Vehicle suspension using pressurized Bourdon tubes

摘要

A vehicle suspension especially for tracked vehicles, comprising an internally pressurized Bourdon tube operatively located between the sprung mass and each road wheel. A single liquid pump can be used to selectively pressurize different ones of the Bourdon tubes to different pressure values in accordance with expected loadings for particular ones of the road wheels. Depressurization of all Bourdon tubes can be used for vehicle height control, as for example to reduce the silhouette of a military vehicle and/or to reduce ground clearance.