TRW Automotive , a subsidiary of TRW Automotive Holdings, recently unveiled its Electrically Powered Steering (EPS) Belt Drive system that it will launch in North America in 2008 and in Europe in 2009.
Belt drive steering technology, also referred to as “rack drive”, is more efficient and emits less carbon dioxide than column drove EPS systems. The technology allows higher race load vehicles to benefit from the advantages of an electric steering system.
Efficient fuel consumption
As with all TRW electromechanical steering systems, the belt drive system only consumes noticeable power when steering assist is needed, which provides considerable fuel consumption benefits and reduced CO2 emissions.
The energy consumption of an EPS system is just 10 per cent of a conventional hydraulic power steering (HPS) system as power assist engages only when needed.
TRW’s EPS Belt Drive system can provide premium performance across a wide range of vehicle platforms with rack assist forces of 11 kilonewtons (KN). Power assist is applied directly to the rack allowing for a responsive, low inertia ,low friction steering system with direct steering feel.
“The product is delivered as a fully tested, ready-to –install unit, and all steering belt, pulley , pump,reservior and hydraulic lines are eliminated making the product easy to install and maintain,” says Dr Aly Badawy, vice president of engineering, steering and suspension, TRW Automotive.” The Belt Drive EPS system can be programmed with steering assist functions in line with vehicle manufacturer’s requirements- options include speed sensitive, positive and responsive steering feel and the possibility for vehivle manufacturers to fine-tune the steering characteristics. And with a Belt Drive system, these benefits are now available for small and medium size sport utility vehicles minivans and light trucks.”
Dr Dieter Fehlings, engineering director, TRW Automotive, added:”The Belt Drive system is also relatively easy to adapt to modern vehicle crash structures and ,with its open architecture, offers the possibility of integrating future Driver Assist System features. These features typically inalude safety related support functions but can also include comfort functions like automated parallel parking.”
The same system can be used on hybrid electric vehicles (HEVs) without modification, if the rack load of the HEV is within the given power range of the EPS Belt Drive system. This enables vehicle manufacturers to put the same type of steering system on a conventional and HEV version of the same platform.
参考译文：
天合汽车（天合控股的子公司）， 最近向外界披露了它最新的带驱动EPS系统，这套驱动EPS系统，这套系统将分别于2008年和2009年在北美和欧洲投入应用。
带驱动技术，又被称为“齿条驱动”，比活塞驱动的EPS系统效率更高，二氧化碳的排放也更少。这项技术让高架道路车辆从电子转向系统中获益。
高效的燃油利用
就像天合汽车所有其他类型的机电转向系统一样，带驱动的系统只在助力时消耗能量，这样的技术极大的降低了燃油的消耗和CO2的排放。
EPS系统的能量消耗仅仅是传统液压助力系统的10%，因为EPS系统仅在助力时才消耗能量。
天合的带驱动EPS系统可以为多种车辆平台提供高达11KN 助力的优越性能。助力能量被直接施加在考虑了转弯感受的快速响应、低惯量、低摩擦的转向齿条之上。
“这款产品已经经过了全面的测试，可以即装即用；由于没有转向带、滑轮、液压泵、储液器和液力管路，这款产品安装和维护非常方便。”天合汽车的悬架与转向系统副总工程师Aly Badawy 博士说，“带驱动EPS系统可以按照驾驶员的需要进行助力函数的编写——可以调整速度敏感度，正向和响应的转向感觉，汽车制造商也可以对于转向特性进行进一步的精细调节。通过带驱动系统，中小型SUV，小型货车和轻卡都可以享受到这些特性。”
Dieter Fehlings博士，天合汽车工程总监补充说：“带驱动系统也与现代汽车的碰撞结构更加吻合，因为它开放式的结构，提供了将来与辅助驾驶系统集成的课程。这些特性包括典型的与安全相关的支持功能，也包括汽车平行停车等关乎汽车舒适性能的功能。”
同样的系统可以不加改动的应用在混合动力电动车上，如果混合动力电动车的齿条载荷在带驱动EPS系统的功率范围之内。这样以来，整车厂就可以将同样类型的转向系统应用于同一平台上传统形式和混合动力形式两种不同版本的车辆。
