A torque sensor apparatus includes a torque sensor; a sensor accommodation unit disposed at one side of a rack housing and having therein a space in which the torque sensor is disposed; a sensor cover screw-coupled to the sensor accommodation unit and configured to cover the space; and a wire harness coupled to the sensor cover and electrically connected to the sensor.

Technologies and techniques for determining a gear rack force of a steer-by-wire steering system that includes a steering handle, for specifying a steering angle as a function of a steering handle position. A vehicle wheel actuator is configured to set the steering angle by movement of a gear rack of the steering system, by applying an actuating force, the gear rack being coupled to at least one vehicle wheel. A reaction force actuator may produce a reaction force on the steering handle in accordance with a gear rack force. Friction operation is determined, in which gear rack movement does not occur when the steering handle position is changed, and, if friction operation is present, the gear rack force is determined on the basis of the actuating force of the vehicle wheel actuator.

A rack may include a toothed portion having a toothing, and a shaft portion having a threaded portion with a coaxial thread that has a thread length in an axial direction of a longitudinal axis. Separate segments comprising at least one in each case bar-shaped toothed segment and one shaft segment are provided, are aligned on the longitudinal axis, and are connected to one another at a joint. A method for producing the rack may involve providing a shaft raw material piece having a piece length that is a multiple of a shaft segment length, generating a thread that is continuous in a longitudinal direction on the shaft raw material piece across a multiple of the thread length to produce a threaded semi-finished product, cutting to length a threaded segment from the threaded semi-finished product, providing a toothed segment, and joining the threaded segment to the toothed segment.

In a steering system, a guide member faces the rack shaft on the opposite side of the rack shaft from the pinion shaft, and an opposed member faces the guide member at a first distance. The rack shaft is supported by the first rack bush so as to be slidable in the axial direction. The rack shaft is supported so as to be slidable in the axial direction X at a position closer to the guide member than the first rack bush is by the second rack bush disposed away from the inner surface. An elastic member that can be elastically deformed is disposed between the inner surface and the second rack bush. The second rack bush has an opposed portion disposed on the opposite side of the rack shaft from the pinion shaft and facing the inner surface at a second distance that is larger than the first distance.

Methods and systems are provided for monitoring steering gear overtravel in rack and pinion steering systems. The provided systems and methods introduce a change in the length of the fastener that attaches an inner tie rod ball joint housing within a steering gear rack bar. The provided systems and methods also monitor the disengagement of that fastener (also referred to as overtravel and as rack travel) to generate flags and provide them to the Controller Area Network (CAN) bus of the vehicle.

Construction is achieved that is able to effectively prevent the displacement in the axial direction of a ball bearing 16 that supports the middle section of a pinion shaft 6 so as to be able to rotate freely, and that is compact and low cost. A fastening groove 28b is formed around the entire circumference of a portion near an opening of the inner circumferential surface of a sub housing section 12c of a casing 10c, and a radially outside portion of a C-shaped retaining ring 29b is fastened in this fastening groove 28b. As a result, a side surface in the axial direction of a radially inside portion of the retaining ring 29b is pressed against a side surface in the axial direction of an outer ring 18 of a ball bearing 16 that is fitted inside and supported by the inner circumferential surface of the sub housing section 12c. Moreover, a clip 35 having a radially outside arm section 43 and radially inside arm section 44 is mounted in the opening edge section of the sub housing section 12c, and a diameter reduction prevention section 36 that comprises the tip-end section of the radially inside arm section 44 is inserted into a non-continuous area 34 of the retaining ring 29b.

A steering assembly basically includes a steering gearbox, a bracket, a rotational motion restriction structure, and a translational motion restriction structure. The steering gearbox includes a housing and a steering rack. The steering rack has a first rack end and a second rack end. The bracket is coupled to the first rack end. The bracket includes a first tie rod connection located axially inward of the first rack end and the second rack end with respect to a longitudinal center axis of the steering rack. The rotational motion restriction structure is configured to restrict rotational movement of the bracket relative to the longitudinal center axis of the steering rack. The translational motion restriction structure is configured to limit translational movement of the steering rack along the longitudinal center axis of the steering rack. The rotational motion restriction structure and the translational motion restriction structure are located at different locations.

A steering gear apparatus includes a rack shaft, a pinion shaft, and a housing. The rack shaft has rack teeth and moves in an axial direction to steer front wheels. The pinion shaft has pinion teeth and rotates in accordance with steering operation of a steering wheel. The housing supports the rack shaft and the pinion shaft, and houses a meshing area between the rack teeth and the pinion teeth. When the steering wheel is in its neutral position, the pinion teeth mesh with the rack teeth at a rotational position of the pinion shaft that minimizes torque required to move the rack shaft in the axial direction during one rotation of the pinion shaft.

In a ball screw device, an inner peripheral rolling groove of a nut includes, between openings of mounting holes, a constant pitch circle diameter region where a pitch circle diameter is constant and gradually-changing pitch circle diameter regions where the pitch circle diameter gradually increases, in the ranges from opposite ends of the constant pitch circle diameter region to the respective openings. At least the constant pitch circle diameter region has a surface hardness greater than or equal to a predetermined value, among the constant pitch circle diameter region and the gradually-changing pitch circle diameter regions excluding edges at the boundaries between the respective openings and the inner peripheral rolling groove, and the edges at the boundaries between the respective openings and the inner peripheral rolling groove have a surface hardness less than the predetermined value.

A device for determining steering wheel rotation information, which comprises a linear motion transforming element connected to a steering column of a steering wheel for transforming rotation of the steering wheel into a linear movement, and a processing element electrically connected to the linear motion transforming element for determining steering wheel rotation information based on the linear movement transformed by the motion transforming element.