Honda Giken Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha

Honda Motor Co., Ltd.

Hirokazu Kitazawa

Shinji Suto

Osamu Tsurumiya

Hisao Asaumi

Yoshio Kakizaki

Hiroaki Horii

Fumihiro Morishita

Junichi Yoshida

Tomoaki Sugano

Hiroshi Furumi

Mitsunori Kawashima

Kazuhiko Inaba

Takashi Kuribayashi

Kazuhisa Watanabe

Kazuhiro Kishimoto

Hitoshi Suda

Yoshitaka Katashima

Yoshinobu Mukai

Masaaki Kawano

Kunio Shirakawa

Takafumi Ozaki

Yousuke Sekino

Paul Baron

Kazuhiko Satou

Tatsuya Amano

In a steering handle grasped and rotated by both hands of a driver, an axis of a steering shaft included in the steering handle is inclined so as to be higher in level in a forward direction of a vehicle body, and a left grip grasped by a left hand and a right grip grasped by a right hand are rotatable in opposite directions about an axis perpendicular to the axis of the steering shaft. Accordingly, an upper half of the driver's body sitting on a seat and leaning backwards and a plane of rotation of the steering handle are substantially parallel to each other, thereby ensuring that the driver can rotate the steering handle without stretching and withdrawing his or her arms. Moreover, when the steering handle is rotated, the driver's wrists can be prevented from being twisted unnaturally, leading to an easy steering operation.

Steering handle and steering system

Steering apparatus includes at least one motor for generating a steering assisting force in a direction to steer a steerable wheel, two drive circuits having respective switching elements for PWM-controlling the motor, and a controller for differentiating, between the drive circuits, a control frequency at which the switching element is switched on and off. The differentiated PWM switching timing can effectively reduce switching noise and magnetostrictive sound of the motor.

Steering apparatus

A motor driving method for a steering apparatus for applying an auxiliary steering force to a steering system with two motors. When the two motors are driven, a first one of the two motors is operated first. Thereafter, the other, second motor is driven, whereby smooth steering is effected.

Steering system for vehicle

Steering apparatus for transmitting a driving force of a motor through a gear mechanism to a rack shaft of a steering system and applying the driving force to steering road wheels in a steering direction. The apparatus has first and second motors. In the transmission of driving forces from output shafts of the first and second motors to the rack shaft, the phases of the two motors are essentially staggered by 180 degree.

An electric power steering apparatus with a plurality of motors for applying a force to steering road wheels in a steering direction with mechanism which applies an increase in allocation of auxiliary steering force to an operating motor when at least one of the motors has failed.

The invention provides a suspension control system that executes control of actuators that apply a vertical force to the vehicle wheels depending on the travel state of the vehicle, and at the same time, carry out power generation by using the energy of the vertical motion of the wheels and use the obtained energy to drive the actuator motor. In the suspension control apparatus in which the vehicle wheels can receive a force in the vertical direction from a motor, power generation is carried out by the motor depending on the vertical motion of the vehicle wheels, and a storage cycle that stores energy in a storage apparatus and a discharge cycle that drives the motor by the energy stored in the storage apparatus are repeated.

Suspension control apparatus

A suspension control method for controlling a suspension which includes respective actuators for left and right wheels of a vehicle, and which can apply forces in the upwards and downwards direction to the left and right vehicle wheels via these actuators. While the vehicle is being driven in a straight line, control is performed by giving priority to ride comfort; and, while the vehicle is being driven around a curve, control is performed by giving priority to roll suppression.

Control method for suspension

A stabilizer effectiveness control device that has an actuator for changing the apparent torsion rigidity of a stabilizer provided between the left and right wheels of a motor vehicle, a control device for controlling the output of the actuator, and a device for detecting the degree of sharpness of a turn when the vehicle is turning. The actuator is driven and controlled in response to the degree of sharpness of the turn when the vehicle is turning so as to change the torsion rigidity of the stabilizer between the left and right wheels of the vehicle. When the sharpness of the turn is small the change in attitude of the vehicle body is controlled by the actuator to prioritize vehicle riding comfort, whereas when the degree of sharpness of the turn is increased the actuator bottoms out, thus allowing the intrinsic rigidity of the stabilizer to control the handling or running stability of the vehicle.

Stabilizer effectiveness control device

In an electric steering actuator comprising an electric motor having a hollow output shaft, a steering shaft passed through the hollow center of the output shaft of the electric motor, and a ball-screw mechanism provided between the output shaft and the steering shaft for converting the rotary movement of the output shaft into a longitudinal movement of the steering shaft. The ball-screw mechanism comprises a threaded section of the steering shaft, and a nut member which threadably engages with the threaded section of the steering shaft via steel balls, and is secured to the output shaft of the electric motor via a serration coupling or the like which achieves an axially free but rotatively fast coupling between the two parts. Thus, the overall axial dimension of the actuator can be reduced, and the step of joining these two parts is significantly simplified in terms of both effort and time while the number of component parts is also reduced. In particular, by installing the ball-screw mechanism in the first casing section in an axially immobile manner, removal of the rotor or the motor assembly is substantially simplified, thereby making the actuator easier to manufacture and service. Also, the motor can be interchanged without affecting the ball-screw mechanism.

Electric steering actuator

In an electric steering actuator comprising an electric motor having a hollow output shaft, a steering shaft passed through the hollow center of the output shaft of the electric motor, and a ball-screw mechanism provided between the output shaft and the steering shaft for converting the rotary movement of the output shaft into a longitudinal movement of the steering shaft, a rotation preventing mechanism is provided for preventing the rotation of the steering shaft around its axial line. The rotation preventing mechanism comprises a guide pin extending in the casing in parallel with the axial line of the steering shaft, and a fork member engaging the guide pin between two prongs thereof. Because the rotation preventing mechanism can be formed by using a guide pin made of a stock steel or other metallic member, such as a cold finished steel bar, the manufacturing cost can be reduced. Furthermore by using a fork member defining an open slot for engagement with the guide pin, the assembling process is simplified, thereby reducing the manufacturing cost. In particular, by interposing a plastic slider between the pin and the fork member, metallic noises are avoided, and a smooth operation is ensured at a low cost.

Growing community of inventors

Wako, Japan

Hirokazu Kitazawa