Hydraulic suspension on a 3 wheeler?

Post anything that doesn't belong in any other forum, including gaming and topics unrelated to motorsport. Site specific discussions should go in the site feedback forum.
User avatar
tomislavp4
0
Joined: 16 Jun 2006, 17:07
Location: Sweden & The Republic of Macedonia

Hydraulic suspension on a 3 wheeler?

Post

In a normal car with for examle Creuat´s (http://www.creuat.com/) suspension, all 4 wheels are connected and react together but what happens if you put the system in a 3 wheeler? Would you still have an advantage over traditional springs?

User avatar
Tom
0
Joined: 13 Jan 2006, 00:24
Location: Bicester

Post

It would indeed. A few years ago I posted a topic here asking for some help with some Active Suspension project I was doing at school.
From this I learned the basic principles of the system are to create a balanced weight distribution which provides optimum handling from the vehicle. i.e. under acceleration weight goes backwards which can case understeer as the front tyre patches decrease so the rear springs stiffen. The exact same rules apply for a 3 wheeler except you would only need to stiffen the single spring for the rear wheels. The outcome of this is that the weight will not shift back so dramatically and allows complete control to be maintained.

In cornering centrifugal forces push the weight of the car to the outside which causes loss of grip on the inside and can lead to understeer, oversteer or a slide depending on the conditions (acceleration, braking, surface friction and the weight layout of the car for example) so to counter this the outside springs stiffen and the weight shift is reduced. In this case you have a dissadvantage because you only have one outside spring to stiffen. However (again, conditions depending) it would be worwhil stiffening your outside front spring to reduce understeer under braking.

The best way to design your vehicle would probably be to have a spring either side of the rear wheel whoch can be adjusted as desired. The dissadvantage however is the extra weight you'll have to carry. Also on the link you posted it mentions 3 'cons':
reliability,
,
system manufacturing and maintainance costs
and finally, and most importantly in your case,
Energy Consumption.
Its entirely up to you but I wouldn't use it in your case, theres too much to go wrong in an already complex design. Keep It Simple.
Murphy's 9th Law of Technology:
Tell a man there are 300 million stars in the universe and he'll believe you. Tell him a bench has wet paint on it and he'll have to touch to be sure.

Carlos
Carlos
11
Joined: 02 Sep 2006, 19:43
Location: Canada

Post

Yoy might consider a 3 wheeler with tilting wheel suspension, using small diameter motorcycle tires.