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This paper deals with a center-closed rotary servo valve in a hydraulic power steering (PS) system having an improved straight line stability during driving. Conventional rotary servo valves are of a center-open type and are poor in straight line stability because the assist pressure to steer occurs with even slight steering inputs. In the vicinity of neutral position the center-closed rotary servo valve does not produce assist pressure and leaves room for manual steering effort. The center-closed rotary servo valve is composed of a center-closed circuit and a center-open circuit in parallel. The center-closed circuit precisely controls the direction of oil flow to the cylinder chamber A or B in the vicinity of neutral position. The chamfers formed at center-closed metering edges control a lower level of assist pressure. Also the change of assist pressure from manual- to power-steering is smooth.

This paper deals with energy-savings in a hydraulic power steering systems by the reduction of the driving torque of a hydraulic pump in non-steering operation. In normal driving, steering operation is infrequent although the pump is continuously driven by the engine. Therefore, for energy-savings in power steering, it is effective to reduce the pump driving torque during non-steering operation. A reduction of the pump driving torque in non-steering operation is possible by decreasing the pump outlet flow rate regulated by a flow control valve. The authors have investigated a prototype pump with an additional device to minimize the regulated flow rate under a non-steering condition and to restore the flow rate during steering operation. The mechanism is a kind of pressure reducing valve that changes the operation of the flow control valve in response to the pump outlet port pressure which is an indication of steering operation.