ThyssenKrupp Bilstein has announced that its DampTronic sky shock absorbers are OEM fitment on the all-new BMW 7 Series. The shock absorber has been developed to provide ‘the most convincing answer yet’ to the conflict between ride comfort and the vehicle’s agility.
Two infinitely variable adjusting valves regulate the damping force in the shock absorber body. One valve controls the rebound state, whilst the other manages the compression stage. In just a few milliseconds, the Active Body Control’s control unit individually adjusts the damping force for each wheel by analysing various types of data, such as acceleration and wheel-path. This allows ride comfort to be optimised at any given state. At the same time, the shock absorbers are controlled in such a way that the vehicle’s body remains as stable as possible.
By using two adjusting valves, the shock absorber is able to make sure that damping forces are adjusted according to the Skyhook theory even in the high-frequency range of wheel vibrations.
ThyssenKrupp Bilstein developed the adjusting valves in line with the expected levels of comfort and agility of the 7 Series vehicle category. While an electromagnet steplessly adjusts the resistance for the oil flow, additional comfort valves adjust the hydraulic response of the shock absorbers. The shock absorber’s tuning was refined over ‘extensive’ driving tests, and was jointly developed with BMW.
