Motor vehicles – Steering gear – Each wheel steerable
Reexamination Certificate
2001-07-26
2003-09-23
Hurley, Kevin (Department: 3611)
Motor vehicles
Steering gear
Each wheel steerable
C180S402000, C180S413000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06622813
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND
In conventional mechanical steering systems with hydraulic or electric assist, vehicle design is typically constrained by the need to mount a rack and pinion gear system laterally across the vehicle, generally near the engine and transmission. This uses valuable space under the hood that designers would like to use for other purposes. However, conventional steering systems are robust and relatively fault-tolerant.
In steer-by-wire systems, the mechanical drive connection between the steering wheel and the steered vehicle wheels can be separated. Typically, the wheels are steered with an electric powered actuator according to an input signal obtained from a sensor that is associated with a steering wheel.
It is desirable to provide a system with some of the advantages of a steer-by-wire system while maintaining the simplicity and relatively fault-tolerant nature of a conventional steering system.
SUMMARY
A hybrid steer-by-wire and mechanical steering system for a vehicle includes two subsystems. The first subsystem connects a steering wheel with a mechanical link adapted to turn a first wheel of the vehicle. The second subsystem has an electromechanical actuator adapted to turn a second wheel of the vehicle. An electronic controller adapted to receive information indicative of the positions of the steering wheel and the first wheel controls the electromechanical actuator to thereby control the position of the second wheel.
REFERENCES:
patent: 1208450 (1916-12-01), Austin
patent: 2109418 (1938-02-01), Fuller
patent: 3572458 (1971-03-01), Tax
patent: 4263979 (1981-04-01), Sturgill
patent: 4877098 (1989-10-01), Asanuma
patent: 4880074 (1989-11-01), Matsumoto
patent: 4943758 (1990-07-01), Tsurumiya
patent: 5002142 (1991-03-01), Klosterhaus
patent: 5022476 (1991-06-01), Weege
patent: 5026081 (1991-06-01), Bauer
patent: 5145022 (1992-09-01), Kido
patent: 5154437 (1992-10-01), Inagaki et al.
patent: 5207287 (1993-05-01), Sano et al.
patent: 5257191 (1993-10-01), Takehara et al.
patent: 5323866 (1994-06-01), Simard et al.
patent: 5347458 (1994-09-01), Serizawa et al.
patent: 5511629 (1996-04-01), Vogel
patent: 5653304 (1997-08-01), Renfroe
patent: 6275754 (2001-08-01), Shimizu et al.
Hennings Craig A
Matz Steve
Millsap Scott A.
Hurley Kevin
Smith Michael D.
LandOfFree
Hybrid steer-by-wire with mechanical link does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this patent.
If you have personal experience with Hybrid steer-by-wire with mechanical link, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Hybrid steer-by-wire with mechanical link will most certainly appreciate the feedback.
Profile ID: LFUS-PAI-O-3104258