AUTOMOBILE CHASSIS DEPT.

OF AUTOMOBILE ENGG KMCT PTC

SUSPENSION SYSTEM
MODULE II

Introduction

 All the parts which perform the function of isolating the automobile from the road shocks are
collectively called a suspension system

 It consists of a spring and a damper

 Energy of road shocks causes the spring to oscillate

 These oscillations are restricted to a reasonable level by the damper

Objectives

 To prevent the road shocks from being transmitted to the vehicle components
 To safeguard the occupants from road shocks
 To preserve the stability of the vehicle in pitching or rolling while in motion
Vertical Loading

 Road wheel comes across a bump or pit, Subjected to vertical forces, tensile, compressive. These
forces absorbed by the springs.

 When front wheel strikes a bump, It starts vibrating. These restricted by damping in the system

 When rear wheel reaches same bump after some time, It experience same by the front wheel

 To reduce pitching tendency of the vehicle, the frequency of front spring system should be less than
that of rear springing system

Rolling

 While vehicle taking a turn the centrifugal force acts outwards on the CG of vehicle (CG will be above
the ground). Road resistance acts inward at the wheels. This creates a couple, turning the vehicle about
longitudinal axis, This is called rolling

 Vehicle sprung determines the axis about the vehicle will roll

Brake Dip and Squat

 On braking the nose of the vehicle has a tendency to be lowered or dip this phenomenon is called brake dip

 This depends upon the position of CG relative to the ground

 Torque loads during acceleration tend the front of the vehicle to be lifted the effect being called Squat

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AUTOMOBILE CHASSIS DEPT.OF AUTOMOBILE ENGG KMCT PTC
Side Thrust: Centrifugal force during cornering, cross winds, cambering of roads etc causes a side thrust to
apply to the vehicle.

Road Holding: The degree to which a vehicle maintains contact with the road surface in various types of
directional changes likes dip, squat, cornering in a straight line motion is called road holding.

Unsprung Weight: It’s the weight of vehicle components between the suspension and road surface. Rear
axles, steering knuckle, front axles, wheels, tires and brakes.

The sprung weight is the weight supported by the vehicle suspension system includes frame, body, and engine
and transmission system

Types of Suspension Springs

 Steel Springs

o Leaf spring

o Tapered leaf spring

o Coil spring

o Torsion bar

 Rubber Springs

o Compression spring

o Compression shear spring

o Steel reinforced spring

o Progressive spring

o Face shear spring

o Torsional shear spring

 Plastic Springs

 Air Spring

 Hydraulic Spring

Leaf Spring

 Widely used for rear suspension

 Also semi-elliptic leaf springs are universally used for light and heavy commercial vehicles

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AUTOMOBILE CHASSIS DEPT.OF AUTOMOBILE ENGG KMCT PTC
Construction:

 Consists of no of leafs called

blades with vary in length

 Lengthiest blade has eyes on its

ends this blade is Master leaf

 All blades are bound together by

steel straps

 The leafs are supported on axles

by a U-bolt

 One end of the spring is

mounted on frame with a simple
pin

 Other end connected with a shackle

 When the vehicle come across road projections the wheel moves up deflecting the spring

 This changes the length between spring eyes

 If both ends are fixed the spring will not accommodate this change of length for this a shackle is
provided at one end which gives flexible connection

Quarter elliptic

 Was used in earlier

Semi elliptic

 Most widely used

Transverse

 Cheapest but vehicle has a tendency to roll

easily when it runs fast on sharp corners,
because of the body of the vehicle attached
to spring at only two places.

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AUTOMOBILE CHASSIS DEPT.OF AUTOMOBILE ENGG KMCT PTC
Helper Springs

 In addition to main leaf springs

 When lightly loaded, these do not come
into action
 Load increased they share loads

Coil Springs

 Used both in independent suspension and conventional rigid

axle suspension
 Can be accommodate in restricted space
 Energy stored per unit volume is double than leaf springs
 Does not makes noise & static friction
 It cannot take torque reaction and side thrust

Torsion Bar

 Simply a rod acting in

torsion and taking shear
stress only

 Made of heat treated alloy

spring steel

 Used in independent
suspension

 When the wheel strikes a

bump its starts vibrating up
and down thus exerting torque on the torsion bar which acts as spring

 Lighter compared to leaf spring

 Same amount of energy stored per unit weight as for coil spring

 Disadvantages :

o doesn’t take braking or driving thrust

o Absence of friction force hence damping is required to control the vibrations

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AUTOMOBILE CHASSIS DEPT.OF AUTOMOBILE ENGG KMCT PTC
Rubber Springs

 Advantages:

o It can store greater energy per unit weight than steel so can be made more compact

o Rubber has excellent vibration damping properties

o Absence of squeaking

o No of bearings can be reduced so longer life

o Is more reliable

Compression Spring

Advantages

 Reliable, simple construction, requires no bonding

 Provides a rising rate characteristic

 Can resist occasional overload

 Has large measure of inherent damping than other types

Disadvantage

 It need mechanical guide

Compression Shear Spring

 Load is carried partly by shear and partly by compression

 So it can allow large amount of strain

 Shear stress at the bonded faces is kept small

 Fatigue properties are excellent

Steel Reinforced Spring

 Consists of a steel helical spring bounded in a

rubber body

 Steel springing carrying only 20 % of load,

damping allowing by rubber component

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AUTOMOBILE CHASSIS DEPT.OF AUTOMOBILE ENGG KMCT PTC
Torsional Shear Spring

 Consists of an inner metal shaft, tubular or solid and outer

trough like shell between which rubber body is bonded

 The spring operates by rotation of the shaft about its own

axis relative to the shell

Progressive Spring

 It has initially an exceeding small rate which rises rapidly as the central cavity closes

Face Shear Spring

 Consists of a thick disc of rubber

having metal plates bonded to its flat
surfaces and axially pre-compressed

 It operates by a relative rotation of

the plates about its axis thus loading
the rubber partly in shear

Shock Absorber

 Mono tube type & Twin tube type

 Rod is attached to two way valve A

 Two way valve B attached at the lower end of cylinder

 Fluid in the space below valve A & B also in annular space between cylinder & tube

 A gland in the head and fluid scrapped off by rod is brought down into annular space through passage

 Eye is connected to chassis frame

 Oil – 60% transformer oil & 40% turbine oil

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AUTOMOBILE CHASSIS DEPT.OF AUTOMOBILE ENGG KMCT PTC
Working

 Vehicle comes across a bump

o Eye would move up

o Fluid will pass from the lower side valve

A to upper side

o Since volume above valve A is less by the

rod , fluid will exert pressure on valve B
and go to the underside of valve B

o Passing of fluid provides damping

 Downward motion of eye during rebound

o Fluid will pass from the upper side of the
valve A to lower side

o Also fluid from lower side of valve B to

its upper side

IDEPENDENT SUSPENSION

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AUTOMOBILE CHASSIS DEPT.OF AUTOMOBILE ENGG KMCT PTC
 When a vehicle with rigid suspension encounters road irregularities the axle tilts and vehicle no longer
remain vertical. This causes the whole vehicle to tilt on one side

 It’s also causes wheel wobble

 Road adhesion also decrease

 To avoid this wheels are sprung independent of each other so that tilting of one does not affect the
other

Advantages

 Elastic strain energy per unit weight stored in coil and torsion bar is greater than leaf spring so lighter
springs can be used

 Unsprung weight is reduced which reduces tire scrub and hence increase tire life

 Softer springs can be used without increasing rolling effect. Soft springs improve ride comfort

 Improved steering precision since wheel movements are not linked

 Steering geometry is not altered with spring deflection

 Since no solid axle beam, Engine and chassis frame can be placed relatively lower

Disadvantages

 Initial cost is high

 Greater maintenance required

 Misalignment of steering geometry with the wear components thus requiring more frequent attention

 More rigid sub frame or chassis frame required

 Forces due to unbalanced wheels are more pronounced and transmitted easily to steering wheel

 On body roll, the wheels camber due to which cornering power is reduced

Front wheel independent suspension

 Wishbone type or parallel link type

 Mac pherson strut type

 Vertical guide type

 Trailing link type

 Swinging half axle type

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AUTOMOBILE CHASSIS DEPT.OF AUTOMOBILE ENGG KMCT PTC
Wishbone type or parallel link type

 It consists of upper & lower wishbone arms pivoted to the frame member

 Arms resemble letter ‘A’ due to which these are also referred to as A-arms

 Spring placed between the lower wishbone and cross member

 Vehicle weight is transmitted from body and cross member to the coil spring through which it goes to
lower wishbone member

 A shock absorber is placed inside the coil

spring and is attached to cross member and lower
wishbone member

 Wishbone arms are like chicken wishbone or

letter V in shape

 It transmit vehicle load and resist acceleration,

braking and side forces

 Upper arms shorter in length, helps to keep

wheel track constant, avoiding tire scrub thus minimize
tire wear

 A small change in the camber angle occurs

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AUTOMOBILE CHASSIS DEPT.OF AUTOMOBILE ENGG KMCT PTC
Mac pherson strut type

 Only lower wishbones are used

 A strut containing shock absorber and a spring

carries also the stub axle on which wheel is
mounted

 Wishbone hinged to cross member which resists

accelerating, braking and side forces

 Simpler than double wishbone type

 Lighter by keeping unsprung weight lower

 Camber doesn't change

 Which gives max room in the engine

compartment

Vertical guide suspension

 King pin is attached directly to cross member of the frame

 It can be slide up and down corresponding to up and down motion of the wheel thus compressing and
elongating the springs

 Wheel track, base and wheel attitude remain unchanged

 Having disadvantage of decreased stability

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AUTOMOBILE CHASSIS DEPT.OF AUTOMOBILE ENGG KMCT PTC
Trailing link suspension

 A coil spring is attached to the trailing link which itself is attached to the shaft carrying the wheel hub

 When wheel moves up and down, it winds and unwinds the spring.

 A torsion bar also been used in certain design in place of the coil spring

 This maintain camber and wheel track constant

 Distance between front and rear wheels does change, its difficulty to remedy

Swinging half axle suspension

 Mounted rigidly on the half axles, which are pivoted on their ends to the chassis member at the middle
of the car

 Disadvantages –up and down movement of the wheel cause the camber angle to vary

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AUTOMOBILE CHASSIS DEPT.OF AUTOMOBILE ENGG KMCT PTC
Rear Wheel Independent suspension

 Rear wheels are not to be steered

 Difficult to place springs coz power has to transmitted

Methods

 With UV joints and Sliding joints

 Trailing link

 Semi trailing link

Rear Wheel Independent suspension With UV joints and Sliding joints

 Universal couplings A and B keep the wheel vertical

 Sliding coupling C is required to maintain the wheel track constant thus avoiding tire scrub

Trailing link Independent suspension

 Trailing link are pivoted at right angles to the longitudinal axis of the vehicle

 ‘A and B’ are the universal joints to keep the wheel track and camber constant with up and down
movement of the wheels

 ‘S’ are the coil springs with shock absorbers

 Trailing links hold the wheels firmly and sustain accelerating and braking forces

 A trailing link runs from a point forward on the floor pan back to the wheel assembly

 A leading link is mounted to the floor pan behind the wheel

 When the vehicle rolls into a corner, the trailing arm rolls for the same degree as the vehicle body, thus
changing camber angle with respect to road surface

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AUTOMOBILE CHASSIS DEPT.OF AUTOMOBILE ENGG KMCT PTC

Semi trailing link Independent suspension

 Trailing link Independent suspension leads to understeer because of both wheels lean towards the
outside of the corner

 Due to this reason semi trailing link Independent suspension are used

 Trailing arms are inclined around 20 to 40 degrees to longitudinal axis

 Thus the forces in the links resolved in to longitudinal and transverse direction

 Transverse forces produce over steer due to body roll

 As a results two components cancel each other, giving neutral steering

 It’s makes change in camber

 Increase unsprung weight

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AUTOMOBILE CHASSIS DEPT.OF AUTOMOBILE ENGG KMCT PTC
Stabilizer or Anti-roll bar

 When a road wheel is deflected more than the other; when it comes over a bump on the road or during
hard cornering, there is a tendency for the vehicle to roll.

 To eliminate this problem stabilizer is used

Air Suspension

Advantages

 A variable space for wheel deflection is put to optimum use by application of automatic control
devices

 Because of vehicle attitude is constant, changes in head lamp alignment due to varying loads
are avoided

 Spring rate varies less between laden and unladed condition, as compared with that of steel
springs. This reduces the dynamic loading

 Improved standard of ride comfort and noise reduction attained with air springs reduces both
driver and passenger fatigue

Two types of air springs are generally used

1. Bellow type

2. Piston type

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AUTOMOBILE CHASSIS DEPT.OF AUTOMOBILE ENGG KMCT PTC
Layout of Air suspension

Hydrolastic suspension

 A system where the front and rear suspension systems

were connected together in order to better level the car
when driving

 The front and rear suspension units have hydrolastic

displacers one per side

 These are interconnected by a small bore pipe. Each

displacer incorporates a rubber spring

 Damping of the system is achieved by rubber valves

 The stem is connected to the wheel through suitable

linkage and its movement proportional to up and down
movement of wheel

 A two way valve controls the up and down flow of fluid

 When the piston moves up due to wheel movement, the diaphragm

pushes the fluid up through the opening, by pushing the damper
valve

 The fluid under pressure above the valves then compresses the
rubber which acts as spring
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AUTOMOBILE CHASSIS DEPT.OF AUTOMOBILE ENGG KMCT PTC
PREVIOUSLY ASKED QUESTIONS

1. Enumerate different types of springs used in suspension system.

2. Define the term unsprang weight in suspension system.
3. State reasons for using coil spring in suspension system
4. State the advantages of independent suspension system
5. Draw a layout and explain air suspension system
6. Explain the working of telescopic shock absorber with the help of a figure
7. Explain wishbone type front independent suspension with a figure.
8. State the function of shock absorber
9. Explain about spring shackles.
10. Explain working of torsion bar with help of figure.
11. Describe McPherson strut type independent suspension with the help of sketch.
12. State advantages of air suspension system.
13. List the advantages and disadvantages of front independent suspension.
14. Explain semi-elliptical leaf spring with the help of figure
15. What is sprung weight in suspension system
16. With a neat diagram explain features of Mac Pherson Strut suspension system.
17. Write six functions of suspension system.
18. Explain air suspension system with a sketch.
19. Sketch and explain the constructional details of a semi elliptical leaf spring.
20. Explain the working of torsion bar in suspension system.
21. Explain double wish bone type independent suspension system
22. Name two types of Leaf Springs.
23. List 6 advantages of independent suspension system.
24. Explain vertical guide type independent suspension system.
25. With the aid of a sketch explain leaf spring and helper spring.
26. Explain the working of Telescopic type shock absorber with a sketch.
27. Write short notes on : (i) Nipping and grading (ii) Hydrolastic suspension
28. Explain the working of air suspension

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