Nissan Motor Company Limited

Kenji Terauchi

Takuya Murakami

Yoichiro Kato

An apparatus for diagnosing a low voltage battery includes a high voltage battery for powering an electric automobile, a voltage converter that reduces the output of the high voltage battery to a low voltage, a low voltage battery for powering the auxiliaries of the automobile, a current/voltage sensor, a controller, and a warning indicator. The low voltage battery is connected to the high voltage battery through the voltage convertor and a resistor is connected to the low voltage battery. The current/voltage sensor detects electric currents and voltages of the low voltage battery and the resistor. The controller diagnoses the degradation of the low voltage battery at the start of operation of the automobile by referring the output of the current/voltage sensor to a set of selected predetermined reference values. A battery relay interrupts the connection between the high voltage battery and the low voltage battery to diagnose the low voltage battery and the warning indicator alerts to a degradation of the low voltage battery.

Apparatus for diagnosing low voltage battery

A double link type suspension system for an automotive vehicle is comprised of an extension member movably connecting the upper section of a knuckle and an upper control arm. The knuckle upper section and the lower end section of the extension member are connected through a rotatable joint mechanism including a cylindrical member fixed to the extension member whose axis is aligned with the axis line passing through a joint between the lower section of the knuckle and a lower control arm. A pivot shaft fixed to the knuckle upper section is disposed inside a pair of deep groove ball bearings supported inside the cylindrical member. Additionally, a stabilizer bar is provided in such a manner that its end section is attached to the extension member lower end section at a position closer to the center axis of the vehicle body, thereby preventing steering effort change caused by change of steering turn angle of the wheel.

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Isehara, Japan

Kenji Terauchi