PROTON FIRST DEVELOPED ELECTRIC POWER STEERING

PROTON IRIZ has been successfully launched on Nov 2013 and together with the awesome look, PROTON IRIZ has been equipped with the latest technologies which could only be found mostly in luxury car.

Collaboration between PROTON and ZFLS Engineers has developed the first EPS for IRIZ, 18 months of hard work, from mechanical part design and fabrication, system and vehicle testing and software development has been conducted and checked thoroughly in order to provide the best EPS setup for IRIZ. 

WHAT IS EPS
Electric Power Steering (EPS) is basically replacing the conventional hydraulic Power steering (HPS) with electronic actuated motor, sensor and also ECU. The EPS steering column diagram is as follows:  

   HOW EPS WORKS

The ECU will receive the torque and steering direction input and also at the same time receiving the vehicle and engine speed input from Engine Management System (EMS). The torque sensor will determine the load and direction, Motor will generate the rotating torque, the Intermediate shaft will deliver the amplified torque to the mechanical steering gear and later the steering gear will change the torque to the rack force.

There are few types of EPS developed specifically to cater different vehicle segments, for IRIZ, the engineers had opt for the Column type EPS whereby the drive unit consisting of ECU, motor & sensors  are basically located at the steering column, near to the steering wheels, this is the most suitable EPS configuration considering IRIZ compact, hatchback type vehicle which does not require more expensive type of EPS. The part cost is slightly cheaper but still able to provide good steering feel. Most of the A & B segment vehicles were actually using this type of configuration.

EPS VS HPS
The EPS motor draws power only when assists is needed, which means its consume less power compared to HPS whereby the driver pump will always turn.

The HPS also were actually using lots of mechanical components which subjected to wear and tear, there are multiple hoses routed within engine compartment whereby for the EPS, there are no hoses, only electrical connection which does not consume spaces.

In HPS also, it can only able to provide variable assist by using different flow control devices meanwhile for EPS it can be done by  simply tune the Software. In EPS also, since it does not involve fluid, thus there is no fluid to leak or dispose meanwhile for HPS, there will be an issue if there is any fluid leakage.

BENEFITS OF EPS

1. Fuel Efficiency, since it will only consume enegy only when steering

2. Reduce vehicle weight, the conventional hydraulic pump, oil reservoir, hoses and pipes valve will be remove, thus reducing the overall weight

3. Easy to assemble, No hoses to route, only few electrical connection

4. Easy to maintain, No steering oil, quick exam using diagnostic tool

5. Steering feel, stability & comfort, able to provide optimum assists force for different vehicle speed, excellent stability during high speed and also artificial R&H feel via software tuning