| 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, as well as the automobile manufacturer's design dimensions of caster offset and steering axis inclination offset, 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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