If you've ever dealt with vehicles, then you've probably come across shock absorbers as well. A shock absorber is a device designed to compensate for irregularities in the road and form a smooth ride of the vehicle. To properly configure and maintain this unit, you need to know its design.
The structure of the shock absorber is quite simple, but in order to understand the structure, at least one such device must be disassembled. All vehicles use approximately the same shock absorber design, which differ from each other mainly only in the body. The principle of operation remains the same. Therefore, once you disassemble a bicycle shock absorber, you will learn how to navigate in other similar devices.
Often, by mistake, ordinary springs are called shock absorbers. The difference here is that the shock absorber necessarily contains a damper and not only absorbs the shock to the wheel, but also provides a smooth return to the starting point.
Shock absorbers are different. Most often, air or oil structures are used. But mainly, they use a combination of these two technologies in one device.
The shock absorber consists of a body, a rod with a piston, an oil bath, a spring and an air (gas) chamber. The piston rod moves freely in the housing. The piston compresses the oil in the oil bath with each movement of the shock absorber. The oil is incompressible and begins to move along the internal channels of the shock absorber. The stem contains valves with valves. These channels and valves allow you to adjust the rate of flow of oil from one chamber to another. Accordingly, when oil flows, the shock absorber rod moves smoothly without jerking or sudden rebounds.
Additionally, a gas chamber is installed in the shock absorber. The air in this chamber is compressed by oil, which makes the shock absorber even softer.
