How the DSSV shocks work on the new Chevy Colorado ZR2
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Sep 4, 2024
At the heart of the all-new Colorado ZR2 lies a high-tech DSSV Spool Valve Shock System. How does it work? What's so special? We talk to the engineers directly to find out. https://www.gm-trucks.com/
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Originally the dynamic suspension for the brand is best known in racing circles, circuit racing and some
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broad rally cast up as well. For the small valve technology we transferred over from the machine valve dampers about
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probably 10 years ago maybe a bit longer than that. in the racing world and our first actual road application of the small valve technology was the C28 Camero
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last generation C20A Camero and then GM approached us about the truck application so we put it together with GM and decided on the best art
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architecture for the Dancault. And the actual valve inside it is what the difference between the typical shim valve and these is it's a hydraulic
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ball valve. So we have a coil spring inside this tube and shaped windows on the side and
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we call it the shuttle inside and move and expose the window to allow oil to flow from the inside
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through the window and escape. And by shaping the window and changing some various other components, the spring rail and things
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we have very, very precise control over the shape of the force velocity curve
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and being able to do different things with the force velocity curve than what you can do with a shin valve
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really allows you to tune the performance of the vehicle very very precisely
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So these two valves, we can show you, we have, there's actually three in total in the damper
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We have a cutaway, or a plastic transparent damper here, so that's just a plastic version of that guy
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And the two main small valves, one for rebound and one for compression six
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in the central chamber The outer chamber is just a gas reservoir It happens to be an incorporated all in one piece but that could be a remote reservoir but it all attached in this one So we got the two in the valve body
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And when the piston is in the normal range, you see these holes in the inner tube
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when the piston is between the cover and the holes in the inner tube
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the oil, all the oil is pumped through the main valves. So in compression, the oil below the piston is pumped down the tube
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down the tube, comes out through these holes in the inner tube, and then makes it way between
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the two tubes, then out into the compression valve, up through the compression valve, and
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then recirculates in through the top of the damper. You see the forts up here. In Rebound
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it does the opposite. The oil is pulled, by the piston, pulls it out the top, goes down
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the outside of the damper, in through the rebound valve, then recirculates into the bottom
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to recoup underneath the piston. Once the piston passes these holes, so you can actually
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see this at some point, see the piston goes past those holes, I can see that, but the piston's
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passing it. And once the piston passes those holes, the oil is trapped between the piston
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and the bottom of the tube. And the only way place for it to go is back through the piston
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So there's a third independent small valve inside the piston itself that controls the compression
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forces towards the end of stroke. So that valve is a lot stiffer than the main valve
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So as you approach end of stroke in a big off-road event, it absorbs a lot of energy in
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the last third of the stroke of the damper. So that's the position sensitive bit, the PSD as it's been, as we call it
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So this technology basically is a readover from circuit racing ultimately, but the first
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The flexibility of the tuning really allows you to apply it to any vehicle you want and get a really good result
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So this is a, there would be a Formula One version of the same thing
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So it actually a very similar architecture hydraulically but obviously on a vastly different scale and at a vastly different cost But it the same exactly the same concept
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The valves with the shaped windows and the coil spring is in the race dampers, as is in these and the Z28
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But this is the only one that has the position sensitive portion of the architecture
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The second benefit of it basically pumping the oil around the damper
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around the outside of the damper between the two tubes, is the working fluid is always being moved past the outer surface of the damper
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which is aluminum. So it's really good for heat transfer and really good for keeping the dampen here
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It starts here that's saying we're adapting the school valve technology that was successful in other road cars, including the Camaro Z-28
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We have unique school valves for compression and rebound. We're taking those valves, the exact same valves, and we're applying them to an application for off-road
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That gave us, moving them off the piston gave us more travel for the available space
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Also allowed us a chance to add a third valve, a third school valve, on the piston. Good
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So the damper could help the vehicle respond to what it would experience off-road
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So that could be tuned just to handle those loads separately from the on-road driving range drives
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That way the damping is unique in the different ranges of position, travel, the damper
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So taking the spool technology from the Camero and applying it to the gear
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and how it works is when you driving on the road the piston is moving up and down in the middle of the damper So it doesn get to the extremes When you can press the damper over bumps the piston gets pushed all the way to the bottom of the damper
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Our architecture allows the damping characteristic where the piston is down here to be different
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tuned, and optimized just for that region, separately from driving on the road
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So the oil flows inside this range, out these transfer ports, through the angular space across the bridge and through the valves
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And then in a rebound, it's going the opposite direction. It's coming up the inside tube and out between the two tubes and back through the valves
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the rebound valve. But when you end up bump, the piston goes past those transfer ports
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There's nowhere for the oil to go. So it would be hydroly for lock except that we added that third spool valve on the piston
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which becomes active under the forces past the port transfer ports. and then it's tuned optimized just to manage the loads of the huge challenge
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In fact, you get from a landing or hitting a large bump. So the school valve inside here is tuned just for that differently from the road school valves
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And the road school valves are tuned optimized just for road driving
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and there's no compromise in them when you drive on the road for the vehicle to be able to do the off-road events
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Also, when it's fully extended, when you're going to be able to do the off-road events. route
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When you do it gets close to being airborne, it becomes airborne, you don't want your wheel to go slamming down in the full extension
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So there's this, another little piston that goes in a hydraulic cup, which creates rebound
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damping force. It allows it to manage the energy, so the wheel is it smacked against the end of the travel
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It's a soft transition to the end of travel. So each operating range, road driving range, compression range, rebound range are optimized
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with the course of loss of characteristics uniquely for that region without compromised to be able to
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be able to start
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