Use of an assist motor of a power steering system to generate test cycles according to a position ascertaining cycle

Abstract

The invention relates to a method for characterizing a power steering system (1) for empirically determining at least one property of said system (1), said power steering system comprising at least one steering wheel (2), a steering mechanism (3) provided with a rack (4), and at least one assist motor (7), said method comprising, outside a steering phase during which the power steering system (1)is assigned to the driving of a vehicle in order to cause said vehicle to follow a trajectory which is determined as a function of the situation of said vehicle with respect to its environment, a step(a) of automatically activating the assist motor (7), during which step a computer (13) is used to automatically generate and apply to the assistance motor (7), without requiring any external actionon the steering wheel (2), an activation instruction that follows one or more cycles referred to as pre-established exploration cycles (CY) for measuring, during the at least one exploration cycle orat the end of said at least one exploration cycle (CY), at least one indicator parameter (P7_mes, T7_mes, P4_mes, T2_mes, V2_mes) which is specific to the response by the power steering system to theautomatic activation of the assist motor and which is characteristic of the desired property.

Description

technical field [0001] The present invention relates to a characterization method aimed at empirically determining at least one characteristic of a power steering system, such as the position of the end-of-travel stop of the steering rack or the power steering, when developing or calibrating the power steering system in the factory The frequency response characteristics of the system. Background technique [0002] The known characterization method requires the operator to install the power steering system on the test bench, and then manipulate the steering wheel according to the preset special manipulation cycle, so that the sensors and recorders equipped with the test bench can observe the reaction of the steering system and measure the index parameters, The desired properties can thus be quantified. [0003] Of course, such manual manipulation is sometimes very tedious and is often relatively inaccurate, since the operator cannot apply accurate velocity or force setpoints...

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Problems solved by technology

[0003] Of course, such manual manipulation is sometimes very tedious and is often relatively inaccurate, since the operator cannot apply accurate velocity or force setpoints, especially constant value setpoints, in a reliable and reproducible manner, which might otherwise (e.g. ) gets the steering direction wrong within a cycle, which can distort the estimate of the desired characteristic

[0004] Furthermore, if it is absolutely conceivable to replace the operator with a robotic arm manipulating the steering wheel, such a solution would be particularly complex and expensive to implement, especially since for each test the robotic arm would have to be mounted and connected to the steering System model for physical reconfiguration of robotic arm and test bench

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