Steering gear inertia damper
AssigneeFord Global Technologies, LLC
InventorsAsharf Zeid, Frederick R. Kasten
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A tunable mass damper for use in a vehicle steering system in which a rack and pinion gearing subsystem would otherwise transfer resonant vibrations to the vehicle steering wheel. The mass damper element is a generally cylindrical mass supported and suspended around the shaft extending from the pinion gear by several cantilevered spring elements. The mass damper is tunable by modifying the size of the mass or the size or material or length of the springs so that the damper's resonant frequency for axial oscillation matches the resonant vibrations present at the steering shaft extending from the pinion gear.
Claims16
A steering system for a wheeled vehicle comprising:
- a rack gear movable along an axis to control the steering angle of at least one wheel;
- a pinion gear in mesh with said rack gear to deliver steering force to said rack gear to change the steering angle;
- a steering shaft axially extending from said pinion gear;
- and
- a torsional damping member attached to said steering shaft operative to apply a torsional damping force in opposition to torsional vibrations occurring between said rack gear and said pinion gear that would otherwise cause said shaft to be torsionally oscillated about its axis.
A torsional mass damper for use in a steering system having a rack gear and a pinion gear extending from a steering shaft and meshed with said rack gear, wherein said mass damper comprises a mass member attached to said steering shaft reactively operative to apply a damping force in opposition to vibrations occurring between said rack gear and said pinion gear that would otherwise cause said steering shaft to be oscillated about its axis.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.