Talk about air suspension

What is air suspension?

The air suspension is mainly composed of control computer, suction hole, exhaust hole, pneumatic shock absorber and air distributor. It can control the horizontal posture of the body and adjust the stability system of the body. Simply put, it is to take the air spring as the elastic element of shock absorption, its most obvious characteristic is the air bag type spring.

Air suspension is not a recent invention. Back in the early 1930s, Harvery Samuel Firestone, with the technical support of his friends HenryFord and ThomasAlvaEdison, The air-spring suspension system in the form of an air column was developed by Harvey Firestone at his own company (Firestone Tire and Rubber Company) in 1934, the first real use of air springs in the automobile industry. In 1938, General Motors was interested in installing air spring suspension systems in passenger cars. Working with Firestone, they conducted the first tests in 1944. In 1953, the production of passenger cars equipped with air suspension began, which was the beginning of the use of air suspension in commercial vehicles.

What are the advantages of air suspension?

First, light weight. The biggest advantage of air suspension is light weight, much lighter than the traditional leaf spring, which is an important reason for everyone to pay attention to air suspension. Two, can lift. Can be lifted in two aspects, one is through the air suspension can lift the axle, reduce tire wear, fuel saving, especially suitable for unilateral empty situation. Second, through the air suspension can reduce the height of the vehicle cargo platform to a certain extent, convenient loading and unloading goods. Three, smooth driving. What is more noteworthy is that cars with air suspension ride more smoothly than cars that are lightweight. The soft and hard air spring can be automatically adjusted according to the need. When driving at high speed, the air spring stiffens to improve the stability of the vehicle. When encountering poor road conditions, the air spring softens to improve the comfort of the vehicle. The adjustment of the air spring can also ensure the constant height of the car, which is conducive to the protection of cargo safety. The development of automobile air suspension in foreign countries has experienced the changes of "leaf spring-air bag composite suspension → passive all-air suspension → active all-air suspension (ECAS electronically controlled air suspension system)". ECAS application of electronic control system, so that the car in a variety of road, a variety of working conditions can achieve active regulation, active control, and increase a number of auxiliary functions (such as fault diagnosis function, etc.), at present in some European countries on the bus has been a large number of applications, it can be predicted that the application of ECAS in the car will be more and more popular. The application of air suspension in our country lags behind foreign countries for several decades. Until in recent years, with the introduction of the manufacturing technology of high-grade passenger cars and improvement of people's requirements for comfort, plus national standards for the classification of passenger cars, air suspension is gradually used. According to incomplete statistics, some relatively large domestic applications are mainly concentrated in Zhengzhou Yutong, Xiamen Jinlong, Suzhou Jinlong, Yangzhou Yaxing, FAW Kedi, Dongfeng Hangqi and other large scale of the main bus and chassis manufacturers. With the development of highways and expressways, higher requirements have been put forward for the stability, ride comfort and safety of vehicles, and it also has a great promoting effect on the domestic air suspension market. In addition, the further deepening of the research and understanding of the road surface damage mechanism of heavy vehicles, the government's attention to highway maintenance and the limit of overload are gradually paid attention to all over the country, so that the application of air suspension in the heavy vehicle market will be further expanded. In order to meet the needs of highway transportation, advanced passenger cars and large trucks must use air suspension.

In addition, the rapid development of the passenger car market will also greatly promote the growth of the demand for air suspension. In recent years, the demand for air suspension is mainly directly related to the sales of advanced passenger cars.