Project description and overview:

It is well-established that one of the major factors influencing the handling, performance, safety, fuel efficiency and tyre life in any vehicle is the wheel alignment. Until now, wheel alignment can only be adjusted manually by a mechanic in a workshop, where a single wheel alignment setting is chosen. In an ideal world, wheel alignment should vary in real-time.

To address this challenge, DOFTEK has developed and patented the first commercially viable solution to this problem, namely DOFTEK’s Active Wheel Alignment System. The system electronically adjusts and optimises the wheel alignment under different driving scenarios, and in real-time. The benefits of the system include:

• Fully compatible with front axle, rear axle and existing suspension geometries used by the vehicle manufacturers today;
• Rapid, independent control of wheel camber, toe and castor;
• Adjustment provided by push-button, dynamic control (semi-active) or adaptive control (real-time);
• Compact and bolt-on fitment with no changes to the vehicles required, and
• Lightweight with a negligible increase in fitted weight.

DOFTEK’s goal is to translate their system into as many new cars as possible, with mass scalability being a major consideration for their product from the beginning. DOFTEK’s system has been designed to leverage as many existing automatable manufacturing processes as possible, such as CNC machining, injection moulding, additive manufacturing and robotic assembly/handling.

In this project, DOFTEK and its engineering partners will develop a scalable and commercial-grade Active Wheel Alignment System for testing in a vehicle’s production and operational environment.