Yazaki Corporation

Toyota Jidosha Kabushiki Kaisha

Kazuyuki Sasaki

Naoto Ishikawa

Masato Nakajima

Ichiro Kataoka

Kunimitsu Aoki

Masafumi Uchihara

Kazutomo Fujinami

Shinji Narama

Shozo Ashizawa

Yoshihiro Tsuji

Teruhisa Imai

Toru Kidokoro

Yoshiyuki Furuya

Takaaki Itou

Yoshihiko Hyodo

Tadashi Iino

Junichi Yamaguchi

Takanori Watanabe

Mitsuhiro Miura

Tomohiro Usami

Takahiro Oikawa

Masaya Sugita

Hidenobu Korenaga

Toshiaki Fujiwara

Kimihiko Ikeda

Hirosada Miyaoka

Kouji Ishii

Takahiro Fujishiro

Hiroya Akita

Norio Kitamura

An inspection method for a heatsink according to the present disclosure includes a measurement preparation step of placing the heatsink in a place where radiated-heat quantities can be measured by first and second thermal sensors, each of the first and second thermal sensors including a temperature sensor and a heat-concentrating mirror with a heat-receiving surface curved in a concave shape, the first and second thermal sensors being disposed in different places in a state where a heat-receiving line is inclined from a direction in which the fin protrudes by a predetermined angle, a measurement step of acquiring first and second radiated-heat quantities from the first and second thermal sensors, respectively, and a determination step of determining that a coating state of the coating is fine when a total value of the first and second radiated-heat quantities is larger than a predetermined range defined in advance.

Inspecting method for heatsink and manufacturing method for heatsink

There is provided a vehicle electric power system comprising: a battery; a first DC-DC converter configured to step down a voltage of electric power; a second DC-DC converter configured to step down the voltage of the electric power; an electric power storage unit configured to accumulate energy of the electric power whose voltage is stepped down to a first voltage by the second DC-DC converter; an electric power receiving unit configured to receive an electric power from an external device, a voltage of the received electric power being less than the first voltage; and a control circuit configured to control the first DC-DC converter and the second DC-DC converter; wherein the control circuit is started with the electric power received by the electric power receiving unit and operated with electric power, whose voltage is a second voltage less than the first voltage.

Vehicle electric power system

Phase differences between primary-side series-connected first and second arms and secondary-side series-connected fifth and sixth arms and between primary-side series-connected third and fourth arms and secondary-side series-connected seventh and eighth arms are controlled for power being transmitted from the secondary side to the primary side. Turn-off of the fifth arm is corrected to cause an integrating result of a secondary coil current for an interval delayed by a current sensor response delay from an interval between turn-off of the first arm and turn-on of the seventh arm to approach zero, or turn-off of the seventh arm is corrected to cause an integrating result of the secondary coil current for an interval delayed by the response delay from an interval between turn-off of the third arm and turn-on of the fifth arm to approach zero.

Power conversion apparatus

There is provided a electric power conversion method of an electric power conversion apparatus comprising: charging the capacitor by transmitting the electric power from the primary circuit to the secondary circuit; and determining whether a voltage across the capacitor is equal to or greater than a predetermined value; the electric power conversion method further comprising, upon determining that the voltage across the capacitor is greater than or equal to the predetermined value, stopping to drive the primary circuit; driving the first secondary upper arm or the second secondary upper arm; and detecting whether a short-circuiting failure occurs in the first secondary lower arm or in the second secondary lower arm based on a presence or absence of change in a voltage at the secondary port in response to driving the first secondary upper arm or the second secondary upper arm.

Electric power conversion apparatus and electric power conversion method

A full-bridge circuit has serial first arms and serial second arms. Another full-bridge circuit has serial third arms and serial fourth arms. Primary and secondary coils of a transformer are included, respectively, in a part connecting a middle point of the first arms and a middle point of the second arms and a part connecting a middle point of the third arms and a middle point of the fourth arms. A switching phase difference between the first arms and the third arms and a switching phase difference between the second arms and the fourth arms are adjusted, and transmission power between these full-bridge circuits is controlled. Connections of respective electrodes of a power source are inversely connected to respective polarity buses of the other full-bridge circuit. A phase of switching in one of the third and fourth arms other one having a short-circuit failure is inverted.

Power conversion apparatus that switches electrode connection when a short-circuit is detected

A vehicle-applied rear-and-side monitory system including an image taking means for taking an image of a rear-and-side view of the subject vehicle traveling in a lane; a characteristic point extracting device for extracting at least one point as a characteristic point from an image of a following vehicle contained in a first image, taken at a first time-point, of the rear-and-side view, the following vehicle traveling at the rear of the subject vehicle in the lane of the subject vehicle or in a neighboring lane; a corresponding point detecting device for detecting a corresponding point, corresponding to the characteristic point, in a second image taken at a second time-point following the first time-point; an optical flow forming device for forming an optical flow of the characteristic point of the following vehicle from a vector connecting the characteristic point and the corresponding point; and a dead angle area located vehicles-distance calculating device for calculating at least any one of a vehicles-distance between the subject vehicle and the following vehicle and a relative position therebetween after a time-point of disappearance of the optical flow outside an image plane of the image taking device on the basis of the optical flow formed just before the disappearance. Thus, a vehicle-applied rear-and-side monitoring system capable of monitoring an approaching degree of a following vehicle approaching from the rear of the subject vehicle in the lane of the subject vehicle in the neighboring lane can be realized.

Vehicle-applied rear-and-side monitoring system

An operational condition recording apparatus which can record vehicular operational condition information of a vehicle including at least one of running speed, rotational speed of wheels, engine revolving speed, position of a shift, handle steering angle, brake tread power, operational condition of ABS, result of peripheral monitoring and distance between another vehicle, the operational condition recording apparatus includes: a first mode as a recording mode in which the operational condition recording apparatus always records the vehicular operational condition information; and a second mode as the recording mode in which the operation condition recording apparatus records the vehicular operational condition information in more detail compared with that in the first mode, the first and second mode can be switched, wherein the recording mode is switched from the first mode to the second mode when a predetermined determination condition is met.

Operational condition recording apparatus and operating control system utilizing it

In an environment monitoring system using an optical flow, a monitoring region is set in one's own vehicle lane or an adjacent lane on the basis of the white lines. In this case, an early image is divided into a plurality of small regions. An edge is extracted which is an candidate of each the white lines for each the small regions using a virtual FOE for each the small regions acquired previously of the early image. A white line is determined is determined on the basis of the edge extracted. Finally, white line segments are extended for each small region determined to acquire a coordinate of a crossing point thereof and that of the virtual FOE is stored for each the small regions. The virtual FOE is used to extract the edge for each of the small regions of an image newly picked-up in order to detect the optical flow.

Environment monitoring system

In an environment monitoring system using an optical flow, an optical-flow detecting device detects the optical flow in the steps of reverse-projection converting the early image of two early and later images picked up by an image picked up, on the basis of a predetermined optical arrangement of the image pick-up means onto an x-z plane in parallel to a road surface in a real space to acquire a road surface image; computing a moving distance of one's own vehicle in two timings on the basis of a time interval between two timings and speed information of one's own vehicle; parallel-shifting the road surface image by the moving distance thus computed; projection-converting the road surface image after parallel-shifted to acquire an estimated image of the later image in timing; acquiring a differential image between the later image and its estimated image to extract a feature point; and searching a corresponding point of the feature point extracted. In this configuration, it is possible to prevent an object such as a paint which should not be detected on a road surface from being erroneously detected as another surrounding vehicle.

The vehicle surroundings monitor detects the sizes and positions of obstacles, ditches and humans as well as the depths of the ditches to provide the driver with sufficient information to secure safety during driving. The pattern light projector receives an incoming laser beam and projects a light spot matrix in the form of a regular grating onto the monitored area. The camera photographs the light spot pattern on the monitored area and sends image signals to the data processor which processes the image signals to detect the presence of any obstacle, ditch or human. Based on the steering angle detected by the steering angle sensor, the path the car will take is predicted and a possible contact or collision of the car with the obstacle is detected beforehand. The buzzer, voice synthesizer and display device are used to alert the driver and indicate the presence of the obstacles, the possible contact with them and the location where the possible contact will occur.

Vehicle surroundings monitor with obstacle avoidance lighting

A collision alarm method and apparatus for vehicles in which, in order to detect and alarm of danger of collision, the time of possible collision is calculated by a danger judgement means from optical flow. In order for an image processing means to detect the optical flow, a horizontal or vertical noticeable edge is used, which edge is extracted from two images obtained at different times with an image photographing means. The collision alarm method and apparatus for vehicles detect danger of collision at high speed and gives a timely alarm so as to enable collision avoiding action to be securely taken.

Collision alarm method and apparatus for vehicles

In a driver monitoring system, a pattern projecting device consisting of two fiber gratings stacked orthogonally which receive light from a light source projects a pattern of bright spots on a face of a driver. A image pick-up device picks up the pattern of bright spots to provide an image of the face. A data processing device processes the image, samples the driver's face to acquire three-dimensional position data at sampling points and processing the data thus acquired to provide inclinations of the face of the driver in vertical, horizontal and oblique directions. A decision device decides whether or not the driver is in a dangerous state in accordance with the inclinations of the face obtained. A warning device warns the driver against his dangerous state. The pattern light projecting device and pick-up device are integrated to each other and installed on a steering column on a vehicle. Thus, the driver monitoring system can assure performance, reliability and safety without hindering the driver in view of its installation on the vehicle.

Driver monitoring device

A liquid tank includes a tank body forming a reservoir for gasoline G, a flexible partition film 1 arranged in the tank body 1 to divide a space in the tank body into two vertical spaces, a float positioned on the gasoline G, an arm 3 for converting a high and low position of the float 3 into a rotational position of the arm 5, and a potentiometer 5 for detecting a position of the flexible partition film. Since the gasoline G is covered with the partition film, the gasoline G does not vaporize into the air in the tank body an. Even if the gasoline surface is slanted to the tank body an by an acceleration of the vehicle, the flexible partition film serves to restrict the inclination of the surface. Therefore, it is possible to precisely a residual amounts of the gasoline G irrespective of the inclination.

Liquid tank

In a remaining fuel amount measuring apparatus for a fuel tank which is suited to the fuel tank designed to suppress generation of fuel vapor, a CPU actuates a piston to supply a prescribed amount of air into a pressure adjusting chamber, thereby increasing the pressure within the pressure adjusting chamber. From the Boyle's law, the increasing rate of air before air supply is inversely proportional to the volume V of the pressure adjusting chamber. Therefore, the CPU, referring to the pressure within the pressure adjusting chamber before and after the air supply, acquires the volume V of the pressure adjusting chamber, and subtracts the volume V of the pressure adjusting chamber from the internal volume of a tank body to acquire the volume of a fuel chamber, i.e. remaining fuel amount.

Remaining fuel amount measuring apparatus for a fuel tank

A monitoring apparatus for monitoring the periphery of a motor vehicle in which patterns painted on the surface of a road are eliminated to shorten a time required for calculation to determine a position of a subject by processing image data generated by two cameras, whereby image data of the object having a height is derived by subtracting image data generated one camera from image data generating by the other camera after transferring either of image data to the other image coordinate by assuming that the transferring image data have a height of zero (0) for canceling road surface images and sounding an alarm whenever it is determined that the position of the object causes an obstacle of the moving vehicle.

Growing community of inventors

Shizuoka, Japan

Kazuyuki Sasaki