27

Automotive Steering Systems

Tomy Sebastian, Mohammad S. Islam, and Sayeed Mir
Delphi Corporation, Saginaw, Michigan

27.1 INTRODUCTION
The steering system in an automobile converts the drivers rotational input at the steering wheel or hand wheel into a change in the steering angle of the vehicles road wheels to control the direction of motion. Effort is required to turn the steering wheel due to the presence of friction between the tires and the road surface. In earlier steering systems, the driver provided the required torque to steer the vehicle. For heavier vehicles, the driver is unable to provide sufcient torque to steer the vehicle. In such cases an additional mechanism is needed to assist the driver. Hydraulically assisted power steering was introduced around the 1950s. Developments in power and control electronics and in electric machines led to the development of electrically assisted steering. This chapter will discuss various types of steering mechanisms.

27.2 STEERING SYSTEM

Based on the operating principle, steering systems can be classied as shown in Figure 27.1. The following sections will discuss these systems in more detail. In all these systems, the objective is to move the road wheels by a certain angle for a given angle rotation of the hand wheel. The ratio of the road wheel angle rotation to the steering angle rotation is normally referred to as the steer ratio.

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Steering System

Manual Assist

Power Assist

Rack & Pinion

Recirculating ball

Hydraulic Power Steering

Electro Hydraulic Power Steering

Electric Power Steering

Figure 27.1 Classication of steering systems.

Connection to road wheel

To intermediate shaft, column and steering wheel

Rack & pinion interface (rotary to linear conversion) Tie rod

Figure 27.2 A manual rack-and-pinion arrangement for a steering system (courtesy Delphi Corporation).

27.2.1 MANUAL STEERING A simple way of controlling the road wheel angle from the steering wheel is by means of a rack-and-pinion gear mechanism, shown in Figure 27.2. In this case the driver provides all the energy required for the angular movement of the road wheels. The rack-and-pinion mechanism converts the rotational input of the driver to a linear motion of the rack. This conversion also allows reducing the driver effort to turn the steering wheel. The required driver torque is a function of the rack force and the rack-and-pinion ratio called C-factor (sometimes C-factor is also referred to as steering ratio). This factor is dened as the distance traveled by the rack in mm when the steering wheel is rotated for 360 degrees. Thus, the relationship between the steering wheel speed and torque to the rack speed and force can be written as:

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Ts =

Fr C N m 2000 rp s C m /s 2000

(27.1)

vr =

(27.2)

where Ts is the steering wheel torque in N-m, s is the steering wheel speed in rad/s, Fr is the rack force in N, vr is the rack velocity in m/s, and rp is the rack-and-pinion efciency [1]. For heavier vehicles, the steering effort torque will be large; therefore, these systems are only used in smaller vehicles. Another mechanism to convert the driver torque into road wheel rotation is by means of a recirculating ball arrangement, also known as an integral gear mechanism [1,2]. Since this system is not currently used with electric power steering, this is outside the scope of this book. 27.2.2 HYDRAULICALLY ASSISTED STEERING Traditionally, the power assist is obtained by hydraulic means. Figure 27.3 shows the schematic of such a system. In this case, a hydraulic pump is driven from the vehicle engine through a belt and pulley arrangement. The high-pressure uid is used to move a piston in the steering gear assembly to assist the driver. The direction of movement is controlled by a valve mechanism. The hydraulically assisted system has an assist characteristic, which is independent of the vehicle speed. It is preferred to have higher assist (or lower driver effort) at low

Pump Pressure hose Tie rod Steering gear assembly Return hose Cooler Steering column Intermediate shaft

Road wheel Tie rod

Figure 27.3 The schematic of a hydraulically assisted steering system.

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speed and parking conditions, and lower assist at higher vehicle speed situations such as on a highway. The variable speed-effort characteristic is obtained by using electronically controlled valve mechanisms or by electromagnetically controlled systems such as Magna Steer. The hydraulically assisted steering system provides exceptionally good steering feel characteristics, though it has several disadvantages: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. The continuously running pump creates constant power loss, thus increasing the fuel consumption of the vehicle. At the end of life of the vehicle, one has to deal with the hydraulic uid and the hoses. Tuning of the vehicle steering characteristics is complicated and time consuming. Assembly of the system in the vehicle is time consuming due to the large number of components to be assembled. Packaging is difcult, as engine accessories are needed for coupling the pump to the engine. As the power assist is dependent on the engine speed, if the engine is stalled, the power assist also will be lost (engine dependency).

27.2.3 ELECTROHYDRAULIC POWER STEERING Some of these disadvantages could be overcome by running the pump from an electric motor. Such a system as shown in Figure 27.4 is often referred to as an electrohydraulic power steering system. This system addresses the issues 4 through 6 mentioned above. It also provides reduced fuel consumption, as the pump speed is independent of the engine speed and the speed could be controlled to reduce the losses. These systems draw a continuous current of the order of few amperes from the battery, mostly to support the hydraulic losses. During the steering maneuver, depending on the vehicle size, the peak current drawn may be as high as 100 amperes from a 12 V power system.

Pump, motor and control unit

Figure 27.4 An electrohydraulic power steering system.

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Figure 27.5 Mechanization of an electric power steering system (courtesy Delphi Corporation).

27.2.4 ELECTRIC POWER STEERING An electrically assisted steering system addresses most of the disadvantages of the hydraulic system, though it brings in some new issues and challenges. In an electric power steering system, the assist to the driver is provided by an electric motor. The base system is very similar to the manual rack-and-pinion arrangement explained with Figure 27.2. An electric motor with a gear reduction mechanism is coupled to the main steering path to provide the assist. In Figure 27.5, the assist mechanism is coupled to the steering path at the column (column assist). The assist could also be provided at the pinion (pinion assist) or even at the rack (rack assist). The required motor torque can be written as: Tm = (Ts Td ) n (27.3)

where Td is the driver input torque, is the efciency of conversion, and n is the gear ratio between the column and the motor. Ts is the total load as in Equation 27.1. Also, the motor speed m and the steering wheel speed s are related by: m = n s (27.4)

A curve showing the assist torque vs. steering wheel input torque is shown in Figure 27.6. Due to the shape of this curve, it is sometimes also known as the bathtub curve. This curve is for a particular steering wheel speed and vehicle speed. The torque-speed requirements of the motor are derived from the bathtub curve using the gear ratio of the mechanical gear and the efciencies of other system components. Figure 27.7 shows the typical power ow and losses in a typical electric power steering system. The power source for an automotive application is usually the battery with a nominal voltage of 12 V. The maximum current draw allowed from the battery is usually about 75 to 100 A, depending on the vehicle type and the manufacturer. This automatically places a limit on the input power (= 12 75 = 900 W peak power). Based on this input power limitation, the designer has to allocate the efciencies to the system components in order to get the

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Assist torque

Steering wheel torque

Figure 27.6 The assist torque vs. the steering wheel torque of a typical electric power steering system.

Wiring loss

Controller loss

Motor loss

Gear Mech. loss

R & Pinion loss

Battery

Wiring

Control

Motor

Gear Mech

R&P

Road

Figure 27.7 Typical power ow and losses in an electric power steering system.

required output power, which can vary from 250 W to 550 W, depending on the steering loads, which in turn depend on the gross vehicle weight (GVW). Usually the overall system cost and efciency is balanced with tradeoffs between the different components (i.e., gear reduction mechanism, electronic controller, motor, and wiring harness). The electric power steering eliminates the hydraulic uid. This is an on-demand system, since the motor does not take in any power if the driver does not steer. This results in an improved fuel economy to the vehicle. When the vehicle is not in a steering maneuver, the system takes very little current to support the control electronics. In a steering maneuver, the battery current could reach up to 100 A. Heavier vehicles will require higher current. This limits the usage of electric power steering to smaller vehicles, as the available battery current is limited. Also due to the engine-independent nature, the steering assist will be provided even with the engine stalled as long as the battery power is present. It also reduces the engine accessories, making it simpler. Another advantage of the electric power steering system is in the ease of tunability of the steering feel. The assist as a function of the vehicle speed can be easily programmed. As the assist characteristics can be programmed using software, one does not have to change the mechanical components, as in a hydraulic system, to tune the steering characteristics. This reduces the tuning time substantially compared to a hydraulic system.

27.3 ADVANCED STEERING SYSTEMS

Steering systems have moved from just providing driver assist, to also providing added comfort and enhanced vehicle stability. Recently, four-wheel steering and other systems that enabled better vehicle controllability were introduced in the market.

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Figure 27.8 Four-wheel steering under low vehicle speed condition, where the front and rear wheels are in phase opposition (courtesy Delphi Corporation).

27.3.1 FOUR-WHEEL STEERING The introduction of electric power steering also allowed other modes of vehicle control. The addition of steering capability to the rear wheels provides the vehicle with much more control options. The four-wheel steering introduced in trucks and sport utility vehicles allows for better vehicle maneuverability. The advantages are obvious when the vehicle is used for trailering and during parking. At low vehicle speeds, the rear wheels are in phase opposition to the front wheels and at higher vehicle speeds they are in phase with each other. Figure 27.8 shows a low-speed maneuver of a four-wheel steering system where the front and rear wheels are in phase opposition. 27.3.2 FUTURE-GENERATION STEERING SYSTEMS Future steering systems will integrate other functions such as braking, throttle, and suspension to improve the vehicle stability and control. To accomplish this, there has to be some level of decoupling between the driver and the road wheels. Active front steering systems use a differential arrangement so as to be able to control the road wheels either by the driver or by the motor. Steer-by-wire systems give complete mechanical decoupling of the driver to the road wheel by eliminating all mechanical linkages between the steering wheel and the road wheel. The sensors and control along with the drive motors precisely position the road wheels at the desired position. Such systems will require fault tolerant communication and control schemes. These systems will require actuators to actuate the road wheels and to provide feedback to the driver.

REFERENCES
[1] J.W. Post, E.H. Law, Procedure for the characterization of friction in automobile power steering systems, SAE International Congress and Exposition, Detroit, MI, February 2629, 1996, Document Order Number SP-1136. [2] R.K. Jurgen, Electronic Steering and Suspension Systems, Society of Automotive Engineers Inc.

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C.P. Cho, R.H. Johnston, Electric motors in vehicle applications, Proceedings of the IEEE International Vehicle Electronics Conference (IVEC99), Changchun, China, 69 September 1999. [4] N. Iwama, Y. Inaguma, K. Asano, T. Mori, Y. Hayashi, Independent rear wheel control by electric motors, 23rd FISITA Congress, Torino, Italy, 1990. [5] E.A. Bretz, By-wire cars turn the corner, IEEE Spectrum, April 2001, pp. 6873.

[3]

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