Honda Giken Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha

Honda Motor Co., Ltd.

Koji Okazaki

Takashi Nakayama

Shuji Sato

Satoshi Kaneko

Masaaki Muromachi

Narutoshi Sugita

Yoshinori Wariishi

Takafumi Okamoto

Hiroyuki Makino

Masaki Ueyama

Toshiaki Kobayashi

Yuta Kimura

Yasuji Nozawa

Norio Neki

Hideo Shimizu

Hideaki Takahashi

Manabu Tanaka

Yosuke Fujii

Hidetaka Ozawa

Akio Yamamoto

Toshio Yokoyama

Hidehito Ikebe

Takashi Komura

Susumu Toki

Shigeru Toda

Tsutomu Hatsugai

Hiroyuki Niikura

Masahiro Ise

Takeshi Yamagami

Hiroo Shimada

Masakazu Kinoshita

Hiroshi Umeno

Masaaki Hiratani

In a walking assistance device () that can transmit the power generated by a power generator () to a femoral part of a user, a swing arm () is attached to an output member of the power generator at a base end thereof, and is connected to a femoral support plate () at a free end thereof via a pivot joint (). The pivot joint includes a spherical projection () provided on the free end of the swing arm and a socket () provided on the femoral support plate, the socket defining a spherical recess () configured to receive the spherical projection to permit a tilting movement of the femoral support plate at least in two directions with respect to the free end of the swing arm. Thereby, the femoral support plate is enabled to accommodate the build and/or the movement of the femoral part of the user.

Walking assistance device

Provided is a robot capable of appropriately adjusting a position and the like of a main body in view of executing a specified task involving an interaction with a target object. While the position and posture of the main body () are being controlled according to a second target path, the robot () moves from a first specified area to a second specified area and stands there. In this state, a second position deviation (=the deviation of the position of the main body from a second target path) and a second posture deviation (=the deviation of the posture of the main body from a second target posture) are determined. According to the determination result, the second target path is corrected so that the subsequent position deviation and the like may be smaller.

Robot

A charging apparatus for a mobile robot enabling the mobile robot to move relatively freely even during charging using a wiring member, while preventing occurrence of an inconvenience such as damage to the wiring member, is provided. The charging apparatus includes a charging power source, a control board which controls the charging power source, and a wiring members for use in supplying electric power from the charging power source to a battery mounted on the mobile robot. The wiring member is connected to the mobile robot to follow the movement of the robot. The charging apparatus further includes a detector which detects tension applied to the wiring member. When the wiring members is pulled, an appropriate measure to stop the mobile robot or disconnect the wiring member from the robot is taken in accordance with a signal from the tension detector.

Charging apparatus for mobile robot

A charging system for a walking robot which charges a battery mounted on the walking robot by connecting a power supplying connector provided in a charging station to a power receiving connector in the walking robot, wherein the walking robot is capable of moving without significant restrictions during charging. The charging system includes a lock mechanism for locking the power supplying connector to the power receiving connector. A connector holder holds the power supplying connector detachably, an advancing/retracting mechanism advances and retracts the connector holder in the anteroposterior direction, and a lock operation mechanism performs a lock operation and an unlock operation of the lock mechanism via the connector holder. After an advance of the connector holder, the lock mechanism performs the lock operation to lock the power supplying connector to the power receiving connector. Thereafter, the connector holder is retracted out of the power supplying connector.

Charging system for walking robot and charging method therefor

A charging system for a legged mobile robot that facilitates positioning of a robot to be charged and does not put a load on the robot is provided. The charging system includes a battery, a power receiving connectorand a movable shutter membercapable of being opened and closed on a rear cover, which are provided on a robot, and a holder, a power supplying connector, a slide mechanism, a base plate, a charging power supplyand the like, which are provided on a charging station. The robotperforms a predetermined positioning on the base plateand then moves the center of gravity rearward to connect the power receiving connectorto the power supplying connector. In this step, when the rear coverof the robotis guided by a first guide sectionof the holder, the slide mechanismallows the holderto move horizontally. Thus, even if the robotand the charging stationare slightly misaligned with each other, the robotcan be easily positioned correctly.

Charging system for legged mobile robot

An apparatus capable of charging a battery mounted on a robot while allowing the robot to remain stably still in the state of standing on its legs is provided. Driving a first connector backward while it is connected with a second connector would cause a body of the robot to tilt as if being pulled by the first connector. However, it is possible to prevent the posture of the robot from becoming unstable by utilizing the fact that the connected state of first signal terminals and second signal terminals is maintained in that state. The backward driving of the first connector is restricted when a charge control unit is capable of communicating with a control system via the first signal terminals and the second signal terminals. This prevents the undesirable event that the posture of the robot becomes unstable due to the first connector being driven backward unconditionally.

Charging apparatus

For controlling operation of a vehicle-mounted fuel cell stack, a determination is made as to whether consumed electric power, measured during travel of a vehicle, is greater than standard electric power. If so, a generated electric power amount (output) of a fuel cell stack is judged to be great, in which case not only a fan is activated for rotation but also an air allocation mechanism is operated in an opening direction. In an alternative, information of a traveling velocity is also taken into account. Namely, when the fuel cell stack is operated in a vehicle traveling state where the vehicle's traveling velocity does not increase despite an increase in the electric power output from the cell stack, not only the fan is activated for rotation but also the air allocation mechanism is operated in the opening direction, so that a cooling-air flow amount can be increased.

Method for operating vehicle-mounted fuel cell stack

Temperature of power generating cells is measured, and, if the measured temperature is lower than a preset standard operating temperature, control is performed for zeroing an allocated amount of cooling air via an air allocation mechanism. During a startup period, cooling-air introduction openings are closed with reacting-air introduction openings kept open and an air-sucking-in fan activated. Thus, the entire amount of introduced air is caused to flow through the reacting-air introduction openings into the cells for reaction with hydrogen with a minimized cooling effect so that the power generation reaction can be promoted, which can reduce a time necessary for the cell temperature to increase up to a predetermined operating level. By constantly performing the control for zeroing the allocated amount of cooling air during the startup and subsequent periods, the power generating cell temperature is constantly allowed to rise readily as desired.

Vehicle-mounted fuel cell stack includes one or more cooling cells and an air allocation mechanism. Via the allocation mechanism, air flowing in a front-to-rear direction of the vehicle is introduced through reacting-air introduction openings of power generating cells and also introduced through cooling-air introduction openings of the cooling cells, so that the power generating cells can be cooled by the cooling cells. Sliding movement of the air allocation mechanism can allocate the cooling air and reacting air in desired amounts, so that it is possible to not only appropriately deal with an increase in the power generation amount but also appropriately remove excessive heat. Because the cooling cells are each constructed of thin metal plates, they can effectively remove a great amount of heat produced from power generating cells, with an enhanced efficiency.

Vehicle-mounted fuel cell stack

A fuel cell stack includes a first separator and a second separator. A reactant air flow channel is formed on one surface of the second separator. A fuel gas flow channel is formed on one surface of the first separator. Further, a coolant air flow channel is formed on the first separator, on the other surface opposite to the fuel gas flow channel. The reactant air flow channel is connected between a reactant air inlet and a reactant air outlet. A coolant air flow channel is connected between a coolant air inlet and a coolant air outlet. The reactant air flow channel and the coolant air flow channel are configured such that the pressure loss of the reactant air between the reactant air inlet and the reactant air outlet and the pressure loss of the coolant air between the coolant air inlet and the coolant air outlet are substantially the same.

Fuel cell stack

A fuel cell stack includes power generation cells, terminal plates, first cooling cells, and second cooling cells. The terminal plates are electrically connected to the power generation cells. The first cooling cells are interposed between the terminal plates, and a cooling liquid is supplied to the first cooling cells for cooling the power generation cells. The second cooling cells are interposed between the terminal plates. A predetermined number of power generation cells are interposed between the first cooling cell and the second cooling cell. A cooling air is supplied to the second cooling cell for cooing the power generation cells.

A fuel cell system comprises a fuel cell stack including stacked power-generating cells, a cooling medium-circulating passage for supplying a cooling medium to the fuel cell stack in a circulating manner to cool the power-generating cells, and a heat exchange means arranged for the cooling medium-circulating passage, for performing a heat exchange treatment for the cooling medium used to cool the power-generating cells, wherein the operation temperature of the fuel cell stack is set to be within a range of 100&deg; C. to 210&deg; C. Accordingly, it is possible to improve durability of the fuel cell system in the high output operation and to easily miniaturize the fuel cell system.

Fuel cell system

A tube having a passage for passage of a temperature-regulating medium therethrough has a surface covered with an elastic insulating layer which is coated with an insulating lubricant. The tube is inserted in a through hole which is defined in a fuel cell stack in the direction in which generator cells are stacked.

Fuel cell

A fuel cell stack comprises a power-generating cell and a cooling cell which are stacked, an insulating means for electrically insulating the cooling medium supplied into the cooling cell from the power-generating cell, and a conducting means for electrically connecting the power-generating cells arranged with the cooling cell interposed therebetween to one another. Accordingly, the earth fault and the liquid junction, which would be otherwise caused by cooling medium, is reliably avoided with a simple structure, making it possible to maintain desired power generation performance.

Disclosed is a fuel cell stack comprising fuel cell units and first and second separators which are alternately stacked with each other. Wedge members are integrally inserted, over the plurality of fuel cell units, into communication holes of a fuel gas supply passage, an oxygen-containing gas supply passage, and a cooling water supply passage, as well as a fuel gas discharge passage, an oxygen-containing gas discharge passage, and a cooling water discharge passage. A fluid is uniformly delivered to each of the fuel cell units by the aid of the wedge members. Accordingly, the fluid of any one of a fuel gas, an oxygen-containing gas, and a cooling medium is uniformly delivered to each of the fuel cell units. Further, it is possible to simplify the arrangement of the fuel cell stack.

Growing community of inventors

Wako, Japan

Koji Okazaki