Potential and Control Strategies of a Wheel-Individual Steer-by-Wire System Relating to a Steering Actuator Malfunction

Authors

Dipl.-Ing. Tobias Sandmann,
Forschungsgesellschaft Kraftfahrwesen mbH Aachen;
Univ.-Prof. Dr.-Ing. Lutz Eckstein,
Institute for Automotive Engineering (ika), RWTH Aachen University,
Aachen

Summary

Due to new trends and requirements, today's automotive industry is faced with the trade-off between efficiency, driving experience and safety. With regard to automated driving, new vehicle dynamic functions and interior concepts, the trade-off can be tackled by developing innovative concepts for steering systems. Conventional steering systems, with hydraulic or electric steering assistance, have a mechanical link between the steerable wheels and the driver input control unit. For that reason the vehicle guidance is still guaranteed in case of a malfunction of the steering assistance system. A Steer-by-Wire system decouples the mechanical link between the steerable wheels and the driver input control unit. In case of a wheel-individual Steer-by-Wire system not only the control unit is decoupled from the steerable wheels, but also the steerable wheels do not have a mechanical link among each other. One of the main challenges is to ensure safe operation and high availability of the wheel-individual Steer-by-Wire system due to the fact of the unavailable mechanical fallback level. In this paper, the main focus is concentrated on a steering actuator malfunction.

Members Login