Revving up Electrohydraulic Power Steering with Virtual Prototyping

Feng Qi, FZB Technology, USA

In the automobile industry, the only thing faster than the cars that are produced is their design cycle. Validation and physical prototyping can be expensive and time consuming, but getting as close as possible to a final design before transitioning from virtual prototyping can speed up the process considerably. Engineers at FZB Technology employ this methodology in their development of electrohydraulic power steering systems. They use COMSOL Multiphysics® to understand the inner workings of the entire system, and can determine optimal temperature ranges for system performance, maximize pump efficiency, and conceptualize design changes before ever building a physical prototype.

Simulated temperature distribution for a stator and rotor assembly, used to predict thermal performance in an electrohydraulic power steering system.

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