Self-Energizing Leveling Systems Their Progress in Development and Application

Everyone involved in vehicle dynamics knows the general compromise in ride and handling between empty and fully laden vehicle conditions. There are many difficulties to optimize vehicles with high payload with conventional spring and damping components in the future.

Air suspensions require added space, energy consumption, and weight in addition to complex installation at the OE assembly line, all with a cost increase. Small cars, when a high percentage of GVW is payload, need a leveling system but most cannot afford it.

Therefore, self-energizing leveling systems using only the kinetic energy of the wheels and needing little more packaging space than a conventional shock absorber are excellent components for present and future suspension layouts.