Steering torque control using variable impedance models for a steer-by-wire system

This paper presents a novel sensor-less steering torque control method for applications to the steer-by-wire system. A steer-by-wire system has not any mechanical link to connect a steering wheel and a rack and pinion gear module. Instead of mechanical devices, two electric motors are used on each side. A one motor is attached to the steering wheel and the other is set on rack and pinion. The motor on the steering wheel works as a deliverer between a steering torque and load torque from the road. In this paper, we focus on motion control related to the steering feel based on impedance control. Therefore, the model of rack and pinion is not considered in this work. In most power steering systems, a torque sensor is used to set impedance effect on driver’s steering feel. In this paper, we proposed a novel steering control method without using any torque sensors. The effectiveness of a proposed method is confirmed from experimental results.