An Introduction to Dampers and the Black Art of （介绍阻尼器和黑色的艺术）.pdf

An Introduction to Dampers and the Black Art of Damper Tuning Dampers are an integral part of any suspension system. They are also the least understood and most confusing part of the suspension. The main function of the dampers is to control the transient behavior of the sprung and unsprung masses of the vehicle. This is accomplished by damping the energy stored in the springs from suspension movement. The damper generates a force defined by the characteristic curve and the velocity of the damper. Dampers are also called shock absorbers, shocks or spring energy dissipaters. In order to better understand the damper’s function, a basic knowledge of the entire suspension system is needed. This system can be broken down into the sprung and unsprung masses, the suspension spring, the tire spring and the damper. The sprung mass is the mass supported by the suspension. This includes half of the mass of the suspension members. The unsprung mass is everything else, including the wheels, brakes, uprights or spindles and the other half of the mass of the suspension members. The suspension spring is in parallel with the damper and acts between the sprung and unsprung mass. The tire spring is between the ground and the unsprung mass. This is a two degree of freedom system with forces acting on the top and the bottom. Because the system has two degrees of freedom the sprung and unsprung masses are able to move independent of each other. The force on the sprung mass is a function of the load transfer of the vehicle. This load transfer is defined by the accelerations a vehicle sees on the track. These accelerations can be either longitudinal, for example braking and acceleration, or lateral which is generated during cornering. The magnitude of this load transfer is based on the center of gravity of the vehicle, the magnitude of the acceleration, the weight of the vehicle and the track or wheelbase depending on the