Gain Scheduling Control in Commercial Vehicles with Electrohydraulic Power Steering

Recent attention has been given to the energy and fuel economy benefits of replacing hydraulic power steering with electronically controlled electrohydraulic power steering (EHPS) systems for commercial vehicles. Given this emerging capability, investigation of the impact such systems would have on overall large truck stability is reported in this paper. It is found that varying the assist gain associated with the EHPS through the motor drive allows for improved stability of articulated vehicles. This paper first presents a method based on feedback of the rate of change in the articulation angle in conjunction with gain-scheduling to instantaneously vary the assist torque provided by the EHPS system. Experimental results of the design are evaluated through a hardware-in-the-loop (HIL) configuration that confirms the performance benefits of incorporating variable gain steering assist in large trucks.