Re: RE:Matt/Jay/power steering discussion

[Tom Jennings <tomj@xxxxxxx>]

On Wed, 4 May 2005 stover@xxxxxxxxxxxx wrote:

> So, if power assist is the name of the game then big pulley- small swept
> volume would be the best combo for reducing parasitic loss. Yes?

I suspect that if you simply under-drive the pump, at low enough
pump speed the power steering could get "jerky", the assist might
vary with engine speed, that would become Very Annoying.

Truly variable assist you could probably do with an electric motor
driving the pump instead of the crankshaft, which when you think
about it is a 1920 buggy whip way to do it.

You can argue that say water pumps, at higher revs you want more
cooling, but power steering and A/C it's silly to belt-drive them.
Oil ought to be electric drive, I think reliability and cost is
the reason it's stayed mechanical (two stone-stupid gears).


I often fantasize about making a motor where the front of the
crank (balancer end) is nothing but a multi-KW alternator/starter
motor and everything (oil, water pumps, valve actuation) is
electric, with electric-drive servo steering. This last is
happening now, and electric water and oil is used on various race
cars.

Make that alternator a big enough motor with a funny coupling and
you'd have a hybrid.