Dimensional synthesis of rack-and-pinion steering mechanism using a novel synthesis equation

Abstract

This article presents a method for the dimensional synthesis of the rack-and-pinion steering mechanism by optimization technique based on a novel synthesis equation. The proposed kinematic model allows obtaining a polynomial synthesis equation to formulate the objective function as a sum of squares. Then, the computation of the objective function derivatives is straightforward compared to existing formulations. Finally, the application of the proposed method is shown through a numerical example implemented in Matlab®.