Types of Suspension Springs : Helical Spring,

Leaf Spring, Torsion bar Rubber Spring

Today we will learn about types of springs used in suspension system.
Springs which is used in suspension system are helical spring, leaf spring,
Torsion bar etc. Who have missed the last post about suspension system,
first read that post before reading it
In the last post I have briefly describe the working and requirement of
suspension system. We have also discussed about the component used in
suspension system and we know that the springs are the main component of
suspension system.

Use of spring in Suspension System:

We know that any system used in vehicle to reduce road shocks and
vibration known as suspension system. Springs, shock absorber torsion bar
etc. are components of suspension system. Due to irregularity of roads
when a vehicle runs, it feels lot of vibration due to road irregularity and
engine vibration. So if the car is perfectly rigid this vibration transmitted into
whole body of car which cause damage of its body parts and also it is
uncomfortable for the passengers too.

So the Suspension Springs are used to separate the Wheel of the vehicle to
the body so when the vehicle feel those vibration it transfer to the spring
and the spring start oscillating without transmitting this vibration to the
vehicle body. So these springs are the main component of suspension
systems.

Today we used various types of vehicle according to load capacity and

luxuriousness. So there are different types of spring and suspension systems
used in those different vehicles.

Types of Springs used in Suspension System

1. Leaf Spring:
Semi elliptic leaf springs are almost used in commercial vehicles. It is also used in
cars for rear suspension. The spring consist of a number of leaves called blades.
The blades vary in length and connected together as shown in the figure. These
springs based on the theory of beam of uniform strength.
This spring is mounted on the axle by the U bolt and the one end of spring is
mounted on the frame and other is connected with a shackle which allow to change
in length between eye of spring when the vehicle come across projection of road
and upward movement of wheel.

When there is wide range of loading on vehicle helper spring is also provided with
the leaf spring which increase the weight loading capacity of vehicle. These springs
are made by the Chrome-Vanadium Steel, Silico-Manganese Steel or Carbon Steel
as per requirement. These spring are noisey and does not used where
luxuriousness is necessary.

2. Helical Spring or Coil Spring:

We all have seen coil spring in our daily routine many times. The helical spring used
is suspension system is same as we see. It is mainly used in the independent
suspension. It is also used in the conventional rigid axle suspension as they can be
well accommodated in restricted spaces. The energy stored per unit volume is
almost double in the case of coil spring than the leaf springs.

These spring do not have noise problems but they does not take torque reaction
and side thrust for which alternative arrangement have to be provided.
3. Torsion Bar:
It is simply a rod which acting under the torsion and taking shear stresses. It is
often used with independent suspension. One end of the bar is fixed to the frame
and the other end is fixed to the end of the wheel arm and supported in the
bearing. The other end of the wheel arm is connected to the wheel hub. When the
wheel strikes a bump it start vibrating up and down, thus torque on the torsion bar
which acts as a springs.

4. Rubber Springs:
The rubber springs are also used in suspension because it store greater energy per
unit weight than the steel. So it is more compact than other springs. It has also
excellent vibration damping property. One more advantage of using rubber is that it
is not suddenly fail like steel so there is less risk.
The various types of rubber springs used.

Compression springs:

This type of spring is still being used because it is reliable, simple in construction,
can resist occasional overload of large magnitude, and have large damping effect.

Compression shear spring:

In this type of spring the load is carried partly by shear and partly by compression.

Steel reinforced spring:

It consist steel helical spring bonded in a rubber body. The steel spring carrying
only 20% of load.

Types Of Shock Absorber: Suspension Parts

The shock absorber is provided provide the damping of the spring to prevent
excessive flexing. In the leaf spring the friction between the leaves provide the
damping effect but sometimes it is not sufficient so we used shock absorbers. In
case of helical springs the whole damping effect is provided by the shock absorber.
The shock absorber controls the excessive spring vibration and prevents the spring
to vibrate even after bump.

The shock absorber absorbs the energy of the shock and converted into vertical
movement of axle by providing damping and dissipating the same into heat.

There are basically two types of shock absorber

Friction types:
In these types of shock absorber whole damping effect is provided by the friction
force between two moving parts. These types of shock absorber almost become
obsolete due to it not-predictable damping characteristics.

Hydraulic types:
In this type of shock absorber hydraulic fuel is used to resist the motion of the
spring. It is work on basic principle of Pascal law that when a piston force the fluid
in a cylinder to pass through some hole, a high resistance to the movement of
piston is developed, which provides the damping effect. The main advantage of this
type of shock absorber is that the damping is proportional to the square of the
speed. So for small vibrations the damping is also small, while for larger ones the
damping becomes automatically more.

Shock absorber ratio:

It is the ratio of the shock absorber resistance to upward movement and to
downward movement. It describe the percentage of the shock absorbers total
resistance is in compression and what percentage in extension. Most shock
absorbers are designed for 50/50 ratio only. This ratio does not notify the capacity
of shock absorber. The actual damping rates are controlled by the piston and
orifices size.
Difference between LPG vs Petrol Engine:

S.No. Petrol Engine LPG Engine

1. Fuel Consumption in Petrol engine Engine running on LPG results 10%
is less when compared to LPG. increase in consumption compare to
petrol engine.

2. Petrol has odour or it smell badly. LPG is odourless or it has no smell.

But due to identified leakage Ethyl
Mercaptan added in it which also smell
badly.

3. Octane rating of petrol is 81. Octane rating of LPG is 110 which is

more than petrol, So there e is less
possibility of detonation.

4. Compare to LPG Engine, petrol Due to higher octane number less

engines are not smooth running. knocking LPG engines are running
smoothly compare to petrol engines.

5. Lead is added in petrol engine to LPG is lead free so it is ecofriendly.

increase octane rating, which is
harmful for environment.

6. When petrol passes over the oil LPG does not wash out lubricant film,
rings, it washes out the lubricant hence the life of LPG engine is
film from the upper cylinder increased by 50%.
surface. It causes lack of lubricant
which increases wear and tear. So
the life of petrol engine is less
compare to LPG engine.

7. It forms carbon deposit on the LPG does not deposits carbon on spark
spark plugs, so the life of spark plug so the life of spark plug is more
plug is shorter. than petrol engine.

8. Carburetor is used to mix air fuel Vaporizer used to mix air fuel in
mixer in proper ratio in petrol proper ratio in LPG engine. It reduce
engine. the LPG pressure, vaporize it and
supply it according to engine
requirement.
This is all about LPG vs Petrol engines. If you have any query regarding this article,
ask by commenting. If you like this article dont forget to share it on social
networks.

the different types of front suspensions that have been used on production
and racing vehicles since the inception of the automobile. While some of the
older styles are obsolete it is still important to learn about them because it
provides valuable insight into why the cutting edge suspensions of today
perform so much better.

Going in chronological order, the first mass

produced front suspension design was the
solid beam axle. Just as it sounds, in the
beam axle setup both of the front wheels are
connected to each other by a solid
axle. This style was carried over to the first
automobiles from the horse drawn carriages
of the past and worked well enough so that
initially no other suspension even needed to
be considered. In fact the beam axle can
still be found today. New developments in
springs, roll bars, and shocks have kept the
solid axle practical for some
applications. Have you ever taken a look at
the front end of a semi or heavy duty
truck? If you have, you wouldve noticed
that both of the front wheels are connect by
a solid axle. Well make a quick list of the Typical beam axle design, showing the wheels connected
advantages versus the disadvantages for the by the axle and the whole assembly connected to the
beam axle front suspension to help chassis by the springs and shocks
understand why it can be used on heavy
trucks but is far from desirable on a
performance or passenger car.
After designers had come to realize the severe
drawbacks of the solid axle front suspension,
they moved on to early attempts at an
independent style of front suspension. One of
these attempts came to be known as a swing
axle suspension. It is, as the name suggests,
set up so that the axles pivot about a location
somewhere near the center of the car and allow
the wheels to travel up and down through their
respective arcs. This system was eventually
adapted for rear suspensions as can be found on
the old beetles. Ill use a simple chart to help
identify the advantages the swing axle has over
the solid axle and highlight some of the Illustration showing a swing axle
shortcomings of this suspension design as well. suspension at different positions. Notice the
huge degree of positive camber when the
axles jack up (top) this is what causes the
distinct loss in cornering power.

This image shows a single link trailing link rear
suspension. While this is not exactly the same as
the double link front (due to the differential) the
concept is the same.
Another early form of front independent
suspension is called the trailing link
suspension. This suspension design uses
a set of arms located ahead of the wheels
to support the unsprung mass. In essence
the wheel trails the suspension
links. Hence the name. Since independent
front suspensions were pioneered in
production cars to improve the ride
characteristics of vehicles as well as
minimize the space needed for the
suspension itself, early designs like the
trailing link suspension attempted to excel
in those areas of improvement. Trailing
link systems like the one in the front of the
old beetle were a success from the
manufacturer standpoint as they did
improve ride and reduce the packaging size
of the suspension. However, there were
some considerable drawbacks to the
trailing link system when applied to
vehicles that generate high cornering
loads.
In the 70s the MacPherson front suspension assembly became a very popular design on
front wheel drive cars. This strut based system, where the spring/shock directly connects
the steering knuckle to the chassis and acts as a link in the suspension, offers a simple and
compact suspension package. This is perfect for small front wheel drive cars where space
is tight and even allows room for the drive shaft to pass through the knuckle. Today most
small cars will use this type of suspension because it is cheap, has good ride qualities, and
has the compact dimensions necessary for front wheel drive cars. As with the trailing link
style independent suspension, while the MacPherson assembly works very well for The illustration
production road going cars, on performance cars it is less than ideal. The chart below shows what a
illustrates this point. typical MacPherson
assembly looks
like. With the strut
acting as the upper
suspension link.
The next evolution in suspension design was to move towards the equal
length A-arm setup. This is commonly referred to as a double wishbone
suspension as the A shaped control arms resemble a wishbone. In this
design the suspension is supported by a triangulated A-arm at the top and
bottom of the knuckle. The earliest designs of the A-arm suspension
included equal length upper and lower arms mounted parallel to the
ground. This design has many advantages over any of the previous
independent front suspensions. The chart below covers these and details
the shortcomings of the first generation of double A-arm designs.

After designing, implementing, and experimenting with the equal length

double A-arm suspension it was vary apparent that all that was needed to
make the double A-arm front suspension satisfactory for high performance
use was to determine a way for the suspension to gain negative camber as it
was compressed. (I.e. during chassis roll) The problem was solved by
implementing upper and lower A-arms of different length. The resulting
unequal length double A-arm suspension was born.
 By using an upper control arm that is
shorter than the lower one, as the
wheel travels up it tips in, gaining
negative camber. This is because the
upper arm swings through a shorter
arc than the lower and pulls in the top
of the tire as the wheel travels
upwards. The advantage in this
negative camber gain is that as the
chassis rolls against the wheels, the
increasing negative camber on the
The image shows a typical unequal length outside wheel helps keep the wheel
double A-arm setup. Note the difference in
upright against the road surface and
length between the upper and lower arms. This
allows the tire to generate the
is what gives this suspension its ability to
generate negative camber in bump. maximum possible cornering
force. By adjusting the length of the
arms and their respective angles to the ground, there are infinite possibilities
in the design of a vehicles roll center height and swing arm length. This
flexibility gives suspension designers unlimited options on how to best setup
the suspension. There is no right answer or best geometry, that is why a
Honda will have different geometry than a Corvette. It ultimately comes
down to what design will get the vehicle around a corner the
fastest. However, in production cars the manufacturers have many other
things to consider. Depending on the target market and type of car, there
are a host of variables that must be considered and result in a less than
optimum suspension design for most vehicles. Lastly, when comparing the
unequal length double A-arm setup to all the previous iterations of the
independent front suspension from a performance standpoint, it has real no
disadvantages and is currently the most advanced suspension design
used. Simply look at what suspension the most advanced race cars use if
you have any doubts. The only cars that do not feature this design are
vehicles where price and space are of more concern than performance.

In summary, we have seen how the evolution of the front suspension has progressed over
the past 100 years from the solid beam axle taken from horse buggies through to the
unequal length double A-arm design currently employed by the top performance cars of
today. While most people have heard that a double A-arm setup is good they dont know
why it is better than a different style of suspension. This article is intended to provide an
introduction to the most common types of front suspensions and cover their strengths and
weaknesses. After reading through the information presented here you should have a
decent understanding of each of the suspension designs discussed and how they affect ride
quality and handling performance.
Rotary Compressor vs Reciprocating
Compressor
Today we will learn about rotary compressor vs reciprocating compressor. A
compressor is a device which takes atmospheric air or other gases, compresses it
and delivers the high pressure air or gas to a storage vessel from which it may be
conveyed by a pipeline to wherever the supply of compressed air required. These
are classified mainly into two types. The first one is known as reciprocating
compressor and other one as rotary compressor.
The main difference between rotary and reciprocating compressor is that the rotary
compressor use an impeller which is in rotary motion to compress the gases while
a reciprocating compressor involves a piston cylinder device in which gases are
filled and they compressed due to upward movement of piston. There are many
other parameters on which they can be differentiate. These are as follow.

Rotary Compressor vs Reciprocating Compressor:

S.No. Particulars Reciprocating Rotary Compressor

Compressor

1.
Suitability These compressors are They are suitable for large
suitable for low discharge volumes of gas at low
of gas at high pressure. pressure.

2.
Operation Low operational speed. High operational speed.
Speed

3. Gas Supply Pulsating Continuous

4. Balancing Cyclic Vibration occur. Less vibration due to rotary

mass.

5.
Lubrication It contain complicated Generally simple lubrication
system lubrication system. compare to reciprocating
 compressor.

6.
Quality of Generally contained with It supply clean gas relatively.
Gas oil.
delivered

7.
Size It has large size. Rotary compressor
comparatively small for same
.discharge.

8. Free air 250-300 m3/min 2000-3000 m3/min

handle

9. Delivery 800-1000 bar Below 10 bar

Pressure

10. Process It involves generally Rotary compressor involves

isothermal compression. isentropic compression.

This are all main differences between rotary compressor and reciprocating
compressor. If you have any query regarding this article, ask by commenting. If
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