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US 12,752,835 B2Granted
Steering gears with electric steering assist systems and related methods
AssigneeFord Global Technologies, LLC
InventorRenato Bernardinetti Slave
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
Electric steering gears and related methods are disclosed herein. An example apparatus disclosed herein includes a shaft, a helical groove disposed on the shaft, a ball nut rack engaged with the helical groove, the ball nut rack including a plurality of bearings, a motor configured to apply force to the ball nut rack, and a gear housing, the ball nut rack, the helical groove, and the motor disposed within the gear housing.
Claims15
An apparatus comprising:
- a shaft;
- a helical groove disposed on the shaft;
- a ball nut rack engaged with the helical groove, the ball nut rack including a plurality of bearings and a plurality of slots parallel to the shaft;
- a motor configured to apply force to the ball nut rack, the motor including a plurality of linear magnet arrays to apply the force to the ball nut rack, each of the plurality of linear magnet arrays disposed in a corresponding one of the plurality of slots;
- and
- a gear housing, the ball nut rack, the helical groove, and the motor disposed within the gear housing.
3 more elements
A vehicle comprising:
- a sensor;
- a steering gear assembly including:
- a housing;
- a screw shaft including a helical groove, the helical groove disposed within the housing;
- a ball nut rack engaged with the helical groove, the ball nut rack disposed within the housing;
- a motor disposed within the housing, the motor including a linear magnet array to apply a force to the ball nut rack;
- an input shaft;
- and
- a planetary reduction gear set coupling the input shaft to the screw shaft, the planetary reduction gear set including at least three planet gears;
- machine readable instructions;
- and
- programmable circuitry to at least one of instantiate or execute the machine readable instructions to:
- determine a steering assist force based on an input from the sensor;
- and
- apply, via the motor, the steering assist force to the steering gear assembly.
12 more elements
A steering system comprising:
- a shaft including a helical groove;
- a ball nut rack engaged with the helical groove, the ball nut rack including a plurality of bearings and a first magnetic array;
- and
- a motor including a second magnetic array, the first magnetic array and the second magnetic array configured to provide magnetic forces that interact to translate the ball nut rack, at least one steerable wheel to rotate when the ball nut rack translates.
1 more element
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.