Mazda Motor Corporation

Isao Toda

Hironobu Hashiguchi

Seiyo Hirano

Hideki Sanai

Kei Yonemori

Hiroshi Tanaka

Takayuki Kimura

Masaya Hiramatsu

Takehiro Kamei

Masanobu Fukushima

Katsumasa Sogame

Haruo Ohe

Takao Fukuda

Takashi Iwase

Hiroyuki Baba

Kenji Asada

Koji Wakamatsu

Wataru Kuwahara

Tsuyoshi Arinaga

Shinji Fujihira

Kouji Iwasaka

Shigeyuki Mori

Yoshiaki Noguchi

Yukio Nakamura

Ryuichiro Amano

Akira Yasutake

Takeshi Matsukawa

Satoshi Maruyama

Chih-Hung Chen

Yu-chao Wei

Satoru Hashimoto

Tomoya Kakite

Mitsuhiro Hirota

It is an object to improve riding comfort of a wheelchair having a folding mechanism by keeping an operation part of the folding mechanism from contacting a wheelchair user seated. A folding mechanism includes an operation part for use in changing a state of a left-side support arm and a right-side support arm from one of a folded state or an unfolded state to another. The operation part is arranged below an upper end part of a seat frame with a predetermined space therebetween.

Wheelchair

To provide a vehicle drive device capable of efficiently driving a vehicle by using in-wheel motors without falling into the vicious cycle between enhancement of driving via the motors and an increase in vehicle weight. The present invention is a vehicle drive device that uses in-wheel motors to drive a vehicle and includes a vehicle speed sensor that detects the travel speed of a vehicle, in-wheel motors that are provided in wheels of the vehicle and drive the wheels, and a controller that controls the in-wheel motors, in which the controller controls the in-wheel motors so as to generate driving forces when the travel speed of the vehicle detected by the vehicle speed sensor is equal to or more than a predetermined first vehicle speed that is more than zero.

Vehicle drive device

To make it easier to lift and move a wheelchair by keeping casters from hanging even when the wheelchair is lifted by one hand, a wheelchair includes a folding mechanism that couples a left-side support arm and a right-side support arm foldably in a left-right direction of the vehicle body. The folding mechanism includes an operation part for use in changing a state of a left-side support arm and a right-side support arm from one of a folded state or an unfolded state to another. The operation part is arranged between a rear drive wheel and a caster in a side view of the vehicle body.

A vehicle driving apparatus is provided that includes a drive motor, an internal combustion engine, and an electrical generator and can inhibit a weight balance and motion performance of a vehicle from being deteriorated and lowered. A vehicle driving apparatus driving a vehicle by motive power of a motor, the vehicle driving apparatus including a drive motor that is driven by electric power, an internal combustion engine that produces motive power by fuel, and an electrical generator that is driven by the internal combustion engine, the vehicle driving apparatus being characterized in that the drive motor, the internal combustion engine, and the electrical generator are arranged in a vehicle width direction of the vehicle in order of the drive motor, the internal combustion engine, and the electrical generator.

Vehicle driving apparatus

A bulge portion bulging rearward is provided at a dash panel. A reinforcement is fixed to an inner surface of the bulge portion. A rear end wall portion of the bulge portion is positioned at the rear of a center portion of a rear end portion of a cowl panel in a vehicle width direction.

Vehicle body structure

It is an object to make it easy to unfold a wheelchair simply by lifting a part of the wheelchair with one hand. A wheelchair includes a folding mechanism that folds a left-side support arm and a right-side support arm. The folding mechanism includes a grip part coupled to the distal end part of the left-side support arm and the distal end part of the right-side support arm. The grip part extends in the pivoting direction of the left-side support arm and the right-side support arm at a time of switching from a folded state to an unfolded state.

A vehicle structure includes side sills, pillars, a first battery arrangement portion provided inside the vicinity of the pillars in a vehicle width direction below a floor panel, and a second battery arrangement portion provided at a center portion in the vehicle width direction below the floor panel in a region inside an outer portion of the first battery arrangement portion in the vehicle width direction.

The wheelchair includes a seating portion, body frames that support the seating portion, wheels that are rotatably supported by the body frames, an engaging portion, a left brake that brakes a left rear wheel, and a coupling portion that couples the engaging portion and the left brake to each other. The engaging portion is capable of switching between an engagement attitude for engaging a vehicle body member that forms an opening of a vehicle and a disengagement attitude for releasing the engagement with the vehicle body member. The coupling portion transmits the movement of the engaging portion to the left brake when the engaging portion makes an attitude change from the disengagement attitude to the engagement attitude. This operates the left brake when the attitude of the engaging portion switches from the disengagement attitude to the engagement attitude and brakes the left rear wheel.

A hybrid driving apparatus is provided which enables a driver to sufficiently enjoy a driving feeling of a vehicle driven by an internal combustion engine. A hybrid driving apparatus includes an internal combustion engine that drive main driving wheels, a motive power transmission mechanism transmitting a driving force to the main driving wheels, a main driving electric motor driving the main driving wheels, an accumulator, sub-driving electric motors transmitting motive power to sub-driving wheels of the vehicle, and a control apparatus executing an electric motor traveling mode and an internal combustion engine traveling mode. The control apparatus causes the internal combustion engine to generate the driving force, the internal combustion engine is a flywheel-less engine, and the control apparatus causes the main driving electric motor to generate a torque for maintaining idling of the internal combustion engine in the internal combustion engine traveling mode.

Hybrid driving apparatus

To provide a vehicle drive device capable of effectively driving a vehicle by using in-wheel motors without falling into the vicious cycle between enhancement of driving via the motors and an increase in vehicle weight. The present invention is a vehicle drive device that uses in-wheel motors to drive a vehicle and includes in-wheel motors () that are provided in wheels () of a vehicle () and drive the wheels, a body side motor () that is provided in a body of the vehicle and drives the wheels of the vehicle, and a battery () and a capacitor () that supply electric power for driving the in-wheel motors and/or the body side motor, in which a voltage of the battery is applied to the body side motor and a voltage of the battery and the capacitor connected in series is applied to the in-wheel motors.

A vehicle body structure includes a front floor panel provided on a vehicle front side and a rear floor panel provided at the rear of the front floor panel. The front floor panel is positioned higher than the rear floor panel. A first battery arrangement portion is provided long in a vehicle front-rear direction at a center portion of the front floor panel in the vehicle width direction. A second battery arrangement portion is provided outside the first battery arrangement portion in a vehicle width direction below the front floor panel. An upper portion of the first battery arrangement portion is positioned higher than an upper portion of the second battery arrangement portion.

A wheelchair includes a seating portion on which a wheelchair user sits, a body frame that supports the seating portion, a pair of rear wheels and a pair of front wheels rotatably supported by the body frame, and a seat back portion capable of changing the inclination angle with respect to the seating portion. The wheelchair includes push-along handle portions as engaging portions capable of fixing the seat back portion to a side sill as a vehicle body member that forms a door opening of the vehicle when the seat back portion is tilted backward of the wheelchair.

A vehicle body structure includes a front floor panel and a rear floor panel provided at the rear of the front floor panel. The front floor panel is positioned higher than the rear floor panel. A front battery that supplies electric power to the traction motor is arranged below the front floor panel.

The vehicle body structure includes a front floor panel, a rear floor panel positioned lower than the front floor panel, and a connection panel extending from a rear portion of the front floor panel to a front portion of the rear floor panel and inclined or curved so as to be positioned downward toward a rear side. At least the front portion of the connection panel is positioned at the front of the front portion of the front seat.

A vehicle drive device uses in-wheel motors to drive a vehicle and includes in-wheel motors that are provided in wheels of a vehicle and drive the wheels, a body side motor that is provided in a body of the vehicle and drives the wheels, and a controller that controls the in-wheel motors and the body side motor based on requested output power of a driver, in which the controller causes the body side motor to generate a driving force and the in-wheel motors not to generate driving forces when the requested output power of the driver is less than predetermined output power and the controller causes the body side motor and the in-wheel motors to generate driving forces when the requested output power of the driver is equal to or more than the predetermined output power.

Growing community of inventors

Hatsukaichi, Japan

Isao Toda