Design of an innovative concept of a front wheel car suspension with a metal-elastic triangular control arm

Abstract

In strut front suspensions, a sickle-shaped triangular control arm is often used as a lower suspension arm for small and mid-sized vehicles. With the growing importance of electric vehicles, the demands for driving comfort and acoustics are increasing. These requirements force a reduction of the rubber bushing stiffness, which cannot be properly realized with the current bushing arrangement of the sickle-shaped triangular control arm. For a solution to the goal conflicts it is necessary to clearly separate the lateral stiffness and longitudinal elasticity functions in the lower suspension arm. Previous implementations use the resolution of the triangular control arm in two separate suspension arms. To reduce costs, a metal-elastic triangular control arm is developed which combines the functions mentioned above in one component. The concept consists of a compression strut region, which is responsible for the absorption of longitudinal and proportional lateral forces and a transverse link area, which transmits lateral forces along its alignment, but allows a displacement of the front wheel suspension in the vehicle longitudinal direction by its metal elasticity.

In this paper, based on the state of the art, the procedure of the design of the metalelastic triangular control arm is explained. The characteristics of the front wheel suspension with the sickle-shaped and the metal-elastic triangular control arm are shown in a functional data comparison.