DESIGN IMPROVEMENTS FOR COIL SPRINGS IN AN AUTOMOTIVE INDEPENDENT SUSPENSION

Suspensions are a critical part of vehicle design, as they greatly influence the experience that drivers and passengers have when they are riding in a vehicle. One of the major components of these suspensions is the suspension spring. The springs used in suspensions can take many different forms, including leaf springs, helical springs, and other types. In this current study, the authors used a helical spring, which is the case for many current suspension designs. The focus of the study was on improving the spring, given performance characteristics that were required and subject to a set of constraints to ensure that the spring would not fail in regular operation. FEA analyses were performed on 36 spring designs. At the conclusion of the analyses, the authors found that the suspension could be improved through variations in the spring, in particular by changing the cross section from circular to oval.