WHEN unveiled at the Paris Motor Show in 1955, the Citroën DS caused a sensation. It was not just the car’s elegant lines that encouraged 12,000 customers to place immediate orders, but also its mechanical innovations. Chief among these was that instead of steel springs, the DS rode on a self-levelling hydropneumatic suspension. This used spheres, filled with nitrogen, connected to each wheel. When started, the car’s engine pumped hydraulic fluid into the spheres, lifting the vehicle’s body. Bumps in the road were dampened by the incompressible fluid squeezing the compressible gas in the spheres. It made the DS appear to glide over France’s then badly damaged post-war roads.
French roads are now in good shape. Instead, it is to Britain that test drivers look to find some of the most “demanding” roads in Europe. Being plagued with pot holes, humps and choppy surfaces makes them an ideal proving ground for vehicle engineers. Which is why Shakeel Avadhany has opened a development base at the MIRA Technology Park, an automotive-research...Continue reading
Source: Science and technology http://ift.tt/2Itm7ud
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