Ford is engaged on position-sensitive dampers to make off-roaders just like the Bronco Raptor even higher, a brand new patent submitting reveals.
The patent submitting in query was revealed by america Patent and Trademark Workplace (USPTO) on Could 16, after being filed by Ford earlier within the 12 months. And it describes up to date position-sensitive dampers suited to high-speed off-roading.
Place-sensitive damping alters damper conduct for various driving eventualities. They might use one damping curve for regular driving and one other for when a automobile encounters a bounce, which requires stiffer damping to stop the automobile from bottoming out. They’re already used within the F-150 Raptor, and the aforementioned Bronco Raptor makes use of semi-active dampers based mostly on a variant of this idea.
Within the doc, Ford notes that when driving over a sequence of whoops, the continual cycle of compression and rebound could trigger standard dampers to realize resonance, an disagreeable sensation that may drive drivers to decelerate or endure a number of vibration.
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To assist cancel this out, Ford’s design depends on a secondary damper, basically an space blocked off by a further piston, making a separate zone with totally different traits than the principle physique of the damper. This gives one other device for decreasing resonance and preserving the tires in touch with the terrain extra constantly.
Place-sensitive damping is already utilized in off-road racing and within the Multimatic Dynamic Suspensions Spool Valve (DSSV) dampers used within the Chevrolet Colorado ZR2 and different Normal Motors off-road vehicles.
Multimatic additionally has a relationship with Ford. It constructed the GT supercar and led growth of the Mustang GT3 race automobile and its GTD track-car counterpart. However the firm’s off-road suspension tech hasn’t been utilized to any Fords to date.
