Abstract
A servo system of the wheel module (SS WM) is a combination of the informational and power channels of the electro-hydraulic wheel drive in the steering system, and in the regulated steering system and in the braking sys-tem. The number of such channels in a wheeled support-running module (SRM) of an automobile or mobile ro-bot is defined by the type of the SRM (having a driving or a driven wheel, a controlled or non-controlled one). A combination of servo systems of the wheel module makes up a complex of servo systems of the wheel module (CSS WM). The CSS WM is intended for the following: 1) to control the turning of the wheels (by means of the servo systems, which command the drive defining the wheel turning angle); 2) to regulate the stiffness and damping parameters of axle suspensions (by means of the servo system that regulates the pressure in wheel sus-pensions); 3) to execute the vertical travel (displacement) of the left– and right-hand wheels of the axle (servo systems of the wheel vertical travel), – all in compliance with the signals, which arrive to the input of the com-plex from the main or the backup control system.
The theoretical basis for designing an SRM with a CSS WM is made by a unique complex mathematical model that allows simulating various interaction modes of all the automobile systems, in particular, with account of the contact (tribological) interaction of the wheel with the support surface. Based on the mathematical model, the authors studied the work of all the subsystems of the CSS WM with the all-wheel steering and with different types of the electro-hydraulic servo drive of wheel turning, as well as the regulated system of wheel suspension and the on-board information-control system. Special attention has been given to interaction of these systems as a part of the system of active safety of the automobile. The results of the studies allowed formulating the main design principles of the CSS WM, and the technical requirements for the components of the complex, as a mech-atronic module of the system of active safety of the automobile and mobile robot.
The article presents diagrams of all the components of the CSS WM and of the complex as a whole. The main conclusion of the studies is the statement that the automobile should be built as a complex of mecha-tronic systems based on individual modules. An ideal automobile looks like a mobile robot of different function-alities.
KEYWORDS - mobile robot, servo system, electro-hydraulic drive, steering system, wheel suspension system.