14/3/2021

power steering mechanism using cut piece model

supervisor : M.r soran Saleem

student: shkar Hussain hamad
Introduction:- Vehicle dynamic is an integral part of an automobile vehicle which is
as important as the power train of a vehicle, as if we need a power train to run a
vehicle we also need vehicle dynamics systems to keep the vehicle running with
stability, as we know suspension system is the part of vehicle dynamics that provide
surface contact along with the turning stability to the vehicle but let’s just think,
turning the direction by the vehicle while moving invites lot’s of forces to disturb the
stability of the vehicle which give rise to many questions like How it is done?. What
are the requirements to steer the vehicle in desired direction? To find these answers
let’s just study further.

A steering system of an automobile is an integral part of vehicle dynamics of a vehicle

in which a series of mechanical components having certain important angles comes
together to steer the front wheels of the vehicle according to input provided by the
passenger through steering wheel.

And the power steering system is the advanced steering system in which the effort
required to steer the front wheels of the vehicle side to side is reduced by using
intermediate electric or hydraulic devices that multiplies the force applied by the
driver through steering wheel in order to achieve smooth and quick directional change
of the vehicle.

Today all the 80% of the cars on road are equipped with the power steering system
which has become the basic need of today’s automobile.

After the introduction of the power steering in 1903, it is found that the number of
accidents on the road is decreased to the appreciable limit which in turn makes it the
necessity in a 4 wheel drive.
Type and important components:-

On the basis of the method used to multiply the steering force there are 3 types of
power steering system that are-

1. Hydraulic power steering system- It is the type of power steering system in which
hydraulic system having hydraulic pump driven by the engine and hydraulic cylinders,
is used to multiply the steering wheel input force which in turn reduces the efforts
required to steer the front wheels of the vehicle.

2. Electro – hydraulic power steering system- It is the modified version of the

hydraulic system in which the rotary hydraulic pump which is driven by the engine in
hydraulic power steering system is replaced with the hydraulic pump which is driven
by the electric motor.

3. Electronic power steering system- It is the latest type of power steering system in
which the hydraulic system from the hydraulic power steering is completely replaced
with electric motors and electric sensors, instead of using hydraulic force ,the motor
driven by the vehicle’s battery is used to apply force on the steering gear and torque
provided by the motor is controlled by the sensors that detects the position of the
steering column.

The important parts of a power steering system are-

1. Steering mechanism- Usually rack and pinion steering mechanism is used in power
steering in which the rotational motion of the steering wheel is converted into the
transverse motion of the wheels by a set of constantly meshed worm gears called rack
that provide transverse motion and a pinion that provides rotational motion.

2. Linkages – They are the mechanical constraints that provide relative motion
between 2 components, the type of linkages used in power steering is the tie-roads
that connects the rack to the knuckle of the wheel in order to transfer the transverse
motion of the rack to the wheels.

3. Power device- As we have already discussed above a force multiplying device

(either hydraulic or hybrid or electric) is used to multiply the steering wheel force in
order to reduce steering efforts. This device is attached with the pinion of the rack and
pinion mechanism.

4. Steering wheel- A round steering wheel is used inside a cockpit (operated by the
driver) that provides the rotational steering input to the further steering devices in
order to steer the vehicle.
Method/ procedure :-

The working of the power steering system differs with the difference in force
multiplying devices used. so to understand the working of the power steering all the 3
methods must be discussed separately.

1. Hydraulic Power Steering System

In this type of power steering system as we discussed above the hydraulic force is
used to multiply the steering input force in order to smoothen the steering of the front
wheels, this hydraulic force is generated by a series of components that includes
hydraulic cylinder, rotator hydraulic pump, hydraulic lines, highly compressed
hydraulic fluid and a coupling mechanism that can couple this hydraulic system with
rack of the steering system.

When the driver provides input by rotating the steering wheel, the hydraulic pump
driven by the engine starts pumping the highly compressed hydraulic fluid through
lines.

The hydraulic pressure produced by the pump enters the hydraulic cylinder which in
turn applies pressure over the cylinder’s piston.The piston which is under high
pressure starts moving from one end to the another which in turn pushes the further
fluid through lines, with this movement of piston the input force applied by the driver
is multiplied several times.

This high pressure fluid sent by the hydraulic cylinder then applies the pressure to the
attached pinion through the coupling mechanism which in turn applies high force to
the rack gear and the steering action in the front wheels takes place.

2. Hybrid or Semi Hydraulic Power Steering System

In this type of power steering system the hydraulic pump driven by the engine from
the hydraulic power steering system is replaced with electric pump which makes it
more reliable, this is the only modification made rest the working of this system is
same as the hydraulic power steering system mentioned above.

3. Electric Power Steering System

This system is latest of all the steering system mentioned above in this type of steering
system as we have already discussed the force multiplication is the function of the
electric motor instead of hydraulic fluid and the working of this system is as follows-
When the driver gives input through the steering wheel the electronic sensors attached
to the steering column reads the input and sent them to the electric control unit of the
vehicle.

The ECU of the vehicle analyses these inputs and sent the voltage signal to the
electric motor placed at the end of the steering column whose gear is in constant mesh
with the pinion gear.

Due to these voltage signals sent by the ECU the motor which is driven by the battery
of the vehicle starts and provides the particular torque according to the value of the
voltage signals received

After the motor starts the gear which is in constant mesh with the pinion gear starts
transmitting the multiplied torque to the pinion gear which in turn applies this torque
to the rack through which it is attached.

With this torque applied by the pinion over rack , rack moves which in turn steer the
front wheels (with the help of the tie rods attached) as per the requirement.

Finding/ Results:-

As we have already discussed above a power steering decreases the steering efforts
which is the need of a 4 wheel automobile vehicle so we need a power steering due to
the following reasons

Quick response- As the number of the vehicle on the road is increasing day by day
and today almost 60% families of the world are having a 4 wheeler in their houses,
with this increase in number of vehicles the danger of accidents on road is also
increased, so to avoid this danger and to take quick turns required by the road
conditions a quick response steering system is required in a 4 wheel vehicle.

Steering efforts – If we drive old cars like Maruti Suzuki 800 , it is found that the
steering wheel of the car feels very hard to rotate when the vehicle is going below 40
km/hr (above that the steering feels less hard) which is found to cause fatigue to the
driver while going on a long ride. So a vehicle should be equipped with a power
steering system so that the steering effort required to steer the front wheels can be
reduced.

Bump steer- As we know the bumps of the road is reduced by the suspension system
but as the steering system is directly attached to the wheel’s hub some amount of
bumps force is also transferred to the steering system which in turn tries to steer the
vehicle against the will of the driver due to which a vehicle can lose its stability,
though the bump steer can be controlled mechanically by providing optimum scrub
radius (angle between the centre line of the wheel and the king-pin inclination of the
knuckle) but the power steering controls it in a more effective manner.

Return ability- after taking a turn it is found that the steering returns automatically to
its original position which in turn automatically straightens the moving vehicle. A
vehicle equipped with a power steering system provides better return ability to the
steering system.
Reference:-

Wren, James A.; Wren, Genevieve J. (1979). Motor Trucks of America. University of
Michigan Press. p. 23. ISBN 9780472063130. Retrieved 8 November 2015.

"Driving-gear for motor-carriages - US patent 646477 A". Retrieved 29 May 2015.

Nunney, Malcolm James (2006). Light and Heavy Vehicle Technology. Elsevier
Science. p. 521. ISBN 978-0-7506-8037-0. Retrieved 18 June 2010.

Howe, Hartley E. (February 1956). "Mr. Power Steering's Ship Comes In". Popular
Science. 168 (2): 161–164, 270. Retrieved 28 May 2015.