Motor vehicle exhaust pipe suspension; an assembly including such a suspension

DETAILED DESCRIPTION According to the present invention, the above-mentioned desirable properties are all obtained by a suspension of the type specified at the beginning, characterized in that said resilient system comprises two crossed resilient loops each incorporating a ring of material having a high modulus of elasticity that is coated in rubber, the loops being fixed to each of the strength members at two diametrically-opposite locations of their respective circumferences.
By way of example, provision could be made for said loops at rest to be generally circular or slightly elliptical in shape, and to have a cross-section that is flat.
It will be understood that such a suspension can be very flexible relative to vertical traction forces (in the Z direction) acting between the two strength members, since the loops can deform very easily by becoming oval, until the sections extending between the two strength members, originally circular arcs, become sufficiently taut to be nearly rectilinear.
As from that moment, the traction stiffness of the rings of material having a high modulus of elasticity in the two loops will take effect, thereby providing the desirable limitation on elongation of the suspension under the effect of vertical forces.
It will also be understood that such a suspension also has great flexibility relative to horizontal forces acting in the transverse direction (Y direction) perpendicular to the vertical midplane of the suspension.
Such forces subject only one of the loops to ovalizing extension forces up to the extension limit, and the resulting very low stiffness is increased very little by the presence of the other loop which is subjected, on the contrary, to compression, possibly accompanied by bending.
The limit on displacement of the exhaust pipe in this direction is provided only by that one of the loops (depending on the direction of displacement) which is subjected to extension, however that effect is sufficient, given that the forces in the transverse horizontal direction (centrifugal forces while cornering) are in principle smaller than the vertical forces