An approach to steer-by-wire system design

Steer-by-wire (SbW) systems are candidate to substitute the conventional (mechanical or hydraulic) steering systems in the new generation of vehicles. The task of a SbW system is twofold: turning the road wheels tracking the handwheel rotation and providing the driver with a feeling of the steering effort. In this paper, the issue of designing a SbW system is faced. An approach is proposed, based on three steps. Firstly, the model of a conventional steering system is formulated. Then the SbW system is developed with the same structure as the conventional ones. Finally, performance indexes for the steering maneuver are defined and utilized to set up the parameters of the SbW system. As a case of study, the SbW system of a lift truck is designed according to the proposed approach. Diagrams are given to demonstrate the effectiveness of the resultant SbW system