摘要 |
Method and apparatus are disclosed for determining the caster angle and the steering angle inclination of a steerable wheel on a vehicle. The wheel is supported on a member which has freedom of motion along the fore-and-aft and transverse axes of the vehicle and freedom of rotation about a mutually perpendicular rotation axis. When the wheel is turned both right and left to a given steering angle from the straight ahead direction, a rotary encoder measures the steering angle and an X-axis encoder and a Y-axis encoder measure the linear displacement along the transverse and fore-and-aft axes, respectively. These measurement values, along with known values of axle height and wheel camber angle, are supplied to a computer which calculates the caster angle or the steering angle inclination, or both, in accordance with a functional relationship of the measured values and known values.
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