Oregon Institute of Technology Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering and Technology Department

ANALYSIS REPORT: VELOMOBILE STEERING GEOMETRY AND DESIGN

Shawn Miller

In Collaboration With:
Team Eco-Fast

April 22, 2010

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Steering Geometry and Design Shawn Miller

DESCRIPTION
As a part of the velomobiles practical design it is necessary to research, design, and construct a realistic and functional steering assembly that would meet the proposed requirements of the project. Initial research has been conducted into determining the best solution to the expected steering requirements of the velomobile, leading to the selection of a linkage steering design similar to the Greenspeed layout. Design of this steering assembly has been modified over the course of the project as relations between steering and other components of the velomobile have continued to adapt as needed. Final design of the steering was completed in late March and construction began in late April. Final completion of all steering components and incorporation with the remainder of the velomobile is slated for early to mid May.

RESULTS
Final results of the steering assembly will not be completed until the all components are adapted into the velomobile body. Current design is expected to produce a turning capability of roughly a nine-and-a-half to ten feet. This will allow the velomobile to turn within a standard rural or residential road width. Modifications may be available after construction is completed to improve the steering capabilities of the vehicle; however, at this time it is expected that this will be the tightest steering possible without interference with other portions of the project, mainly the fairing assembly once it is constructed. Safety was also an upmost concern in this design and appropriate consideration have been made to ensure a stable and controlled ride even at high rates of speed.

ANALYSIS
The initial requirements set for the steering needs of the velomobile by the Eco-Fast team required that the vehicle be allowed to make a safe, controlled turn within the boundaries of a standard two lane rural 2|Page

road or residential street. This required that the velomobile would need to be able to navigate a turning radius of 12 feet or less for standard two lane US road widths. The current design for the steering geometry will provide the required turning radius, with or without the fairing attached.

Research
In determining an appropriate steering setup it was found that a linkage steering system incorporating an Ackerman design would provide the greatest benefit and control for the steering needs of the velomobile. From the research completed it was found that this setup is currently the most prevalent design used in trike and velomobile steering with a wide variety of adaptations. Essentially, the purpose of this design is to allow the vehicle to navigate smooth, safe turns at any speed, while minimizing or removing the chance of scrubbing the tires while navigating tight turns. Bump steering, the forcing of a tire due to hitting an uneven bump or obstacle, was also considered as a requirement that needed to be minimized for best comfort and safety of the rider. Through proper setups it is possible to drastically reduce the occurrence of bump steer felt by the rider. Both of these issues were taken into account in the steering design for improved comfort and handling of the velomobile and will be explained further in the coming sections.

Ackerman Steering Geometry

The purpose of incorporating an Ackerman steering design into the steering geometry of the project was to minimize the effects of tire scrubbing while the vehicle was navigating tight turns. Tire scrubbing is caused when both steering tires turn at the same angle relative to the centerline of the vehicle body. In tight turning situations, roughly over an 18 degree turn depending on application, the outside tire of a vehicle may slip on the surface of the road and slide away from the vehicles projected path of travel. This can cause excessive tire wear along with losses in efficiencies and traction while navigating a tight turn. To counter the effects of tire scrubbing the use of Ackerman geometry is used through creating what is referred to as an Ackerman angle between the front control arms and the center of the rear wheel. To create this angle, the front control arms of the vehicle need to be pointed to the center of the rear wheel, in the case of a three wheel trike. This will create a triangle between the front control arms, front wheel axles, and the center of the rear wheel. With the control arms in this configuration the turning of the front 3|Page

wheels will be altered to different angles during a turn. Now instead of both tires turning with the same general angle, the inside tire will turn at a tighter angle than that of the outside wheel. Also, if done correctly both of the front wheels will pivot about a similar point along the axis of the rear wheel as seen in Figure 1 below.

Figure 1: Ackerman Steering Geometry

Figure 1 shows how both front wheels will pivot about the same point if the proper Ackerman design is used. It also is noted that to achieve this angle the inside wheel must take a tighter angle than that of the outer wheel, reaffirming the previous considerations of tire angles during turns.

As stated before, this setup should assist in minimizing the tire scrubbing effects felt by the vehicle and rider during the execution of tight turns. It is important to also note that Ackerman steering geometry is generally used as a reference only and even the best designs still should be considered as approximations. To properly refine the final steering design it generally suggested that a trial and error process is used for final fine tuning. In either case, the steering geometry found through the use of the Ackerman setup will allow for better turning than with a standard straight bar system.

Bump Steering Consideration

During initial research it became evident that bump steer consideration would need to be accounted for in the velomobile design to ensure the safety of the rider. Bump steering, as explained previously, is caused 4|Page

when the front wheels pivot or veer off course due to hitting an obstacle with only one tire. This can cause a variety of issues and safety hazards for the rider, and in turn must be minimized in the overall design of the trike.

To counter this issue two different approaches were determined that should minimize or completely remove the effects of bump steering. Through the consideration of other trike designs and other steering research it was found that modifying the caster angle could assist in reducing bump steering effects. The caster angle refers to the orientation of the king pin with the vertical axis of the wheel hub. If the wheel is designed to have a caster angle of zero the king pin assembly should be completely vertical with respect to the ground. To apply a caster angle, the king pin assembly will be offset by an angle of five to ten degrees from vertical, about the center of the wheel hub. The second approach found looks at applying a camber angle to offset the effects of bump steer.

The camber angel refers to the angle at which the front tires are pitched inward to align the centerline of the king pin with the contact point of each respective tire. For this project a 14.5 degree angle was decided upon to provide the required camber angle that would be most beneficial. This change should align the forces experience by the tire with the axis of the king pin and reduce the effects of bump steering felt by the rider. If too great of an angle is applied to the front tires it may result in instability of the ride and excessive tire wear.

Tracking Considerations
As with all vehicles it is important the velomobile travels in a straight path when riding on a smooth flat surface. A rider should not have to constantly adjust the steering controls as they travel down the road to ensure that the trike follows a straight path. To ensure this result in the final design tracking considerations were taken into account. After some research it was found that a slight toe-in to the front tires would result in better tracking for the vehicle. This will involve creating a slight four to five degree angle to both front wheels resulting in the front of both front tires being closer to each other than the back. This small change should help to improve the handling of the velomobile and allow it to travel 5|Page

in a straighter line. Down sides can also arise in this change. If the front wheels angles are changed to too high of a degree it will cause excess wear on the tire, and excess resistance for the rider to overcome. For this reason it is best to start with a very small toe-in angle and in later designs increase the angle if desired.

Design
Steering design initially began with adapting the steering from the Greenspeed trike design. This design has continued to adapt as changes have been made in to the front suspension, main trike tube, and seat design. The current steering system will use a linkage setup with Ackerman geometry to obtain the desired steering results as decided upon by the group. A majority of the information gathered in the research of the steering design was handed off to the Front Suspension for incorporating into that portion of the trike as most component alignment in the front suspension would affect the steering outcomes of the vehicle. Work has continued with the front suspension to find the ideal setup for the velomobile design. At this time all steering components have been fully dimensioned and are awaiting construction following the completion of the main tube, front suspension, and seat components. Stress analysis has been conducted on the steering arms of the trike to ensure the current design will withstand the expected loads this vehicle will encounter. Initially the steering arms were designed to withstand a vertical loading of 150 lbs applied to the top of each handle bar. With this loading a safety factor of greater than two would be achieved with the given steering design. However, several weeks after ordering of materials was completed it was determined that the width of the seat would need to be increased to facilitate all members of the Eco Fast team. This in turn required that the steering arms would need to be extended to meet the clearance needs between the inside of each steering arm and the outside of the seat tubing. With this change in the lengths of the steering arms the ability of the design to accept high loading on the end of each arm was greatly reduced from 150 lbs to roughly 60 lbs. Still with a factor of safety of 2. This issue was brought to the attention of the Front Suspension and Main Frame portions of the project, and it was decided that a redesign would not be required to re attain the original loading abilities of 150lbs.

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REFERENCES
The following are references used in the completion of this portion of the velomobile. Eland, P. (1997). Tricycle steering geometry. Retrieved from http://www.eland.org.uk/steer_sheets.html Sims, I, & Sims, P. (Ed.). (1997). Greenspeed gtr 20/20 tourer trike plans. Ferntree Gully, Australia

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