The Ackermann Steering is a geometric configuration of connections in the steering of a car or any other vehicle created to address the issue of wheels needing to draw out circles with differing radii on the inside and outside of a turn.
Georg Lankensperger, a German carriage manufacturer, created it in Munich in 1817, and his representative in England, Rudolph Ackermann (1764–1834), obtained a patent for it in 1818 for horse-drawn carriages. It’s possible that Erasmus Darwin already filed a patent application in 1758. He created his steering method after being hurt when a carriage overturned.
Advantages of Ackermann Steering
Ackermann Steering is designed to eliminate the need for tyres to slide sideways when
travelling around a curve. To achieve the geometric solution, all wheels’ axles must be placed as the radii of a circle with a single common centre. This centre point must be on a line extending from the back axle because the rear wheels are fixed. When steering, the inside front wheel must be spun via a bigger angle than the outer wheel to intersect the axes of the front wheels here online.
- The two front wheels used to “turntable” steer around a single pivot, but now each wheel has a pivot close to its hub.
- Despite being more complicated, this configuration improves controllability by preventing the application of substantial inputs from changes in the road surface to the end of a lengthy lever arm.
- Additionally, the fore-&-aft travel of the steered wheels is significantly decreased.
- The two wheels are connected by a linkage that allows them to pivot, and the Ackermann geometry can be roughly approximated by carefully arranging the dimensions of the connection.
- To make the linkage appear as though the hubs’ steering arms were “toeing out,” it was necessary to make the track rod, which serves as the movable link between the hubs, shorter than the axle.
- According to Ackermann, the wheels turned as the steering moved, with the innermost wheel turning even more. Instead, it should be longer in contrast if the track rod is positioned in front of the axle, maintaining the same “toe out.”
Design and geometry selection
The steering pivot points are connected by a rigid bar named the tie rod, which can also be a component of the steering mechanism in the form of, for example, a rack and pinion. Moving the steering pivot points inward so they lie on an alignment drawn between the steering kingpins & the centre of the rear axle can approximate perfect Ackermann steering geometry.
With perfect Ackermann, the centre of all circles drawn by all wheels will lie at a single location at every steering angle. Designers should sketch or analyse the steering systems because this may require more work to organise in practice with simple linkages. Pure Ackermann steering is not used in modern automobiles, partly because it overlooks significant dynamic & compliant effects, although the concept is sound for movements at moderate speeds.
Certain racing vehicles employ reverse Ackermann geometry to account for the significant discrepancy in slip angle between the inner & outer front tyres when cornering at high speed. While using this geometry, tyre temperatures are reduced during high-speed cornering, and performance is sacrificed during low-speed manoeuvres.
Last Words
In car-like vehicles, the Ackerman Steering is used. The fundamental concept is to reduce tyre slippage by turning the inner wheel just a bit sharper than the outer wheel.
