Nippondenso Co., Ltd.

Toyota Jidosha Kabushiki Kaisha

Aisin Seiki Kabushiki Kaisha

Akira Kondo

Mitsuhiko Masegi

Motoharu Naitou

Masao Sakurai

Toshiaki Ota

Masahito Mutoh

Naoki Ito

Hiroaki Yamaguchi

Motomi Iyoda

Koichi Fujita

Katsuaki Maruyama

Morihito Nomura

Makoto Aso

Atsushi Kamiya

Kouichi Nagata

Yasuo Imatomi

Masahiko Miyahara

Hideaki Ohuchi

Haruhiko Suzuki

Toshikazu Matsushita

Takahiro Tamura

The cathodeis formed by forming several layers comprising an inorganic material that is primarily electron conductive and a complex oxide B that is primarily oxygen ion conductive and that supports an oxygen dissociation-promoting catalyst, on an electrolytic membrane. The electrolytic membraneand the outermost layer of the cathode(layer of mixture furthest from the electrolytic membrane) facing the separatorare physically and electrically continuous by means of the inorganic material a and complex oxide B disposed between them.

Cathode for fuel cell and process of the same

A handle lever is rotatable and movable in an axial direction relative to a frame and when the handle lever is rotatably moved from a predetermined position in a rotation direction with a predetermined amount against a urging force of a rotative urging spring and also moved from a predetermined position in the axial direction with a predetermined amount against a urging force of an axial urging spring, an engaging hook of the handle lever is engaged with an engaging portion of the frame in the rotation direction and the axial direction for holding the handle lever in a tentative holding position.

Vehicle door handle assembly

A rotary position detector comprises an integrally molded rotor made of a synthetic resin to which a contact is fixed, a housing and a cover member on which a resistance circuit surface is formed. A contact surface and the resistance circuit surface to which the contact is attached has a cylindrical recess disposed on the same axis center as the shaft or a protrusion engaging in the recess. Alternatively, the resistance circuit surface may be provided on the rotor and the contact is provided on the cover member. A terminal contact which integrates an external contact terminal and a contact may be employed.

Rotary position detecting device

A failure monitoring system is provided which may be employed in an automotive passenger restraint system adapted to be responsive to electric power applied from a power source to operate for protecting a vehicle occupant from impact upon occurrence of a vehicle collision. The failure monitoring system provides a failure monitoring signal to a predetermined element in the passenger restraint system before a preselected period of time has expired following actuation of an ignition switch, and monitors an operational condition of the predetermined element to detect occurrence of failure in the passenger restraint system based on the monitored operational condition.

Failure monitoring system for passenger restraint unit of automotive

A circuit for controlling the actuation of a vehicle air bag system includes a two terminal electrically actuated ignition element connectable to a drive voltage line through a first transistor and to a circuit ground through another transistor. The voltage source includes the vehicle battery and a capacitor that is charged by the vehicle battery and which supplies operating power in the event the vehicle battery is removed from the circuit, for example, as a consequence of a collision. The transistors are normally biased to a non-conducting state sufficient to isolate the ignition element from the drive voltage source and circuit ground. Vehicle acceleration is sensed by an acceleration sensor which, in the event of a collision, biases both transistors into conduction to effectively connect the two terminals of the ignition element to the drive voltage line and to ground to actuate the vehicle air bag. During normal operation, a bias circuit controls one of the transistors to provide a minute current flow that is used to sense fault conditions and illuminate an alarm lamp. During a collision, the acceleration sensing circuit re-configures the bias circuit to drive both transistors into conduction. A low-voltage circuit senses the drive voltage and controls the bias to the one transistor to inhibit the minute current flow to conserve power during low-voltage conditions.

Releasing circuit for actuating vehicular safety device

An electric control circuit for a passenger protection system in an automotive vehicle includes an electric power source, an acceleration sensor arranged to produce an acceleration signal therefrom in the occurrence of a vehicle collision and an electrically operated actuator including a primer having a first terminal in series with the power source and a second terminal in series with the acceleration sensor to be grounded therethrough in response to the acceleration signal from the sensor, wherein the second terminal of the primer is directly grounded when a voltage appearing at a conductor between the second terminal of the primer and the acceleration sensor becomes lower than a predetermined value to ensure activation of the primer.

Electric control circuit for passenger protection system in automotive

An apparatus for failure identification suitable for determining between existence and nonexistence of failure of the squib in occupant protecting system. The first terminal voltage generated between both the terminals of the squib when the first monitor current is passed through the squib, and the second terminal voltage generated between both the terminals of the squib when the second monitor current is passed through the squib. The first and second terminal voltages are amplified by the differential amplifier circuit into the first and second differentially amplified voltage. Thereafter, the difference between the first differentially amplified voltage and the second differentially amplified voltage is calculated to obtain the monitor voltage difference and it is compared with the reference voltage, and thereupon, decision between existence and nonexistence of a short-circuit in the squib is made.

Apparatus for failure identification for use in vehicle occupant

A vehicle operator protection system capable of detecting abnormalities in an auxiliary power supply in the protection system. The auxiliary power supply comprises a backup capacitor which is part of a time constant circuit and is connected in parallel with an actuator for inflating an air bag. While the backup capacitor is charged, the voltage differences between an onboard battery and the backup capacitor are determined for a given period, and the determined value is divided by the amount that the voltage of the backup capacitor rises in the given period. An abnormality in the capacitance of the backup capacitor is determined in accordance with the divided value, and thus the abnormality of the capacitance of the backup capacitor can be detected accurately without being influenced by variation of voltage of the onboard battery.

Apparatus for detecting the existence of an abnormality in a vehicle

Air bags are located at different positions within a vehicle. Squibs serve to fire and activate the air bags respectively. An acceleration detecting device is provided in common to the squibs for detecting an acceleration of the vehicle upon a collision of the vehicle and executing a switching operation in response to the detected vehicle acceleration. Constant-current circuits supplied with an electric power from a vehicle battery feed constant electric currents for a firing operation to the squibs respectively in response to the switching operation of the acceleration detecting device. An energy storage device serves to feed a backup electric power to the constant-current circuits when the supply of the electric power from the vehicle battery is cut off. Each of the constant-current circuits includes a first transistor for feeding an electric current to the related squib, a first resistor for detecting a level of the electric current fed to the squib, a second transistor conducting an electric current with a level which depends on the electric current level detected by the first resistor, and a second resistor for generating a voltage which depends on the electric current conducted by the second transistor and for controlling the first transistor in response to the generated voltage.

Vehicle air bag apparatus

A vehicle operator protection system includes an actuating device, a battery for supplying the actuating device with electric power, and a backup capacitor charged by the battery and supplying power to the actuating device when the battery becomes inoperable. It further includes a switch for cutting off the power supply from the battery and a determining circuit for detecting a discharging condition of the backup capacitor after it has been cut off from the power supply with the switch to determine the existence of an abnormality in the backup capacitor and the actuating device. Through the detection of the discharging condition of the backup capacitor, determination of the existence of an abnormality, based on the intended function of the backup capacitor, can be achieved.

Apparatus and method for determining the existence of an abnormality in

A releasing circuit for actuating a vehicular safety device includes a sensor arranged to provide an acceleration signal responsive to accelerations of the vehicle and an evaluating circuit for setting a predetermined condition for activating a release element of the safety device and responsive to the acceleration signal for effecting the activation of the release element when the predetermined condition has been satisfied by the acceleration signal. A checking circuit for the releasing circuit includes a check signal generator for producing therefrom a check signal at a predetermined level which does not satisfy the predetermined condition and for applying the check signal to a circuit between the sensor and evaluating circuit, a comparator responsive to the check signal for determining as to whether or not there is a defect or malfunction in the circuit between the second and evaluating circuit, and a second comparator responsive to an output signal of the evaluating circuit for ascertaining as to whether or not the release element has been properly activated in response to the acceleration signal under control of the evaluating circuit.

An acceleration sensor detects an acceleration of a vehicle which is caused by a collision of the vehicle. A safety device protects an occupant in the vehicle from the collision of the vehicle. A trigger device triggers the safety device. The trigger device is activated in response to an output signal from the acceleration sensor. An operation of the trigger device is detected and a detection signal representative thereof is generated. A first judgment device judges whether or not the trigger device is activated on the basis of the detection signal. When the trigger device is judged to be activated, a second judgment device judges whether the activation of the trigger device is caused by a correct cause or a false cause on the basis of the output signal from the acceleration sensor. The judgment by the second judgment device is allowed only once and subsequent judgments by the second judgment device are inhibited. A result of the judgment by the second judgment device is recorded.

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Okazaki, Japan

Akira Kondo