Steering wheel for a motor vehicle

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10065670-B2
Application number	US-201615386660-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 21, 2016
Priority date	Dec 22, 2015
Publication date	Sep 4, 2018
Grant date	Sep 4, 2018

Abstract

A steering wheel for a motor vehicle has an outer steering wheel rim. The outer steering wheel rim is fixedly connected, via at least one spoke, to a steering wheel pot arranged in a steering wheel center. The steering wheel pot, on the base side, has a steering wheel hub for fixing to a steering column. The steering wheel hub is configured as a load cell for detecting a load acting on the steering wheel hub. Such a steering wheel may be used to facilitate various tests.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A steering wheel for a vehicle comprising:
an outer steering wheel rim fixedly connected, via at least one spoke, to a steering wheel part arranged in a steering wheel center, the steering wheel part having a steering wheel hub on a base side, wherein the steering wheel hub is configured as a load cell to detect a load acting on the steering wheel hub and on a side facing the steering wheel part, the load cell has a flange configured to fix the load cell to the steering wheel part.

2. The steering wheel as claimed in claim 1 , wherein, on a side facing away from the steering wheel part, the load cell has a cylindrical part defining a bore.

3. The steering wheel as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the load cell is a multiaxis load cell.

4. The steering wheel as claimed in claim 3 , wherein the multiaxis load cell is configured to detect forces in three different orthogonal axes and moments about at least two different orthogonal axes.

5. A vehicle comprising:
a steering wheel including a rim fixedly connected to a part at a center via a spoke, the part having a hub on a base side that includes a cylindrical part defining a bore having a hexagonal inner face, wherein the hub is configured as a multiaxis load cell to detect a load acting on the steering wheel hub.

6. The vehicle of claim 5 further comprising an electrical measuring cable attached to the hub and including measurement connections to transmit electrical signals of mechanical forces on the hub.

7. The vehicle of claim 5 , wherein the hub is configured to detect mechanical forces in three different orthogonal axes and moments about at least two different orthogonal axes.

8. The vehicle of claim 5 further comprising a flange to maintain a rigid connection between the hub and the part.

9. The vehicle of claim 5 , wherein the steering column geometry maintains a position of the steering wheel such that test results are obtained by the hub.

10. A steering wheel hub comprising:
a multiaxis load cell to detect a load acting on the steering wheel hub, wherein the load includes forces in three different orthogonal axes and moments about at least two different orthogonal axes; and
an electrical measuring cable attached to the multiaxis load cell to transmit electrical signals of the three different orthogonal axes and moments about the at least two different orthogonal axes on the multiaxis load cell.

11. The steering wheel hub of claim 10 , wherein the multiaxis load cell is arranged on a steering wheel part and is connected thereto.

12. The steering wheel hub of claim 11 , wherein, on a side facing away from the steering wheel part, the multiaxis load cell has a cylindrical part defining a bore.

13. The steering wheel hub of claim 12 , wherein the cylindrical part defines the bore on a hexagonal face of the cylindrical part.

14. The steering wheel hub of claim 12 , wherein the cylindrical part defines at least four bores configured to receive at least four screws to attach the multiaxis load cell to the steering wheel part.

Assignees

• Ford Global Tech Llc

Inventors

• Kuehlwetter Wolfgang

Classifications

• G01L5/0052

  measuring forces due to impact (G01L5/0061, G01L5/14 take precedence; impact testing of structures G01M7/08; impact testing of material G01N3/00) · CPC title

• G01L5/221

  to steering wheels, e.g. for power assisted steering · CPC title

• B62D1/10 Primary

  Hubs; Connecting hubs to steering columns, e.g. adjustable (B62D1/11 takes precedence) · CPC title

• B62D6/10

  characterised by means for sensing {or determining} torque · CPC title

• G01L5/16

  for measuring several components of force · CPC title