NUMBER AND DIMENSIONAL SYNTHESIS OF INDEPENDENT SUSPENSION MECHANISMS

A survey and structural classification of independent suspensions is p resented. An atlas of in-parallel suspension linkages is generated usi ng number synthesis. All existing independent suspensions appear in th e atlas as natural products of the enumeration process. Seven suspensi on candidates from this atlas are dimensioned for a set of performance and packaging requirements. The methodology used to dimension the lin kages requires the selection of precision positions, the formulation o f design equations modeling the linkage, and the solution of these equ ations for the linkage dimensions. We use fewer than the maximum permi ssible number of precision positions for each linkage in order to get packageable designs. A comparison of the synthesized linkages Is prese nted. Copyright (C) 1996 Elsevier Science Ltd