EPS System Design Process-Design Core Document of the EPS

The Master Thesis work consists into the definition and development of an optimized Design Process of an Electric Power Steering system. The work has been carried out with the fundamental collaboration of Danisi Engineering s.r.l. The company is mainly specialized in the design of chassis, suspension, and steering systems for the automotive field. The work has been divided into two parts: the development of the Process, which is composed by different phases, and the drafting of a Design Core Document, in which all the guidelines of the Process have been inserted and explained to be available for the company itself and for any interested company in the development of the EPS. The document is an official text owned by the company. The first part is the definition of the phases of the Design Process workflow. The initial phase of the Process is called Concept Phase and it consists into the definition of the needed data for the correct start of the Process, analysing which are the effective aspects involved in an electric steering system for the vehicles. Then, the Design Phase has been inserted in the workflow. This passage is the most technical one, in which the designers create from a chosen layout of EPS a technical solution. Inside the phase an iterative loop between the Multibody analysis, the CAD geometry definition and the FEA is followed. The result of this part is the virtual assembly of the EPS. The third and last phase is the Validation one, in which the system is virtually and physically validated for the following Production Process. In this block the validation tests have been considered, and for the purpose some prototyping operations have been defined to have a physical assembly to verify in many aspects. The second part is the drafting of the document, in which all these passages have been resumed to make the reading of the text effective and time saving for the company. The text also contains a series of Design Practices, which are guidelines developed by analysing in detail the most important characteristics an EPS should have, in term of mechanical, electronic, and electric components. These Practices have been inserted in the thesis. In the future new releases and improvements of the document will be done since the Process is always improvable in term of technical and regulations details.