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METHOD FOR CONTROLLING A STEERING APPARATUS

  • US 20130030653A1
  • Filed: 12/22/2010
  • Published: 01/31/2013
  • Est. Priority Date: 04/27/2010
  • Status: Active Grant
First Claim
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1. A method to control a steering apparatus with steering power support means for a motor vehicle with at least one steerable road wheel and a suspension, the steering apparatus including:

  • a steering shaft with an input means for a demand for a direction of driving the vehicle, for example an adopted steering wheel;

    sensing means detecting the demand, for example the torque and/or the rotation angle, introduced in said steering shaft,a rack, wherein said rack is adjustable in its longitudinal direction to different positions, on basis on the demand introduced into the steering shaft, whereby said at least one road wheel is turning, whereby the steering apparatus is designed so that in a first position of said rack, said at least one road wheel is turned in a straight ran direction which is designed to steer the vehicle in a straight run direction, wherein the steering power support means supports the adjusting of the rack by a belt drive with a belt and a first belt gear and a second belt gear;

    a control device controlling said power support means,means to determine said instantaneous position of the rack, which were either directly measured or calculated by a state observer,a device for determining a pull situation value of steering device, in which a pull in any direction occurs while the vehicle is driving straight ahead, the value being either directly measured or calculated by an appropriate algorithm and/or a state observer, anda device to determine a straight run state of the vehicle,wherein the method comprises;

    (A) checking whether there is a straight run state of the vehicle or not;

    (B) if a straight ran state of the vehicle is found, determining the instantaneous rack position and calculating a new offset between the instantaneous rack position and the first position of said rack;

    (C) performing in a first justify operation to check whether the new offset of the rack position in the straight run state of the vehicle differs from an old offset, previously determined as the new offset at an earlier time, and if the new offset is different from the old offset, setting a first justify result to true, and otherwise setting the first justify result to false;

    (D) performing a second justify operation to check whether the pull situation value exceeds a threshold value, and if the pull situation value exceeds the threshold value, setting second justify result to true, and otherwise setting the second justify result to false;

    (E) if the first and second justify results are true, setting a suspension device status to a “

    suspension damaged”

    state; and

    (F) if the first justify result is true and the second justify result is false, setting a belt jump status to a “

    belt jumped”

    state.

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