Rotary Hydraulic Suspension Damper for High Mobility Off-Road Vehicles

In order to achieve high mobility over off-road terrain, a vehicle suspension system should combine adequate wheel travel with a high level of damping force. The device described is a suspension damper which utilizes the rotational movement inherent in most vehicle suspension systems to generate large damping forces proportional to vertical wheel velocity. By use of modern hydraulic technology a compact design with high level of thermal dissipation and immunity from foreign object damage has been achieved. The device was developed, in the first instance for use with a torison bar suspension on a military tracked armoured personnel carrier. In this application, high levels of performance and reliability have been demonstrated. However, the technology is readily applied to other types of suspension typically used on wheeled or tracked vehicles and examples of such applications are described. (Author) This article is from 'Proceedings of the International Conference on the Performance of Off-Road Vehicles and Machines (8th). Volume 3. Held at Cambridge England, on August 5-11, 1984,' AD-A150 653, p1065-1075.