Nissan Motor Company Limited

Hirofumi Aoki

Kazuhiro Doi

Yoshiharu Nakaji

Shigeki Sato

Yoshimasa Hayashi

Tsutomu Hamabe

Akio Kinoshite

An upper mounting structure for a wheel suspension includes a coil spring and a strut assembly each of which is adapted to be connected at its lower end with a wheel, while an upper end of the coil spring is coupled with a vehicle body through a spring insulator of high stiffness and an upper end of the strut assembly is coupled with the vehicle body through a strut mounting insulator of low stiffness. The structure further includes an additional insulator connecting between the upper ends of the coil spring and the strut assembly, which additional insulator has higher stiffness than the spring insulator within higher frequency range. Therefore, the strut assembly is capable of absorbing a surge vibration of the coil spring within the higher frequency range in spite of low stiffness of the strut mounting insulator.

Upper mounting structure for a wheel suspension

A power unit mounting device for a motor vehicle includes a first plate, a second plate secured to the vehicle body and a bracket member having a flat plate portion which is disposed between the first and second plates. A first active damping actuator is intimately disposed between the first plate and the flat plate portion and a second active damping actuator is intimately disposed between the flat plate portion and the second plate. Each of the first and second active damping actuators selectively expands and contracts in accordance with an electric power applied thereto. Connecting bolts are used for connecting the first and second plates to tighten the first and second active damping actuators therebetween. A controller is employed for controlling the electric power in such a manner that the expanding and contracting vibrations of the first and second active damping actuators are equal in amplitude but different in phase by 180 degrees.

Power unit mounting device

An active noise control system includes a plurality of vibration pickups for detecting of physical quantities of noise sources, such as vibrations of suspension members of a vehicle, and a plurality of microphones for detecting residual noises transmitted to observing positions. The output signals of the vibration pickups are added up by means of an adder to be input to a controller. The active noise control system also includes a plurality of delay circuits for applying delay times to the respective output signals of the vibration pickups so as to essentially equalize transmitting time of one of the output signals with that of the other output signals. The output signals of the microphones are input to the controller independently of each other. The controller outputs drive signals to a plurality of loudspeakers independent of each other to cause the loudspeakers to produce control sounds so that the control sounds interfere with the noises transmitted from the noise sources to decrease the noises transmitted to the observing positions.

Active noise control system for automotive vehicle

In order to attenuate vibration which tends to be transmitted from a power unit to a vehicle passenger during the idling mode of engine operation, ERF filled engine mounts are arranged so that when neither of two orifice passages are restricted by impressing a voltage on ERF viscosity control electrodes included therein, the frequency at which the dynamic spring constant exhibits a minimum value is the same as the frequency at which the vibration transmission phase maximizes while one of the two orifice passages is restricted by the application of a voltage on the set of electrodes disposed therein. Rapid cyclic control of the dynamic spring constant and the vibration transmission phase for each mount used to support a power unit is carried out. This enables a desirable compromise in the control of the two different parameters.

Suspension device for use with automotive power unit

A vibration sensor is disposed at an evaluation point on the vehicle floor proximate the driver's seat. This sensor, in combination with one disposed on a electrically controllable engine mount, is used to determine the magnitude and orientation of a vector of vibration which reaches the evaluation point and which combines with other vibrational vectors in a manner which results in the generation of vibration at the evaluation point. A mount control signal is controlled in a manner which modifies the vibration vector and attenuates the vibration at the evaluation point.

Automotive power unit mounting system

In order to detect cooling system malfunction, the operation of a pump which recycles the liquid coolant from a radiator (or condensor) to the coolant jacket of a vapor cooled type engine, is monitored. In the event that the pump operation period and frequency (viz., the time between changes in pump operation) fail to fall within a predetermined time schedule, a malfunction indicating signal is issued. The schedule can be varied in accordance with a signal indicative of the amount of fuel being combusted in the engine (viz., the amount of heat being produced by the engine) so as to take into the account the increased amount of coolant circulation which occurs under high engine load operation and the accompanying changes in pump operation characteristics.

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Chigasaki, Japan

Hirofumi Aoki