Abstract— An increased demand for greater performance of universal joint of steering column of passenger car has prompted the development of joints capable of long life at high torque, high angles and high loads. This can be easily achieved by investigating or evaluating the torsion loading and its effect over yoke by FEM. New variations of Universal joint have shown the ability to increase universal joint performance. As Yoke generally subjected to torsional and bending stresses due to wt of components also susceptible fatigue by nature of functioning. The purpose of this paper is an Investigation on Stress Distribution for Optimization of Yoke in Universal Joint under Variable Torque Condition. Yoke is analysed under torque load from steering rod observing hot spot location/Stress concentration region, hot area potentially carrying load, scope to optimize/improve part by eliminating/adjusting density in order to maximize area of hot region with reducing in dead region.

Index Terms— Steering rod, Universal joint, Failure kit, FEA, Photoelasticity, Optimization

Cite: An Investigation on Stress Distribution for Optimization of Yoke in Universal Joint under Variable Torque Condition: A Review, " S G Solanke and A S Bharule," International Journal of Mechanical Engineering and Robotics Research, Vol. 3, No. 2, pp. 136-142, April 2014.