Toyota Jidosha Kabushiki Kaisha

Hirotaka Kamano

Yoshikazu Kameda

Osamu Yasuike

Takahito Ishino

Mitsuyuki Ouchi

Koichi Nishimura

Nobuyuki Kawabata

Hayato Yoshino

Nobuaki Miyazaki

Mitsuyuki Ohuchi

To provide a steering device capable of highly precisely controlling turning angles of steered wheels without changing a layout of members. Provided is a steering device (A) including: a center arm () having one end portion configured to swing in a right-and-left direction with respect to a vehicle body (BD) in synchronism with rotation of a steering shaft (); a rod member (A), which is coupled to the one end of the center arm (), and is configured to move in the right-and-left direction, to thereby change turning angles of steered wheels (WR and WL); and a rod-member drive device () configured to linearly move the rod member (A) in the right-and-left direction through use of a driving force source. The rod member (A) is supported such that movement of the rod member (A) in the right-and-left direction of the vehicle body (BD) is allowed, but movement of the rod member (A) in a front-and-rear direction and an up-and-down direction of the vehicle body (BD) is restricted. The one end portion the center arm () and the rod member (A) are coupled so as to be relatively movable in the front-and-rear direction of the vehicle body (BD).

Steering device

An automatic tilting vehicle comprises left and right front wheels and a rear wheel. A control unit controls a vehicle tilting device so that the tilt angle of the vehicle becomes the target tilt angle. The control device is configured to swingingly vibrates the vehicle in the lateral direction by tilting the vehicle by the vehicle tilting device, to estimate a height of the center of gravity of the vehicle based on a resonance period of swinging vibration of the vehicle, and to correct the target tilt angle such that a perpendicular passing through the estimated center of gravity passes within a range of a triangle formed by connecting grounding points of the left and right front wheels and a grounding point of the rear wheel.

Automatic tilting vehicle

An automatic tilting vehicle includes left and right wheels rotatably supported by carriers, a vehicle tilting device, and a control unit. The vehicle tilting device includes a swing member swinging about a swing axis, an actuator that swings the swing member, a pair of tie rods pivotally connected to the swing member and the carriers. The control unit controls the actuator so that the tilt angle of the vehicle conforms to a target tilt angle and determines that the vehicle tilting device is abnormal when a relationship between the swing angular velocity of the swing member and the tilt angular velocity of the vehicle deviates from an allowable range.

Growing community of inventors

Susono, Japan

Hirotaka Kamano