Vibracoustic introduces air supply unit bracket

DARMSTADT, Germany—Vibracoustic, a subsidiary of Freudenberg and Co. K.G., has developed an air supply unit bracket with noise, vibration and harshness features.

The tunable bracket for air suspension ASUs improves damping on both the radial and axial parameters and reduces weight and complexity, according to Vibracoustic.

It was developed in response to the rise of EVs, a much heavier automobile than their internal combustion engine cousins, as well as consumer desire for greater comfort in their SUVs.

"As a global leader in air springs development and manufacturing, Vibracoustic experts are continuously working on solutions that address modern NVH challenges faced by OEMs," the company stated in an April 17 release.

In this case, the ASU is part of the complete air spring system and carries the compressor as well as the valve block. A lighter and more robust mounting bracket allows for the NVH tuning, according to Vibracoustic.

This is not possible with traditional coil spring applications, which also exhibit high resonance, preventing "a tunable support for radial deflections and excitations," the company said.

"To address the downsides of coil spring applications ... Vibracoustic engineers created an alternative rubber system including bellow-style bushings and bump stops," the company said.

The Vibracoustic "roll-over" bellow design allows for high displacement at low strain levels, mimicking the performance of springs.

"Due to its inherent comfort and suitability for a wide range of applications, air suspensions are becoming an increasingly popular choice for OEMs," said Jorg Bocking, chief technology officer at Vibracoustic. "Building up on our experience in providing full air springs systems and our understanding of how it interacts with the whole vehicle, we strive to improve all different components.

"And the ASU bracket is another example of how we optimized our solution to increase the NVH performance and increase the driving comfort."

Vibracoustic, which has about $2.7 billion in annual sales, employs roughly 10,000 at 41 production and engineering locations across 17 countries. The company serves all major automotive OEMs.