SUSPENSION SYSTEM AND INDEPENDENT

SUSPENSION MECHANISM FOR

A TERRAIN VEHICLE
PREPAIRD BYMAYANK K PARMAR(140280711010)
VISHNU PRAJAPATI (140280711018)
ME 2nd SEM
IC ENGINE AND AUTOMOBILE

LD COLLEGE OF ENGENEERING

INTRODUCTION

The automobile frame and body are mounted on the front and rear axle not
directly but through the springs and shock absorbers. The assembly of parts,
which perform the isolation of parts from the road shocks, may be in the forms
of bounce, pitch and roll is called suspension system.

Functions of suspension system:

1. It prevents the vehicle body and frame from road shocks.
2. It gives stability of the vehicle.
3. It safeguards the passengers and goods from road shocks.
4. It gives the good road holding while driving, cornering and braking.
5. It provides comfort.

 Requirements

of suspension system:

1. There should be minimum deflection.

2. It should be of low initial cost.
3. It should be of minimum weight.
4. It should have low maintenance and low operating cost.
5. It should have minimum tyre wear.

CLASSIFICATION OF THE SUSPENSION

SYSTEM

Dependent suspension:- It has both right and left wheel attached

to the same solid axle. When one wheel hits a bump in the road,
its upward movement causes a slight tilt of the other wheel.

Independent suspension system: The independent suspension

system means any arrangement that connects road wheels to the
frame in which raise or fall of the wheel has no direct effect on
the other wheel.

THE DEPENDENT SUSPENSION SYSTEM

The dependent suspension system is also known as solid axle,

when both wheels (left and right) are mounted the same solid
axle.

In this case, any movement of any wheel will be transmitted to

the opposite wheel causing them to camber together.

Solid drive axles usually are used on the rear axle of many
passenger cars, trucks and on the front axle in many four wheel
drive vehicles

Advantages

It is durable enough for heavy duty use.

It requires less number of parts for suspension and simple in

construction.

Disadvantages

Wheel alignment is readily maintained to minimize tire wear.

Due to more unsprung weight riding is poor.

The movement of the left and right wheels mutually influence

each other so the vibration and oscillation occur easily.

Hotchkiss Suspension:

The most familiar form of the solid drive axle.

The axle is located by semi-elliptic leaf springs and is driven

through a longitudinal driveshaft with universal joints at the
transmission and axle.

The springs, mounted longitudinally, connect to the chassis at

their ends with the axle attached near the midpoint.

The Hotchkiss was used widely on the rear axle of passenger cars
into the 1960s, and is still used on most light and heavy

Hotchkiss rear suspension:

Four Link Suspension:

In response to the shortcomings of leaf spring suspensions, the fourlink rear suspension evolved as the suspension of choice in recent
decades for the larger passenger cars with solid rear-drive axles.

The lower control arms provide longitudinal control of the axle while
the upper arms absorb braking/driving torques and lateral forces.

The ability to use coil springs (or air springs) in place of leaf springs
provides better ride and NVH (Noise,Vibration,Harness) by the
elimination of the coulomb friction characteristic of leaf springs.

Although more expensive than the leaf spring, the geometric design
of the four-link allows better control of roll center location.

De Dion Suspension

It consists of a cross tube between the two driving wheels with a

chassis-mounted differential and half shafts.

Axle control is provided by any of a variety of linkages from leaf

springs to trailing arms.

The design also has advantages for interior space because there is
no need to provide differential clearance.

One of the main disadvantages of the de Dion is the need to have

a sliding tube or splined half shafts, which can add friction to the
system.

THE INDEPENDENT SUSPENSION SYSTEM

The independent suspension system, allows one wheel to move upward

and downward with a minimum effect on the other wheel.

Mostly of the passenger cars and light truck use independent front
suspension system, because provide much more space for installing
vehicle engine, allow much more displacement of wheel, better
resistance in steering vibration (wobble and shimmy) as well as offer
higher performance in passenger comfort.

As disadvantages of the independent suspension system can be

considered the complexity of the design and manufacturing cost due to
increasing number of parts.

Over the years, many types of independent suspension system have

been tried to develop such as MacPherson, double wishbone, multilink, trailing arm and swing axle.

Many of them have been discarded for different reasons, with only
basic concepts, MacPherson strut, double wishbone and multi-link
suspension system, have found application in many types of the
vehicles

The MacPherson strut consists of a single control arm and a strut

assembly (spring and shock absorber) which allows tire and wheel to
move upward and downward.

The major components of the system are shown in Figure 4.a. It may be
used on both the front and rear axles.

This suspension system design allows reducing number of parts, lower

un-sprung mass as well as smooth driving comfort.

Figure 4 The independent suspension system;

a) MacPherson

McPherson strut, a clever compromise that permits reasonable

performance compare by low cost, but never match the performance or
adjustability such as double wishbones or multi-link suspension system.

Furthermore, this type of suspension requires sufficient vertical space

and a strong top mount.

The double wishbone suspension system in the USA often is called Aarms and Double Wishbones in UK. The double wishbone
suspensions system are applied to luxury sedans and sports cars because
their design of elastic kinematic parts allow to provide an optimum
compromise between handling and comfort.

The double wishbone used two lateral control arms to hold the wheel
from tilting with suspension action (Figure 4).

The upper and lower control arms usually are with unequal length
where the acronym SLA (short-long arm) gets its name.

During design of this type of suspension, it is required careful

refinement of suspension geometry in order to get good performance.

There are a few advantages of the double wishbone suspension system,

e.g. the primary benefit is increase negative camber as a result of the
vertical motion of the upper and lower arms.

This justify to stability performance for the vehicle as the tires on the
outside maintain better contact with the road surface during cornering.

Disadvantages of the double wishbone compared with MacPherson

strut suspension system, becomes in the complexity of the design,
production cost, increased number of parts such as joints and bearing
which have negative consequences on the tire wear due consumption of
bushing rubber.

The multi-link suspension system belongs to the group of the

independent system. It is used on both the front and rear axles and is
derived by refinement of the double wishbone.

Use three or more lateral arms and one or more longitudinal arms,
which do not require to being with equal length.

GEOMETRY OF THE INDEPENDENT

SUSPENSION SYSTEM
The suspension geometry

The suspension geometry is important factor during design process,

which helps us to identify the vertical wheel motion and how is position
of the wheel in such motion.

The suspension geometry not only dictates the path of the wheel, but
also controls the forces that are transmitted between sprung and unsprung mass.

Suspension motions; a) upward and

b) downward

a) camber angle (front view) and

b) kingpin inclination angle and kingpin offset (front view)

Comparison of wheel trajectories

between double wishbone and multi-link
suspension system

Comparison of camber angle between

double wishbones and multi-link suspension
system

Designed suspension system provides 45% less displacement of the

wheel in lateral motion. When wheel is pushed upward situation is
better and provides 72.6% less displacement compared with same
double wishbone suspension system,

Designed suspension system provides relatively small values of

camber angel nearly to zero which influence to have better contact of
the tire with road surface. This improve, is a result that suspension
mechanism allow wheel respectively tyre to acts perpendicular in road
surface.

THANK YOU