JPH06336166A - Confirming device for power steering action - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To provide a device capable of displaying the power assist state of steering at a driver's seat (instrument panel section) and allowing a driver to confirm the power steering function before a travel. CONSTITUTION:An oil pressure gauge 13 is assembled on a high-pressure side hydraulic circuit 4 to a power steering gear 1, and oil pressure is displayed on an instrument panel section 14 with a pointer 15. A torque gauge 16 is installed on a steering shaft 10, torque is displayed on the instrument panel section 14 via a computer 17 with a pointer 18, and the values of both pointers 15, 18 are calculated by the computer 17. When the values of both pointers 15, 18 have specified deviations or above under the maximum oil pressure, warning means 19, 20 are operated.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention makes it possible to display the power assist state of steering on the driver's seat (instrument panel section) so that the driver can confirm the function of the power steering before traveling. Regarding the device.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, in this type of power steering, in order to confirm the power assist state, the hydraulic pipe is removed, a special tool (hydraulic gauge) is incorporated, and the vehicle is stopped. I was measuring oil pressure.

[0003]

In such a conventional method, the procedure for confirming the power assist state is complicated, and the power steering diagnosis may be neglected in some cases. It has been experienced that I noticed the defect since I started. The present invention seeks to eliminate such a situation.

[0004]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION According to the present invention, a hydraulic gauge is incorporated in a high pressure side hydraulic circuit of power steering to display the hydraulic pressure as a pointer on the instrument panel, while a torque gauge is displayed on the steering shaft. Is installed, the torque is displayed as a pointer on the instrument panel via the computer, and the values of these pointers are calculated by the computer. The present invention proposes a power steering operation confirmation device characterized in that an alarm means is activated in the case of occurrence.

[0005]

According to the above device of the present invention, the power steering function can be visually confirmed by operating the steering wheel before starting the vehicle and while the vehicle is running, and a warning is issued when the engine is stopped or the pump is defective. This makes it possible and improves the maintainability of the vehicle.

[0006]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The present invention will now be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. In FIG. 1, reference numeral 1 denotes a power steering gear (or a booster), and the power steering gear 1 has a high pressure for working oil pre-pressurized by a pump 3 driven by an engine 2. The side pipe 4 and a low pressure side pipe 6 reaching the pump 3 via an oil reservoir tank 5 are connected.

On the input side of the power steering gear 1, a steering wheel is provided via joints 7 and 8.
A steering shaft 10 including a steering wheel 9 is coupled to the steering wheel 10. On the other hand, an output side of the power steering gear 1 is connected to a wheel from a nut arm (not shown) to a front wheel via a pit man arm 11 and a drag link 12. Constitutes a rotation system of the lever. The structure and function itself are not different from the known ones, and therefore, illustration and description thereof are omitted.

In the present invention, first, a hydraulic gauge 13 is incorporated in the high pressure side pipe 4 as a high pressure side hydraulic circuit, and the power steering gear 1 is attached to the hydraulic gauge 13 mounted on the instrument panel portion 14. The oil pressure sent to is displayed by the pointer 15.

On the other hand, a torque gauge 16 is installed on the steering shaft 10 and the torque is displayed on the hydraulic gauge 13 via a computer 17 by means of a pointer 18, and the hydraulic gauge 13 is shown. As shown in FIG. 2, a lamp 19 as a warning means and a buzzer 20 are incorporated in this. In this case, the lamp 19 comprises a red lamp 19a and a blue lamp 19b.

The operation confirmation of the power steering is performed in the following procedure. That is, when the driver starts the engine, the oil pump 3 rotates, and the oil circulates in the hydraulic circuit of the power steering. However, when the driver does not operate the steering wheel 9, the hydraulic gauge 15 does not rise.

When the driver turns the steering handle 9 to the right or left, the oil passage of the control valve (not shown) in the steering gear box 1 narrows, and the hydraulic pressure of the hydraulic circuit 4 rises. Therefore, hydraulic gauge 13
The oil pressure pointer 15 also starts to rise.

On the other hand, since torque is generated in the steering shaft, an electric signal from the torque gauge 16 moves the torque pointer 18 via the computer 17. Therefore, when the power steering hydraulic circuit is normal, the pointer 15 of the hydraulic gauge and the pointer 18 of the torque gauge are raised at substantially the same angle. In this case, blue lamp 19b
Lights up.

However, if the hydraulic circuit has some trouble, for example, when the driver rotates the steering wheel 9, the pointer 18 for torque rises, but the pointer 15 for hydraulic pressure increases.
Does not rise, it indicates that a failure such as oil leak or malfunction of the oil pump has occurred in the hydraulic pipe, and at this time, the red lamp 19a lights up and the buzzer 20 sounds.

When the oil pump 3 reaches a predetermined pressure, the relief valve operates so that the oil pressure in the hydraulic circuit does not rise any further.

[0015]

According to the apparatus of the present invention having the above-mentioned structure, the following operational effects are obtained. That is, a) A warning can be received at the driver's seat when the engine stop and the pump are defective. b) Give the driver a sense of security by visually confirming the power steering function. c) The maintainability is improved compared to the conventional method in which the hydraulic pressure is checked when the vehicle is stopped using a special tool.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a structural system diagram of an apparatus according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an enlarged view of a portion of FIG.

[Explanation of symbols]

 4 High-pressure side piping (high-pressure side hydraulic circuit) 10 Steering shaft 13 Hydraulic gauge 14 Instrument panel section 15 Pointer (hydraulic) 16 Torque gauge 17 Computer 18 Pointer (torque) 19 Lamp (alarm means) 20 Buzzer (Alarm means)

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A hydraulic gauge is incorporated in the high-pressure hydraulic circuit of the power steering to display the hydraulic pressure on the instrument panel, while a torque gauge is installed in the steering shaft, and a torque gauge is installed through the computer. The torque is displayed as a pointer on the instrument panel, the values of both pointers are calculated by the computer, and the alarm means is activated when the value of both pointers exceeds the specified value at the maximum hydraulic pressure or less. A power steering operation confirmation device characterized in that