The principle of the potentiometer and its applications in the vehicle steering

In order to speed up the intelligence and automation of the steering system, the principle of the potentiometer are deeply analyzed in the paper, and then its two application approaches are also discussed in detail for the steering system of vehicle. The first approach is for the potentiometer to apply in the traditional steering system, in which there is not controller based on a micro-processor, and the system performs its steering tasks only by the differential output of the double potentiometers. The second approach called as steer-by-wire is finally presented, in which one potentiometer is used for collecting the steering signal from the driver, the other one used for collecting the pinion angle signal of the steering gear, and these signals are all input into a controller for a precise and safe steering. The final investigation result shows the potentiometer will do more important role in the future steering system, and its successful application can excite the more fast innovation of the steering system.