Development And Application Of Testing Device For Vehicle Power Steering Pump

Vehicle power steering pump is the source of the oil installation in theautomotive hydraulic power steering system，whose working performances directlyaffect the stability and reliability of the motor car and relate to the safety of thelives and properties of the occupants. It is particularly important for manufacturingenterprises to test the steering pump.In view of the problem that the vehicle power steering oil pumps need to betested individually during processing, a high-efficiency and high-precision testingdevice has been developed in the paper. Based on MCS-51high-performance singlechip microcomputer, the device consists of three parts：the mechanical system, thehydraulic system and the control system. The device can steplessly regulate therotating speed and oil pressure of the vehicle power steering oil pump. And theimportant parameters such as oil flow rate and motor torque can also be detected, sovarious tests can be fulfilled as stipulated in the testing program, such as running-in,safety valve adjusting, volumetric efficiency measuring and maximum flow ratemeasuring.Traditional vehicle power steering pump testing device uses keyboard andLED display to achieve human-machine interaction. This kind of interface requiresa high quality of personnel and operation is neither visualized nor convenient andthe testing speed is slow. In the paper, industrial touch screen has been selected asthe interactive interface, which makes the interaction between operator andmachine become more straightforward. Touch screen has durable, responsive,space-saving, and many other advantages and is easy to communicate with. Theprograms of the single-chip microcomputer have been written according toMODBUS communication protocol with the purpose of realizing thecommunication between the touch screen and the single-chip microcomputer. Thehuman-machine interface images have been designed according to the testingoutline, which include manual mode and automatic mode and can achieve datadisplaying, parameters setting, automatic testing, alarming and other functions.The trial results show that the testing device has high precision of measuringand regulating, the human-machine interface is friendly and the operation is simpleand convenient. So the testing device is suitable for batch testing of vehicle powersteering oil pumps and has wide prospects of being widely used.