STABILIZER BUSHING FOR VEHICLE

• US 20110291377A1
• Filed: 08/09/2011
• Published: 12/01/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 01/29/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Sumitomo Riko Company Limited., Toyota Jidosha Kabushiki Kaisha (Toyota Motor Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Tokai Rubber Industries Limited, Toyota Jidosha Kabushiki Kaisha (Toyota Motor Corporation)
• Inventors: KATO, Kazuhiko, HAYASHI, Shinji, NAGAI, Hiroaki, YANAGINO, Hideo, OKADA, Katsuzo, HOMMA, Yuji, KOBAYASHI, Kouichi
• Granted Patent: US 8,292,312 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 280/124.107
• CPC Class Codes: B60G 21/0551 Mounting means therefor
• CPC Class Codes: B60G 2202/135 Stabiliser bar and/or tube
• CPC Class Codes: B60G 2204/1222 Middle mounts of stabiliser on vehicle body or chassis
• CPC Class Codes: B60G 2204/41 Elastic mounts, e.g. bushings
• CPC Class Codes: F16F 1/3842 Method of assembly, production or treatment; Mounting thereof supports for pipes, cables or protective tubing F16L3/00
• CPC Class Codes: F16F 1/3876 by means of inserts of more rigid material

Abstract

A stabilizer bushing is provided which effectively reduces a torsional friction between a bushing body and a stabilizer bar. The stabilizer bushing includes a bushing body 16 made of a tubular elastic body, a sliding member 42 fixed to an inner circumferential surface of the tubular elastic body, and two partition members 26, 26 embedded in and bonded to a radially middle area of the bushing body 16. The partition members 26, 26 divide the bushing body 16 into an inner rubber portion 38 that is thin enough not to be elastically-deformed by a load applied thereto and an outer rubber portion 40 that is thicker than the inner rubber portion 38. Further, each of the partition members 26, 26 includes through holes 36a, 36b, 36c that are located so as to divide the partition member into a plurality of sections both in the axial and circumferential directions.

Claims

1. A stabilizer bushing for a vehicle comprising:

(a) a bushing body made of a tubular elastic body having an inner bore that extends therethrough in an axial direction thereof and into which a stabilizer bar is inserted without bonding thereto, the bushing body being mounted to a vehicle body by means of a bracket that is assembled to an outer circumferential surface of the bushing body;

(b) two partition members embedded in a middle area in a radial direction of the bushing body and bonded thereto by vulcanization in such a way that each of the two partition members divides the bushing body into an inner rubber portion and an outer rubber portion, each of the two partition members being rigid and having a semi-tubular shape; and

(c) a sliding member fixed to an inner circumferential surface of the inner bore, the sliding member being slidably contacted with the stabilizer bar inserted into the inner bore,

wherein the inner rubber portion has a thickness that is smaller than the outer rubber portion and that is not elastically-deformed by a load applied thereto,

wherein the two partition members are embedded in the bushing body such that the two partition members correspond to each other in the vertical direction in a state where the stabilizer bar is inserted into the inner bore of the bushing body,

wherein each of the two partition members includes, at both axial end portions thereof, a projection that projects in an axially outward direction from both axial end surfaces of the bushing body,

wherein the projection includes an outer flange extending in the radially outward direction of the partition member, the outer flange being integrally formed at both end portions in the circumferential direction located on both axial end portions of each of the two partition members, and

wherein each of the two partition members includes at least one through hole which is located at least one position that divides each of the two partition members equally in the circumferential direction and the axial direction and which allows unvulcanized rubber to pass therethrough at the time of injection molding of the elastic body.

2. The stabilizer bushing for a vehicle according to claim 1, wherein the maximum thickness of the inner rubber portion of the bushing body is smaller than the half of the maximum thickness of the outer rubber portion.

3. The stabilizer bushing for a vehicle according to claim 1, wherein the sliding member is composed of a liner cloth having a surface lubricity.

4. The stabilizer bushing for a vehicle according to claim 1, wherein the bushing body includes at least one rubber protrusion integrally formed on at least one of the axial end surfaces of the bushing body, the at least one rubber protrusion protruding in the axially outward direction with a height higher than the projected height of the projection from both the axial end surfaces of the bushing body.

5. The stabilizer bushing for a vehicle according to claim 4, wherein each of the outer flanges includes an exposed portion that protrudes in the radially outward direction of the bushing body and is exposed to an outside from either axial end surface of the bushing body.

6. The stabilizer bushing for a vehicle according to claim 1, wherein the at least one through hole is located only in a center portion in the circumferential direction of each of the two partition members so as to divide the partition member into a plurality of sections in the axial direction.

7. The stabilizer bushing for a vehicle according to claim 1, wherein the at least one through hole comprises a plurality of through holes, the plurality of through holes are located only at positions that equally divide each of the two partition members into three sections in the circumferential direction and a plurality of sections in the axial direction.

8. The stabilizer bushing for a vehicle according to claim 1, wherein each of the two partition members has an arc shaped cross section that is taken along a plane perpendicular to the axis, the arc being shorter than a semi-circle.

9. The stabilizer bushing for a vehicle according to claim 1, wherein a part of the outer circumferential surface of the bushing body is made as a flat surface part extending in the axial direction, the flat surface part being positioned at one of an upper side and a lower side in a state where the stabilizer bar is inserted into the inner bore of the bushing body, and the bracket is bonded to the flat surface part by vulcanization.

10. The stabilizer bushing for a vehicle according to claim 1, wherein the bushing body includes a split extending from the outer circumferential surface of the bushing body to the inner bore at a position between corresponding end surfaces in the circumferential direction of the two partition members such that the split extends over the entire length in the axial direction.

11. The stabilizer bushing for a vehicle according to claim 1, wherein the bushing body is constituted by an assembled tubular elastic body that is obtained by integrating two divided elastic bodies each having a semi-tubular shape and including a divided surface extending in the axial direction, and

wherein the bracket includes an encircling portion that encircles the entire surface of an outer circumferential surface of one of the two divided elastic bodies except the divided surface, and the bracket is bonded to the one of the two divided elastic bodies by vulcanization in a state where the encircling portion of the bracket encircles the one of the two divided elastic bodies.