Air suspension has been around for 90 years. Why hasn't it become popular?

In 1929, the T24 was fitted with air suspension, becoming the first truck to use the device. Up to now, air suspension in Europe and the United States has been quite common, but in China, air suspension is more used in hanging, precision instruments and dangerous goods transport vehicles, the popularity rate is relatively low, why the difference is so large?

1901 was a year of great events, including but not limited to the establishment of the Commonwealth of Australia; The Qing government and the foreign powers signed the "Negotiation and Outline" and so on. It was also the first year that the patent for air suspension was born in the United States, followed by the first true air suspension in France in 1920, even before the birth of the coil spring. However, subject to the material, but also subject to processing technology, air suspension was not promoted at that time.

Too Drag is the application of air suspension industry pioneers in the automotive industry, as early as 1929, too Drag tried to self-develop air suspension, installed in the then kingpin T24 truck on the rear axle test, much earlier than passenger cars. The air suspension not only further plays the advantage of the central tube girder + swinging drive shaft that is too drag, but has attracted wide attention since its appearance.

Of course, the chassis design is too drag or some alternative, the relevant design experience can not give others reference, until the emergence of the GMC 860 series in 1957 did not change, its chassis structure (rear axle) has been very close to the current air suspension model, it is also at this time, the air suspension is really realized mass production.

After testing, the air suspension's better vibration filtering performance not only effectively reduces the cargo damage rate, but also improves the ride comfort, and GMC has high hopes for this. Many people will think that from this point on, air suspension will start to be widely used, but in fact, this is not the case, why?

Although it has been nearly 40 years since the birth of the first air suspension, materials and processing technology have also been greatly improved, but still can not be used for a long time under complex transportation conditions, and the price is not cheap, not to mention the air suspension itself is a bit "metaphysical", there is no rich chassis design experience is difficult to play its shock absorption effect, and may even be counterproductive. Therefore, the plate spring suspension with low price and low production process requirements has been the mainstream. This configuration was quite niche even in the passenger car sector at the time, with very few models using air suspension.

Air suspension was really widely used in Europe after the 1990s, when materials and processing processes were mature, and regulations were also favorable for air suspension development (body height restrictions). It is understood that as of now, the penetration rate of air suspension in European trucks has reached more than 90%, in addition to the conventional general cargo models, 8x4 dump trucks have also begun to use air suspension, in addition to the performance of the air suspension itself, the standardized transportation environment has also played a huge role.

Although the exterior looks similar, today's air suspension is no longer limited to the function of vibration filtering. Taking WABCO ECAS air suspension control system, which has the highest popularity rate in China, as an example, it has functions such as axle load detection, axle load distribution, and high memory, which reduces resource waste and creates greater value for users.

The low penetration rate of air suspension in China is caused by many factors, on the one hand, there are few models, mainly used in high-end models, the cost is high, on the other hand, the after-sales is not perfect, the general repair shop can not repair. At the same time, many modes of transport are more traditional, unlike sling transport, which can give full play to its advantages. In addition, although the regulations allow more than 1 ton, and even 1 ton is added to the driving license, but some places of high-speed toll stations do not recognize.