Next Generation of Suspension Bushings: Review of Current Technologies and Expansion Upon New 3 ^rd Generation Product Data 2007-01-0850

The automotive market has never been more “in-tune” with the end customer's comfort expectations. The need for advancement in suspension technology has grown exponentially in last several years. From various versions of link suspensions, to Magne-Ride®, the OEM is able to tune the same car for various drivers, to obtain ride performance ranges that include “sporty feel” to “luxury ride”. Paulstra, one of the main suppliers of anti-vibration parts, has added to this market trend with advancing control arm, trailing link, and twist beam suspension bushings from using standard conventional natural rubber as the isolating elastomer, to durable hydro-bushings that add high damping at a specific frequency to address smooth road shake and other ride tuning issues. Other technologies that will be reviewed in the proceeding paper include: conventional bushings that have two different elastomer materials in the same component (to provide two distinctly different suspension responses contained in one bushing), and Magneto-Rheological fluid bushings that are actively controlled and can change properties real time with varying current/voltage. The MR fluid bushings, if applied to an entire module, can provide an alternative suspension system to the market. All three technologies, hydro-bush, two material bushing, and MR fluid bushings, will have characterization data, vehicle data, power consumption data, durability data, and design guidance information, as applicable, to show the quantitative benefits.