial end face and the second axial end face is 8 or higher.

19. The support ring of claim 14, wherein within each of the first plurality of recesses and the second plurality of recesses, all recesses are arranged on a common diameter D.sub.R.

20. The support ring of claim 19, wherein said diameter D.sub.R is in a range of (0.8 Do + Di)/2 to (1.2 Do +Di)/2, wherein Do is an outer diameter of the support ring and D.sub.I is an inner diameter of the support ring.

21. The support ring of claim 14, wherein the first plurality of recesses and the second plurality of recesses have a clear opening in a radial direction.

22. The support ring of claim 14, wherein the first plurality of recesses and the second plurality of recesses open into the respective end face with a rounded edge.

23. The support ring of claim 14, wherein the cast material is a compact material.

24. A jounce bumper assembly for a suspension system, comprising: a jounce bumper comprising a first end portion, a second end portion, a longitudinal axis extending from the first end portion to the second end portion, and an outer circumferential groove disposed between and spaced apart from the first end portion and the second end portion, wherein the jounce bumper is configured to resiliently deform between an uncompressed state and a compressed state, wherein in the compressed state, the jounce bumper has a smaller length in the direction of the longitudinal axis than in the uncompressed state, and the support ring according to claim 14, arranged in the outer circumferential groove and abutting against the jounce bumper.

25. The jounce bumper assembly of claim 24, wherein the jounce bumper is partially or completely made of a volume-compressible material.

26. A method, comprising: arranging the support ring according to claim 14 in an outer circumferential groove of a jounce bumper and abutting against the jounce bumper, wherein the jounce bumper comprises a first end portion, a second end portion, a longitudinal axis extending from the first end portion to the second end portion, and the outer circumferential groove disposed between and spaced apart from the first end portion and the second end portion, wherein the jounce bumper is configured to resiliently deform between an uncompressed state and a compressed state, wherein in the compressed state, the jounce bumper has a smaller length in the direction of the longitudinal axis than in the uncompressed state.

27. The support ring of claim 14, wherein the suspension system is a vehicle suspension system.

28. The support ring of claim 18, wherein the number of recesses on each of the first axial end face and the second axial end face is in a range of 20 to 32.

29. The support ring of claim 21, wherein the clear opening has a diameter in the range of 0.15 t.sub.R to 0.45 t.sub.R, wherein t.sub.R is a material thickness of the support ring in the radial direction.

30. The support ring of claim 23, wherein the compact material is at least one selected from the group consisting of a compact elastomer, a thermoplastic polymer, a metal, and a combination thereof.

31. The support ring of claim 23, wherein the compact material is at least one selected from the group consisting of a blend of butadiene and polyisoprene rubber (BR/IR), ethylene-propylene rubber (EPDM), polyoxymethylene (POM), a polyamide-based polymer, a polyamide (PA), a poly ketone (PK), aluminum, an aluminum alloy, steel, a steel alloy, and a combination thereof.

32. The support ring of claim 23, wherein the compact material is a compact elastomer having a shore A hardness of 45 or higher.

33. The jounce bumper assembly of claim 25, wherein the volume-compressible material is a cellular polyisocyanate polyaddition product.

Description

[0057] The invention will hereinafter be described in more detail with respect to a preferred embodiment with reference to the accompanying figures, wherein:

[0058] FIG. 1 shows a schematic three-dimensional view of a jounce bumper assembly according to a preferred embodiment having a support ring according to a preferred embodiment,

[0059] FIG. 2 shows the support ring of FIG. 1 in a schematic three-dimensional wire frame view, and

[0060] FIG. 3a, b show schematic side views of the support ring according to FIGS. 1 and 2.

[0061] FIG. 1 depicts a jounce bumper assembly 1 according to a preferred embodiment. The jounce bumper assembly 1 comprises a resiliently deformable jounce bumper 2. The jounce bumper 2 comprises a first end portion 3 and a second end portion 4. The first end portion 3 is configured to be mounted to e.g. and end cap of a shock absorber assembly for a vehicle suspension. The second end portion 4, also referred to as tip portion, is configured to be broad into contact with the opposing damper cap of the shock absorber housing (not shown). The jounce bumper comprises a central opening for accommodating the main rod of a shock absorber.

[0062] Spaced apart from both end portions 3, 4 and disposed therebetween, the jounce bumper assembly 1 comprises a support ring 10 which is mounted inside a circumferential groove 5 provided on the jounce bumper 2. Details of the support ring 10 are shown in FIGS. 2 and 3a, b.

[0063] As can be seen from FIGS. 1 - 3b, the support ring 10 comprises a contour-free outer circumferential surface 14 and an oppositely located (contour-free) inner circumferential surface 13.

[0064] In the direction of the longitudinal axis L, the support ring 10 comprises a first axial end face 11 and an oppositely located second end face 12 facing away from the first end face 11.

[0065] A first plurality 15 of recesses 15′ is arranged on the first end face 11 such that the recesses 15′ within that first plurality 15 extend substantially parallel to the longitudinal axis L into the material of the support ring 10.

[0066] The material of the support ring 10 preferably is as described hereinabove in the general portion of this document.

[0067] The recesses 15′ are equidistantly angularly spaced by an angle α and equally distributed about the circumference of the first axial end face 11.

[0068] In this preferred embodiment, the second axial end face 12 also comprises a plurality 17 of recesses 17′ which extend into the material of the support ring 10. Preferably, the recesses 17′ are oriented parallel to the longitudinal axis L.

[0069] Further preferably, the recesses 17′ of the second plurality 17 are equidistantly spaced from one another by an angle β and also preferably equally distributed among the circumference of the second end face 12.

[0070] In the embodiment shown in FIG. 2, the recesses 15′ of the first plurality 15 and the recesses 17′ of the second plurality 17 are not oriented flush to one another, but instead are rotationally offset such that each second recess 17′ extends into the spacing left between two adjacent recesses 15′ of the first plurality 15. Preferably, the angles α und 13 are equal, for example in a range between 8° and 18°. The angular offset between the first recesses 15′ and the second recesses 17′ preferably is 0.5 α in or. 0.5 β.

[0071] It shall be noted that while the preferred embodiment shows that the recesses 15′, 17′ are oriented parallel to the longitudinal axis L, the recesses could also be oriented at an inclination relative to the longitudinal axis without adverse effect on the longevity of the jounce bumper assembly 1. The parallel orientation is however beneficial for demolding the support ring after casting.

[0072] As can be seen from FIGS. 3a, b, the recesses 15′, 17′ do not extend completely through the axial thickness t.sub.R of the support ring (10) but instead have a depth in direction of the longitudinal axis L < 0.5 t.sub.R. Due to the angular offset between the first and second recesses 15′, 17′, the depths of the recesses could however be increased beyond what is shown in FIG. 3b.

[0073] The recesses 15′, 17′ are in the shown embodiment placed on one common diameter D.sub.R. D.sub.R is preferably selected to lie in between the outer diameter Do and the inner diameter D.sub.l. In the embodiment shown in FIG. 3b, D.sub.R is at (Do + Di)/2. This leaves enough material thickness of the overall radial thickness t.sub.R inside and outside of the support ring 10 to ensure mechanical stability. It is to be noted, however, that the first plurality 15 and second plurality 17 of recesses could be placed on distinct diameters, i.e. radially offset with respect to one another within the scope of the invention.

[0074] As is evident from FIGS. 1 to 3b, the support ring 10 and jounce bumper 1 of the preferred embodiment can be assembled in conventional manner, requiring no adaptation of handling from the user in the industry where the jounce bumper assembly and support ring are to be applied. As can be seen in particular from FIGS. 2 and 3a, b, the support ring 10 is very easy to manufacture by casting, requiring no particular complexities on the side of the die/mold during casting. The recesses provide satisfactory material reduction to mitigate the risk of vacuoles and are distributed such as to provide uniform load distribution inside of this support ring 10 and towards jounce bumper 2.