Title: The influence of steering wheel size when tuning power assistance

Authors: Kristoffer Tagesson; Bengt Jacobson; Leo Laine

Addresses: Department of Chassis Strategies and Vehicle Analysis, Volvo Group Trucks Technology, Dept BF72991, AB4S, SE-405 08, Göteborg, Sweden ' Department of Applied Mechanics, Chalmers University of Technology, SE-412 96, Göteborg, Sweden ' Department of Chassis Strategies and Vehicle Analysis, Volvo Group Trucks Technology, Dept BF72991, AB4S, SE-405 08, Göteborg, Sweden

Abstract: This paper describes how steering assistance should scale with steering wheel size. A method has been developed to scale complete torque felt by the driver, both for continuous and discontinuous feedback. This was used in an experiment with 17 subjects all driving a truck with three differently sized steering wheels. The test took place on a handling track at 45-90 km/h. Continuous feedback was evaluated subjectively; discontinuous feedback by measuring angular response. Results show that torque feedback should decrease as steering wheel size decreases. A rule of thumb is to keep driver force level constant to maintain perceived handling and comfort. This also maintained the average steering wheel angle change response to discontinuous assistance. Furthermore large variance in angular response was observed. The direction, measured 0.25 s after start of a pulse, was the same as that of the pulse applied in 88% of the recordings.

Keywords: steering wheel size; tuning; power assistance; steering assistance; torque feedback; force feedback; trucks; angular response; vehicle handling; heavy vehicles; ride comfort; driver force levels.

DOI: 10.1504/IJHVS.2014.068099

International Journal of Heavy Vehicle Systems, 2014 Vol.21 No.4, pp.295 - 309

Published online: 09 May 2015 *

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