Design and construction of a passive mechanism for emulation of load forces in an electric power steering system

This article presents the design and construction of a mechanism for emulating load forces caused by the road conditions and friction over an electric power assisted steering (EPAS). This mechanism uses extension springs and a rack-and-pinion mechanism to emulate these load forces. The purpose of devising this mechanism is to build an EPAS system test bench, that allows observing and testing the operation steering system in load conditions.