Woldia University (WU)

Course Name: Motor Vehicle Engineering (Meng 5412)

Target group: 5th year Motor vehicle stream students
ECTS: 4
A.Y: 2016 E.C
Steering System
 Introduction
• Both the steering and suspension systems work closely together and even share some of
the same parts.
• The steering system controls your car's left and right motions (improve Handling
Characteristics)
• the suspension controls the up and down motions of your vehicle. improve Riding
Characteristics)
 Introduction
• The steered wheels are usually the front wheels due to stability reasons.
• Rear wheel steering will have better maneuverability at low speeds, but an unstable situation
will arise at high speeds.
• Forklifts are a typical example of a rear wheel steered vehicle.
 Introduction
• 4-wheel steering is also available in some production cars.
• It increases maneuverability by offering a very tight turning circle at the cost of
additional complexity and weight.
 Main tasks of the steering
• The main tasks of steering system are
• To turn the steered wheels in the desire direction.
• To allow different steering angles of the steered wheels
during cornering.
• To amplify the torque generated manually by an adequate
amount.
 Requirements for steering systems
• Maximum damping of impact from surface irregularities, but no loss of
contact with the road surface.
• Direct steering response to even minor steering movements, due to a very rigid
system.
• The steering systems layout must satisfy the Ackermann conditions: when the
wheels are turned, the elongations of the axes of rotation of the front left and
right wheels must intersect with an elongation of the rear axle (correct steering
principle).
• When the steering wheel is released, the wheels must return to the centre
position and remain stable in that position. (proper wheel alignments: camber
caster, and toe)
 Types of steering
• There are 3 types of steering
• Fifth wheel steering
• Articulated body steering:
• Differential (Skid) steering:
• King-pin steering (double-pivot steering)

• Fifth wheel steering

• pivot at the center so the axle
• commonly used on towed
vehicles, such as semi-trailers
pulled by tractor-trucks.
• It permits large steered angles
and facilitates maneuvering.
 Types of steering
• Articulated body steering:
• Vehicle body is hinged at the mid-section about a vertical axis.
• The wheels are fixed on the body, The front half can be rotated with respect to the rear half by
hydraulic cylinders.
• Used in wheeled off-the-road vehicles (e.g. loaders with large diameter tires).
 Types of steering
• Differential (Skid) steering:
• This system introduces of a velocity differential across the two sides of the vehicle.
• Differential steering is mostly used in track laying vehicles and on some special
purpose (combat) vehicles
 Types of steering
• King-pin (Ackerman) steering
• Pivoting only the wheels and their stub axles
around the kingpins.
• The front axle itself remains fixed.
• With this arrangement, the axle is held
at a right angle to the vehicle frame and
cannot pivot.
 Types of steering
• Kingpin (Ackerman) Steering (double-pivot steering)
• The wheels change from the straight-ahead position independently on separate
pivot pins or knuckle pivots at the ends of the axle.
 Ackerman principle
• Condition for True Rolling
• True rolling occurs only when the direction motion is perpendicular to the wheel axis
• A force acting parallel to the wheel axis will produce purely a scrub action

When the direction of rotation is

neither parallel nor perpendicular to
the axis of rotation, the movement
will be the compound of true rolling
and lateral distortion
 Ackerman principle
• Condition for True Rolling on a circular path
• The projected axes of several wheels all moving in different curved paths must intersect at a
single point (instantaneous center)
• If these projected axes do not intersect at a single point, a degree of tyre-scrub must result

Fifth wheel steering

 Ackerman Linkage Geometry
• Parallel set track-rod-arms
• The original Ackerman linkage.
• Both steered wheels then swiveled at equal angles
• The intersecting projection lines did not meet at one point
• the track rod dimensions yi, xi and yo,xo remain equal for all angles of turn
 Ackerman Linkage Geometry
• Inclined track-rod arms (modified Ackerman Linkage)
• This is trapezium linkage configuration
• Which makes the inner wheel swivel about its king-pin slightly more than the outer wheel
this enables to have a common instantaneous center
• The track-rod dimensions for inner wheel yi is always smaller than the outer wheel yo. But there is very
little variation b/n xi and xo
 Front Wheel Alignment
• For the road wheels to roll freely and with the min of effort, opposite wheels must
be approximately parallel to each other when the vehicle is in motion along a
straight path
 Front Wheel Alignment
• Rear wheel drive
• The front wheel will diverge due to the tire resist the forward motion of the suspension
system
• To correct this tendency the wheels are initially giving toe-in so that under driving
condition the wheels will turn parallel
 Front Wheel Alignment
• Front wheel drive
• The front wheel will converge due to that of the stub-axles assembly pulling forward
the suspension cross member and body
• To correct the converging tendency when in motion the wheel track is adjusted with a
toe-out when the vehicle at rest
 The Main parts of steering
• All the parts necessary to make the front wheels turn in the direction we
wish to go.
• These parts include
• a steering wheel,
• a gearbox, and
• steering linkages and levers
 Steering Linkage Arrangement
• To make a turn some sort of mechanical linkages has to be incorporated b/n the front steered road
wheels and the driver’s steering wheel.
• This mechanism must operate effectively under all normal conditions without interfering
• with the propelling road-wheel traction or
• with the suspension movement which copes with road surface irregularities and roll during cornering.

• The layout of any steering arrangement used depends largely on the type of suspension system used
for front wheel
• A rigid-axle-beam front suspension
• Independent front suspension
 Steering Linkage Arrangement
• Axle-Beam suspension steering system
• Consists of
• Steering wheel
• Steering box
• Drop (pitman)-arm
• Drag-link
• Drag-link-arm
• stub-axle
• Track-rod
Steering Linkage Arrangement

Axle-Beam suspension steering system

Front View
 Steering Linkage Arrangement
• Axle-Beam suspension steering system
• Steering box
• Provides a gear reduction so that with only a small effort, a much larger force can be applied to the
steering linkage
• The degree of stub axle movement will be reduced for a give angular movement of the steering wheel
• Drop-arm (Pitman-arm)
• Its sawing action imparts a circular-arc movement to the drag-link
• Drag-link
• Tubular rod converts the circular movement of the drop-arm into a linear push or pull motion of the
drag-link arm
• An alternative transverse drag-link lay out may preferred for cross country vehicles
 Steering Linkage Arrangement
• Axle-Beam suspension steering system

Transverse located drag-link

 Steering Linkage Arrangement
• Axle-Beam suspension steering system
• Drag-link arm
• Provide the leverage to convert the linear drag-link link movement to an angular movement about the stub-axle
king-pin

• Stub-axle
• Each steered road-wheel is mounted on a short axle-shaft commonly known as a stub-axle

• Track-rod arm
• Bolted approximately right angles to the wheel axis in the horizontal plane
• Provides the leverage to rotate the stub-axle about the king-pin the rotary movement being transferred to the
other stub-axle by means of the track-rod

• Track-rod
• To enable the two stub-axles to pivot together, transfer the motion from one stub-axle to the other
 Steering Linkage Arrangement
• Independent-suspension steering system
• With rigid beam suspension the relative movement can take place only in the horizontal
plane. Therefore the effective track-rod length is not influenced by any vertical
suspension deflection
• Independent suspension steering has to cope with each stub-axle moving up or down
independent of the other so that the distance b/n track-rod arm ball-joint centers is
continually varying
• A single track-rod joined the two stub-axles together, the slightest bump or rebound
would tend to pull both stub-axle arms at once
 Steering Linkage Arrangement
• Independent-suspension steering system
• The difficulty of the changing distance between track-rod-arm ball-joint centers can be
overcome by using
• a 3 piece track-rod (relay-rod and idler )
• Form a rack-shaft

Split track-rod with relay-rod

idler steering linkage lay out
Used for large private cars
 Steering Linkage Arrangement
• Independent-suspension steering system

Rack and pinion steering linkage

arrangement
In either case, this part has freedom
to move in the horizontal plane bur
restrained from moving in the
vertical plane

Used for small and medium private cars

 Steering Gear
• The steering gear has the task of converting the rotating movement of the steering wheel
into a pivoting movement of the wheels.
• Requirements if it is to function efficiently:
• No play when traveling straight ahead,
• High efficiency,
• High rigidity,
• Scope for adjustment.
• Types of steering gear
• Recirculation-ball-and-nut steering
• Rack-and-pinion steering
 Steering Gear
• Rack-and-pinion steering assembly
• Let R- steering-wheel radius
• r- pinion pitch-circle radius t- number of pinion teeth
• p- linear or circular pitch E- input steering
• W- output rack load
• Now consider the pinion to make one revolution
• The input steering –wheel movement xi=2πR
• The output rack movement xo=2πr=tp

Movement ratio ( MR) 

xi 2R R
 
xi 2R
MR  
xo 2r r xo tp
 Example
• A rack-and-pinion steering has a pinion of 16 mm pitch-circle diameter. What
effort must be applied on the 320 mm diameter steering-wheel to overcome a
resistance of 500 N experienced transversely on the rack
• Given
• 2r=16 mm
• 2R=320 mm
• W=500N

• Required
• E=?
 solution
• Movement ratio

xi 160 mm
Movement ratio ( MR)    20 : 1
xo 8 mm
• When there is no friction, MR

xi W
MR  
xo E
W 500 N
Input effort  E    25 N
MR 20 N
 Steering Gear
• Rack-and-pinion steering assembly
• Is designed to have the following properties
• To give reduction to reduce steering wheel effort
• To reduce the directness of the steering response
• To enable the front wheels turn through an angle of 70o b/n steering
locks
• The gearing should tend to be semi-irreversible (dampening out any light
wheel wobbles), but allowing direct road-wheel reactions to be
transmitted back to the steering-wheel
 Steering Gear
Rack-and-pinion steering assembly
Principle of operation

• The transfer of motion from

the pinion to the rack is
achieved by the pinion teeth
along the circular pitch of the
pinion should equal the linear
pitch of the rack
 Steering Gear
Rack-and-pinion steering assembly

• Construction
• the ball-race bearings straddle &
support the pinion gear
• The rack slides in its tubular housing
b/n two bearings
• The half-bearing yoke is made to push
the rack teeth in to mesh with the pinion
teeth-it thus controls the amount of
backlash b/n the rack and pinion teethA
 Steering Gear
• Recirculating ball rack and sector
steering gear box
• This steering gear box is basically a
manual screw-nut-type steering device,
which reduce the screwing friction which
would be generated b/n the engaging
threads
 Power-Steering
• The purpose of power steering is
• to reduce driver's effort at the steering wheel.
• To improve driving comfort, most modern automobiles have wide low
pressure tires which increase the tire to road contact area. As a result of this,
more steering efforts is required.
 Power-assisted Steering
• Steering effort can be decreased by increasing the gear ratio of steering gear. However, this
will cause a larger rotary motion of the steering wheel when the vehicle is turning, making
sharp turns impossible.
• The power system is designed to become operative when the effort at wheel exceeds a
predetermined value, say 10N.
• The system is always so designed that in the event of the failure of the power system, the
driver is able to steer the vehicle manually although with increased effort
• Application:
• Such a system is used in medium and heavy vehicles whose unladen weight is more
than 1500 kgs.
 Power-assisted Steering
• Types of power steering systems:-
• Three types of steering systems are in common use.
• Integral system:
• This is the most commonly used system. In this system the control valve and the power piston
are internal parts of the steering gear.
• Integral power rack and pinion system:
• In this system control valve and power piston are contained in the same housing but they are
connected externally by tubing.
• Non Integral System:-
• In this system externally mounted components that are attached to the steering linkage are used.
The control valve and the power piston are connected by hoses or tubing.
 Power-assisted Steering
• In all power steering systems hydraulic pressure is provided by a pump mounted near
the front of the engine.
• It is driven by a v-belt from the camshaft pulley.
• The pump is connected to the control valve by means of two hoses.
• One hose delivers the hydraulic fluid
to the control valve. The second hose
returns the fluid to the reservoir
 Power-assisted Steering
• Components of power steering system
• The power steering system includes
• a control valve assembly and
• a power cylinder.
• In addition, the system has
• fluid reservoir,
• hydraulic pump, and
• control hoses.
• A filter
• fluid cooler.
 Power-assisted Steering
• Pump
• The hydraulic power for the steering is provided by a rotary-vane pump
• This pump is driven by the car's engine via a belt and pulley. It contains a set
of retractable vanes that spin inside an oval chamber.

The amount of flow provided by the pump

depends on the car's engine speed.

The pump must be designed to provide

adequate flow when the engine is idling.
 Power-assisted Steering
• Control valve
• When there is no demand for power assistance and the valve remains in its
neutral position, it must allow the fluid being delivered by the pump to be re-
circulated via the valve to the reservoir.

There are two basic types of control

valves,
Linear and
Rotary spools
 Steer-by-wire
• means the replacement of hydraulic and mechanical systems in motor vehicles
with electronic controls and systems.
• a steer-by-wire system that can change the steering ratio while you drive.
• The system can also intervene in an instant to provide a correction if the rear
end starts to break away