The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Sep. 25, 2001
Filed:
Feb. 16, 2000
Rakan C. Chabaan, Farmington Hills, MI (US);
Le Yi Wang, Novi, MI (US);
Ford Global Technologies, Inc., Dearborn, MI (US);
Abstract
A steering system (,) and method (,) for controlling the steering of a vehicle having a steering wheel (,), a steering column (,) connected to said steering wheel (,), and an electric motor (,) operatively engaged with the steering column (,) for supplying torque assist. A steering angle sensor (,) is employed for sensing an angular position &thgr;,of the steering wheel (,). The system has a torque estimator (,) for determining an estimated torque signal (T,est) as a function of the measured steering wheel angle, and a motor controller (,) for generating a motor control signal (U) as a function of said estimated torque. Accordingly, the present invention reduces the complexity and cost of the electric power assist steering system by eliminating the need for a conventional pinion torque sensor, without sacrificing vehicle steering performance.