Austin Rover Group Limited

Gaydon Technology Limited

Jonathan A Fuller

Paul C Bloor

Philip E Mander

A power assisted steering system which utilizes a brushless electric motor having a rotor and a wound stator. The rotor is directly connected to the steering shaft 12 rotated by a driver of the vehicle, and is formed by a number of permanent magnets secured in respective recesses on the steering shaft. The controller 17 associated with the steering system is arranged to switch off the motor 15 above a pre-determined vehicle speed.

Power assisted steering system for a motor vehicle and control means

The system comprises a spring between the vehicle body and each wheel, a shock absorber associated with each spring and which is switchable electromagnetically between soft and hard settings, one or more accelerometers measuring vertical acceleration of the vehicle body, an electronic filter for filtering the signals from the accelerometer to select a band width of frequencies, either side of the primary ride frequency of the vehicle, and control means for switching the shock absorbers between the soft and hard settings whenever a pre-determined level of vertical motion within this band width is exceeded either in the bump or rebound directions.

Growing community of inventors

Warwick, United Kingdom

Jonathan A Fuller