Automatic steering system
AssigneeDeere & Company, a Delaware corporation
InventorFrederick Nelson
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
Structure for converting a conventional manual steering system of an off-road vehicle to an automatic steering system utilizing remote signals. A stepper motor is connected through a belt or chain drive to a drive mounted on the upper end of a steering shaft. The stepper motor is connected to a microprocessor and moves with the steering shaft in both a manual steering mode and an automatic steering mode. An encoder provides a signal to a microprocessor that changes operation to the manual mode if the number of steps reported by the encoder is different than what is expected. An assembly including alternate steering wheel, shaft pulley, adapter insert and stepper motor is easily connected to the steering column. A drive motor may also be directly connected to the steering shaft.
Claims22
A steering system having manual and automatic steering modes for selectively steering steerable wheels of an off-road vehicle utilizing a guidance signal from a location remote from the vehicle, the steering system comprising:
- a manual steering input for operator movement of the steerable wheels in the manual mode, the manual steering input including a hand grip portion connected to a rotatable shaft for movement with the shaft in both the manual and automatic steering modes;
- a motor;
- pulley structure connected to the shaft at a location offset from the hand grip portion;
- a drive connecting the motor to the pulley structure;
- and
- a processor connected to the motor and responsive to the signal for activating the motor to steer the vehicle in the automatic steering mode.
Conversion structure for converting an off-road vehicle from a manual steering mode to an automatic steering mode, the vehicle having a steering column with a steering wheel supported on a rotatable steering shaft, the conversion structure comprising:
- a drive pulley connectible to the steering shaft at a location offset from the steering wheel for rotation with the shaft;
- a motor;
- bracket structure for drivingly connecting the drive pulley structure to the motor for movement of the motor with the steering shaft in both an automatic steering mode and a manual steering mode;
- and
- a processor connected to the motor and responsive to a guidance signal from a location remote from the vehicle for steering the vehicle in the automatic mode.
In a steering system having a manual steering mode for selectively steering steerable wheels of an off-road vehicle or having an automatic steering mode utilizing a guidance signal from a location remote from the vehicle, the off-road vehicle including a manual steering input connected to a linkage for operator movement of the steerable wheels in the manual mode, the manual steering input including a hand grip portion connected to the linkage for movement with the linkage in the manual steering mode, an assembly for facilitating automatic steering the vehicle in an automatic steering mode, the assembly comprising:
- steering drive motor structure;
- a drive connecting the motor structure and the linkage at a location offset from the hand grip portion;
- a processor connected to the motor for activating the motor to move the hand grip portion and steer the vehicle in the automatic steering mode;
- wherein the steering drive motor structure includes steering input position sensor providing steered angle feedback signal to the processor;
- and
- wherein the processor is responsive to the steered angle feedback signal and to the guidance signal to steer the vehicle.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.