What is a pneumatic suspension? Is it better than air suspension?

To say which trailer suspension in the industry has received the most attention, I am afraid it is the air suspension.

Since January 2020, air suspension has been forced to be installed on all three-axis grid and three-axis fence plate semi-trailers in the domestic market, which has greatly increased the application rate of air suspension on semi-trailers.

Compared with the traditional steel plate suspension, the advantages of air suspension are relatively obvious:

1. Lighter self weight. Air suspension with air as the main medium, compared with the steel plate material weight can be much lighter, can give the owner more weight space for cargo transportation, but also save fuel, energy saving and efficiency.

2. Better shock absorption effect. Compared with the traditional leaf spring, the air bag is obviously softer and more comfortable, it forms a soft connection between the frame and the axle, and the bumps and shocks from the road can be alleviated to a great extent, in addition to enhancing the driving comfort, and it is also a kind of protection for the cargo.

3. The vehicle runs more smoothly. The elastic coefficient of the air spring is that the soft and hard of the spring can be automatically adjusted according to the need. When the vehicle is driving at high speed, the air spring stiffens to improve the stability of the vehicle. When it encounters poor road conditions, the air spring softens to improve the comfort of the vehicle. In this way, it can better ensure the constant height of the car box and help protect the goods.

4, the axle can be lifted. The air suspension can realize the free lifting of the trailer axle, on the one hand, it can reduce the height of the loading platform, facilitate the loading and unloading of goods, on the other hand, it can lift the specified trailer axle when the car is empty, which is conducive to reducing tire wear.

In general, the better the vibration absorption performance of the suspension, its rigidity is often poor, and this is the case with air suspension. Although it can greatly improve the protection of goods, but the restrictions on the weight of transport is very strict, not suitable for the transport of heavy goods, in addition, the material is more vulnerable to damage, anti-roll characteristics are relatively poor, in a bend or sharp turn, one is easy to affect the safety of the vehicle itself, two is also easy to affect the safety of other traffic participants.

Therefore, if the air suspension wants to become the mainstream vehicle suspension, it also needs to overcome its own shortcomings. The oil and gas suspension is one of the development directions of air suspension.

Strictly speaking, the oil and gas suspension belongs to a kind of air suspension, and is not an emerging type of suspension, which has appeared more in the past in large mining vehicles, multi-axle special off-road vehicles, armored vehicles and other models.

From the structural point of view, the oil and gas suspension on the basis of air suspension has been further improved and improved, it takes the oil and gas spring as the elastic element, the inert gas as the elastic medium, the pressure transmission with oil, through the compressibility of the elastic gas and the damping characteristics of the hydraulic system, to adapt to the various use conditions of the vehicle, equivalent to the air suspension on the basis of a new set of interconnected hydraulic system.

In simple terms, the oil and gas suspension is almost the advantages of the fusion of steel plate suspension and air suspension, its vibration reduction performance is basically equivalent to that of air suspension, it has good buffering capacity, and it also has good anti-roll performance, its stiffness is about 4 times or more than that of air suspension, and its load-bearing performance is better.

In addition, according to relevant experimental data, the braking distance of the oil and gas suspension can be shortened by about 0.5-0.6m than that of the air suspension, and the transmission performance is more stable on the uneven and rugged road conditions, the force of each shaft is balanced, and the tire runout is relatively small, which can reduce tire damage.

The air-spring tightness of the pneumatic suspension is enhanced, and the forging of the suspension guide arm has been further improved to match a variety of trailer axles without any problems in matching with drum brakes or disc brakes.

From the current industry trend, the application of air suspension is more and more widely, and the oil and gas suspension as its upgraded version is believed to be gradually accepted by the market.