International Journal of Automobile Engineering Research and Development (IJAuERD) ISSN(P): 2277-4785; ISSN(E): 2278-9413 Vol.

4, Issue 1, Feb 2014, 23-26 TJPRC Pvt. Ltd.

CONSTRUCTION AND LAYOUT OF AN ALTERED SHOCK ABSORBER CONSISTING OF CONCENTRIC SPRINGS OF DIFFERENT DAMPING CO-EFFICIENTS
JAIN SUMIT & SEAN DSILVA Department of Mechanical Engineering, Rajiv Gandhi Institute of Technology, Mumbai, Maharashtra, India

ABSTRACT
A shock Absorber is a kind of dashpot used widely in automobiles as one of component of the suspension system. The basic shock absorber consists of a coil spring, cylinder, piston and hydraulic fluid or air. Spring performs the function of absorbing energy and the cylinder-piston arrangement serves as a damper and minimizes vibration of the spring so that it comes to equilibrium in minimum time. In traditional shock absorbers one spring is used and that spring is selected based on the type of vehicle and the maximum load on it. In this paper a new design of a shock absorber is explained in which there will be two springs, one for handling light shock and the other for heavy shock. Design is explained with the help of a 3D model made using Autodesk Inventor software.

KEYWORDS: Shock Absorber, Spring, Comfortable Ride, Heavy Vehicles, Easy Handling INTRODUCTION
Shock absorber is one kind of damper used in automobile for smooth driving of vehicle on rough ground. Basic components of a damper are shown in Figure 1. The main purpose of a shock absorber is to limit overall vehicle body movement or sway. As a vehicle is driven, the body will move up and down or side to side by various degrees in response to driving and road conditions. These types of vehicle movements are held in check by shock absorbers. Depending on road conditions or driving style, a vehicle can go from smooth and controlled to bumpy and erratic in a short time period. Shock absorbers stabilize the overall vehicle ride, preventing an excess of vehicle body lean or roll in any one direction, especially when cornering or navigating sharp turns. This stabilization allows for greater vehicle control and stability. Most vehicles have one shock absorber per vehicle tire. Each individual shock absorber, in addition to controlling vehicle body movement and ride, exerts a tremendous stabilizing force on each vehicle tire. A shock absorber prevents a vehicle's tire from hopping or bouncing in uneven or choppy terrain and helps to a vehicle tire planted firmly on the ground or road surface. Shock absorbers are only part of a vehicle's overall suspension system. Most vehicles utilize a combination of various leaf springs, coil springs and struts to stabilize and control a vehicle's movement. Shock absorbers basically absorb and deflect a great deal of initial road impacts and/or body movements. What shock absorbers can't contain gets passed on to other parts of a vehicle's suspension system.

WORKING
When a vehicle passes on a bumpy road and tires of the vehicle try to move upward, in that situation spring of a shock absorber contracts and movement is absorbed by the spring and thus the body of the vehicle remains stable. Same thing happens when tires try to move downward and in that situation expansion of spring takes place. When the spring contracts, it absorbs energy and the spring continues to contract and expand. This makes the rider uncomfortable and handling of the vehicle in that situation becomes difficult. A shock absorber is basically an oil pump placed between the

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frame of the car and the wheels. The inner tube is known as the pressure tube, and the outer tube is known as the reserve tube. The reserve tube stores excess hydraulic fluid. When the car wheel encounters a bump in the road and causes the spring to coil and uncoil, the energy of the spring is transferred to the shock absorber through the upper mount, down through the piston rod and into the piston. Orifices perforate the piston and allow fluid to leak through as the piston moves up and down in the pressure tube. Because the orifices are relatively tiny, only a small amount of fluid, under great pressure, passes through. This slows down the piston, which in turn slows down the spring. Shock absorbers work in two cycles -- the compression cycle and the extension cycle. The compression cycle occurs as the piston moves downward, compressing the hydraulic fluid in the chamber below the piston. The extension cycle occurs as the piston moves toward the top of the pressure tube, compressing the fluid in the chamber above the piston. A typical car or light truck will have more resistance during its extension cycle than its compression cycle. With that in mind, the compression cycle controls the motion of the vehicle's unstrung weight, while extension controls the heavier, sprung weight.

DESCRIPTION OF THE MODEL

A modified shock absorber is shown in Figure 1. It consist of two springs having different spring constants, one cylinder, one piston rod, one rubber pad for smaller spring (Also it reduces noise).When tire movement is less than the amplitude of vibration is also less, and at that time the longer spring will come into action and it will sustain most of the shocks. This is shown in figure 3. When amplitude of vibration is more, at that time along with the longer spring second spring will also come in action and thus the resisting force provided will be the summation of resisting force provided by both individual springs. Areas of application-Normally when a shock absorber is selected for a particular vehicle, its spring is selected based on many factors like load on the vehicle, type of vehicle and the road surface where the vehicle is to be driven. All these factors are considered but there are some factors which are not constant during operation of vehicle.

Figure 1: Basic layout of Modified Shock Absorber

Figure 2: Load Carrying Spring when Deflection is Less

Construction and Layout of an Altered Shock Absorber Consisting of Concentric Springs of Different Damping Co-Efficients

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Figure 3: Load Carrying Spring when Deflection is more

Figure 4: Deflection and Corresponding Forces

Figure 5: Resisting Force when Deflection is Less

Figure 6: Resisting Force when Deflection is more

For example when load on a vehicle is not constant, a shock absorber with different springs can be used. Also for vehicle for which operating condition is not same for a long time, having the same shock absorber is not a good idea. For example, off road vehicles when operated off road need a shock absorber that has the capacity to absorb heavy shocks and when the vehicle is driven on smooth road at that time light duty shock absorber will be useful. This modified shock absorber will be helpful for such conditions because it will be able to absorb both heavy and light shocks. Since for a heavy vehicle shock absorber with large spring stiffness is used, this shock absorber will absorb shocks when the vehicle is fully loaded but when the load on the vehicle is less or there is no load condition at that time the shock absorber will not be able to absorb all the shock. The reason being large stiffness of spring. Because of large stiffness co-efficient, that spring will not deform easily. In a modified shock absorber at the time of no load condition shock will be absorbed by the spring of less stiffness. Similarly for off road vehicles, at the time of off-road condition, spring of large stiffness will perform function of absorbing the shock and on smooth roads the spring having less stiffness will perform the function of shock absorbing.

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ADVANTAGES
Since this shock absorber is able to sustain both heavy and light shock under all operating conditions; this will make operation of the vehicle (especially heavy vehicle and off-road vehicles) more comfortable. Also this will make handling of vehicle easy. Less vibration will result in longer life of the vehicle because hazards due to vibration are either minimized or eliminated. The vehicle will become more reliable because of longer life and safer operation. Since this shock absorber is longer than the traditional one, it will increase the ground clearance of the vehicle.

DISADVANTAGES
One big disadvantage of using this shock absorber is cost. Cost of this shock absorber will be more than the traditional one. This will increase total cost of the vehicle. Manufacturing of the shock absorber will be difficult because the shape of the piston rod is comparatively complex.

RESULTS
This shock absorber will result in a smoother ride. Handling of vehicle will be easy. Since vibration in any machinery reduces life of that machine so less vibration means longer life of vehicle. Though cost is increased but performance of vehicle will also improve thus it will add value to the vehicle.

CONCLUSIONS
Even though installing this modified shock absorber in the vehicle will increase the total cost but comparatively the overall benefits are more. This shock absorber will reduce maintenance cost and also it will increase life of the vehicle so depreciation cost of the vehicle is also reduced. Evaluating these points it can be concluded that increased cost of the vehicle is compensated considering its advantages.

REFERENCES
1. 2. Adrian, S., (2002). The Influence of Damper Properties on Vehicle Dynamic Behavior. SAE, 2002-01-0319. Lang, H. H., (1977). A study of the characteristics of automotive hydraulic dampers at high stroking frequencies. Ph.D., Thesis, University of Michigan. 3. Yongjie Lu, Shaohua Li and Na Chen.(2013) Research on Damping Characteristics of Shock Absorber for Heavy Vehicle. Research Journal of Applied Sciences, Engineering and Technology 5(3): 842-847 4. 5. John Dixon. The Shock Absorber Handbook. Wiley-Professional Engineering Publishing Series. John Dixon. Suspension Analysis and Computational Geometry. Wiley-Professional Engineering Publishing Series. 6. 7. 8. 9. Jan Zuijdijk. Vehicle Dynamics and Damping: First Revised Edition. Don Knowles, Jack Erjavec Automotive Suspension and Steering Systems. Cengage Learning, 2002 Richard E. Crabbe. Suspension. St. Martin's Press, 19-Jul-2002 R. B. Asthana. Automobile Engineering. Tata McGraw-Hill Education, 2002

10. Wolfgang Matschinsky. Road vehicle suspensions. Professional Engineering Pub., 2000 11. David John Leeming, Reg Hartley. Heavy Vehicle Technology. Nelson Thornes, 1981