Steering

Steering is a collection of components and linkages that

allow a vehicle to follow a particular course.
There are several different manual steering gears in current
use:
1. worm and sector type;
2. worm and tapered pin steering gear;
3. worm and roller steering gear
4. recirculating ball type where the balls acts as a rolling
thread between the wormshaft and the ball nut;
5. rack and pinion type which is the choice of most vehicle
manufacturers.
Worm and roller steering gear
Manual recirculating ball and sector
steering
Recirculating-ball steering is used on many trucks and
SUVs today. The linkage that turns the wheels is slightly
different than on a rack-and-pinion system.
Manual rack and pinion steering
Rack-and-pinion steering
- most common type of steering on cars, small trucks and SUVs.
- actually a pretty simple mechanism.
- rack-and-pinion gearset is enclosed in a metal tube, with each
end of the rack protruding from the tube.
- A rod, called a tie rod, connects to each end of the rack.
- The pinion gear is attached to the steering shaft. When you
turn the steering wheel, the gear spins, moving the rack. The tie
rod at each end of the rack connects to the steering arm on
the spindle (see diagram above).
The rack-and-pinion gearset does two things:
- It converts the rotational motion of the steering wheel into the
linear motion needed to turn the wheels.
- It provides a gear reduction, making it easier to turn the
wheels.
On most cars, it takes three to four complete revolutions of the
steering wheel to make the wheels turn from lock to lock (from
far left to far right).
Arack and pinionis a
type oflinear
actuatorthat comprises a
pair ofgearswhich
convert rotational motion
into linear motion. The
circularpinionengages
teeth on the rack.
Video on how rack & pinion steering works
Power Steering

The termpower steeringis

usually used to describe a
system that provides
mechanicalsteeringassistance
to the driver of a land vehicle
Part of the rack contains a cylinder with a piston in the middle. The
piston is connected to the rack. There are two fluid ports, one on
either side of the piston. Supplying higher-pressure fluid to one side
of the piston forces the piston to move, which in turn moves the
rack, providing the power assist.
There are a couple of key components in power
steering in addition to the rack-and-pinion or recirculating-
ball mechanism.
 The hydraulic power for the steering is provided by
arotary-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.
A power-steering system should assist the driver only
when he is exerting force on the steering wheel (such
as when starting a turn). When the driver is not
exerting force (such as when driving in a straight line),
the system shouldn't provide any assist. The device
that senses the force on the steering wheel is called
the rotary valve
Steering Ratio
Steering ratio refers to the ratio between the
turn of the steering wheel (in degrees) or
handlebars and the turn of the wheels (in
degrees).
A higher steering ratio means that you have to
turn the steering wheel more, to get the wheels
turning, but it will be easier to turn the steering
wheel.

Most cars have a steering ratio of around 17:1,

to have a light steering

Larger and heavier vehicles will often have a

higher steering ratio, which will make the
steering wheel easier to turn
 FSAE cars use quick ratio
steering racks with ratios of about
5:1 for a quick steering response
Steering Geometry
You might be
surprised to learn
(or some of you
may even already
know!) that when
you turn your car,
your front wheels
are not pointing in
the same direction
i.e., they do not
turn by the equal
angles
It is basically of 3 types
Ackermann
Reverse Ackermann (or anti-
ackermann)
Parallel

Most race cars use Reverse Ackermann

steering geometry.
Ackermann Geometry
For the Ackermann analysis the Ackermann
condition is used to determine the relationship between
inner and outer wheel in a turn and the radius of turn.

Where:
o = turn angle of the wheel on the outside of the turn
i = turn angle of the wheel on the inside of the turn
B = track width
L = wheel base
b = distance from rear axle to centre of mass
Percent Ackermann

If the point of intersection of the projected lines of the

steering arms meet at the rear axle, then the vehicle is
said to have 100% Ackermann.
The amount of Ackermann will change with steering angle, but most people simply use the Ackermann percentage at a particular steering angle and corner radius as their
Ackermann percentage.
Steering Parameters
Mechanical Trail: More trail will give
higher steering force. With all cars, less
trail will lower the steering force. In some
cases, manual steering can be used on
heavy sedans (instead of power steering)
if the trail is reduced to almost zero.

Kingpin Inclination: The more the

kingpin inclination is tilted from vertical
the more the car will be raised when the
front wheels are steered. This effect
always raises the car, regardless of which
direction the wheel is steered.
Scrub Radius:
It is the distance in front view between the king pin axis
and the center of the contact patch of the wheel, where
both would theoretically touch the road.

A positive scrub radius will increase steering effort,

torque steer and kickback on bumps to a considerable
degree. The advantage is that there is much greater
road feel and feedback so that when tires start to break
loose in a corner it can be felt. Consequently, this is
often the set-up of choice on race cars.
Bump Steer
As the front wheels move up and down, we want the front
wheels to maintain a particular direction. It's most important for
the wheels to have minimal bump when we are negotiating the
turns. There are certain elements of the construction of the front
end components that will make this happen.
The length of the tie rod must be equal to the distance
formed by
1) a line extending through the centers of rotation
of the tie-rod ends, and
2) the tie-rod line intersection with
a) lines extending through both the upper and lower ball joints,
and
b) the plane that passes through the inner chassis mounts.
Friction Circle
Plots the theoretical
limits of adhesion in
2 axes
Great tool for
analyzing driver to
driver variation
G-analyst is a cheap
tool for this
 Illustrates the trade off
between cornering and
braking/accelerating
The driver that follows
the path closest to the
outside of the circle
wins
 Car Balance
A well balanced car will
exhibit both understeer and
oversteer at different points
on the course and at
corner entry and exit
A good driver can change
his technique to change
the basic oversteer-
understeer balance