Nissan Motor Company Limited

Kunihiko Morikawa

Masaki Sugimoto

Hiroyuki Hirano

Kenji Ikeura

Kazuhiro Takatori

Nobuteru Hitomi

Hisashi Kitahara

Akira Nakayama

Yutaka Matayoshi

Isao Nakagawa

Haruhito Mori

Tokiyoshi Yanai

Megumu Higuchi

Sakiko Suzuki

Noboru Maruyama

Hideji Yoshioka

Left and right front wheels are steered by rotation of steering shafts, and a steering force from a steering wheel is inputted into the steering shaft. Mutually adjacent ends of the shafts are coupled to a ring gear and a sun gear of a planetary gear set, a steering angle adjustment motor is drivably coupled to a carrier of the planetary gear set, and the rotation ratio between the shafts is made changeable. Left and right rear wheels are steered by rotation of steering shafts, and a steering force from a steering motor is inputted into the shaft. Mutually adjacent ends of the shafts are respectively coupled to a ring gear and a sun gear of a planetary gear set, a steering angle adjustment motor is drivably coupled to a carrier of the planetary gear set, and the rotation ratio between the shafts is made changeable.

Steering device

A steering device basically includes an in-wheel motor drive wheel, a dedicated in-wheel motor drive unit, an upper side fixing seat, a lower side fixing seat and a steering mechanism. The dedicated in-wheel motor drive unit includes an electric motor as a power source. The dedicated in-wheel motor drive unit is integrated with the in-wheel motor drive wheel. The upper side fixing seat is disposed at an upper part of the dedicated in-wheel motor drive unit. The lower side fixing seat is disposed at a lower part of the dedicated in-wheel motor drive unit. The steering mechanism converts a steering force to a steering torque around a king pin axis and applies a torque to the in-wheel motor drive wheel. The steering mechanism is disposed in a location that is on the king pin axis and that is above the in-wheel motor drive wheel.

Steering device for wheel

A variable gear ratio steering apparatus has a steering operating member, a turning unit to turn a vehicle wheel and a gear ratio varying unit arranged between the steering operating member and the turning unit. The gear ratio varying unit comprises a differential gear mechanism, a gear ratio control motor and a steering torque assistance motor. The differential gear mechanism has a first internally toothed gear coupled to the steering operating member, a second internally toothed gear coupled to an input shaft of the turning unit and arranged coaxially with respect to the first internally toothed gear, at least one inside gear meshing with both the first and second internally toothed gears, and an inside gear support member rotatably supporting the inside gear. The gear ratio control motor is connected to the inside gear support part. The steering torque assistance motor is connected to the second internally toothed gear.

Variable gear ratio steering apparatus

A wheel drive system for independently driving right and left wheels of a vehicle is disposed between right and left wheels of the vehicle, and is comprised of a coaxial three-layer motor which includes an inner rotor, an outer rotor and a stator which are coaxially arranged; a first planetary gear reduction mechanism whose input is connected to the inner rotor, and whose output is connected to a first drive shaft of one of right and left wheels; and a second planetary gear reduction mechanism whose input is connected to the outer rotor and whose output is connected to a second drive shaft of the other of the right and left wheels. A reduction ratio of the first planetary gear reduction mechanism is greater than a reduction ratio of the second planetary gear reduction mechanism.

Wheel drive system for independently driving right and left wheels of vehicle

A reduction gear device with a differential gear mechanism 4 for an electric vehicle, has a planetary gear type reduction gear mechanism 3 for transmitting a power from an electric motor 2 to right and left wheels 6, 6 of the vehicle through the differential gear mechanism 4. The reduction gear mechanism 3 is contained in a casing 1, while either of output shafts 4a, 4b of the differential gear mechanism 4 penetrates an output shaft 2c of the electric motor 2. The reduction gear mechanism 3 comprises a plural of complex pinions P each formed by integrating a first pinion P1 and a second pinion P2 having a less number of teeth than that of the first pinion P1, a planetary carrier C3 connected to the output shaft 2c of the electric motor 2 and rotatably supporting each of the complex pinions P at certain positions on a common circle, a first ring gear R1 fixed onto the casing 1 and engaged with the first pinion P1 of each of the complex pinions P, and a second ring gear R2 engaged with the second pinion P2 of each of the complex pinions P and serving to transmit the power from the electric motor 2 to the differential gear mechanism 4. When utilizing a small size motor of high speed type as the electric motor 2, the reduction gear device can reduce a size of the device and simplify a construction of the device, while increasing a reduction ratio thereof.

Reduction gear device with differential gear mechanism for electric

A power transmission unit for an electric vehicle has a planetary-gear type speed reducer disposed between and connected to an electric motor and a driving wheel. The speed reducer has two planetary gear sets in which common pinions are engaged with a fixed first ring gear and a second ring gear acting as an output portion. The common pinions are supported to a common carrier acting as an input portion. The number of teeth of the second ring gear is set to be the same as the sum of a number of teeth of the first ring gear and a number of the common pinions, and the common pinions are located at equal distances. Therefore, the power transmission unit has a proper reduction gear ratio and a high-torque transmission characteristic which are required for an electric vehicle while the speed reducer is formed small in size.

Power transmission unit for electric vehicle

A power plant for a front engine front drive type automotive vehicle. The power plant is comprised of a forward and transversely mounted engine having a cylinder block with which a transaxle is joined through a plurality of joining points with bolts. The final drive unit of the transaxle includes a differential and projects laterally from the transmission. The center axis of the differential is offset low relative to the center axis of a crankshaft of the engine. The engine is disposed to incline rearward relative to the vehicle such that the inclination of the bottom face of the cylinder block relative to a horizontal plane is larger than the inclination of a line connecting the differential center axis and the differential center axis relative to the horizontal plane, thereby rigidly supporting the final drive unit.

Power plant for automotive vehicle

First and second sets of grooves define first and second sets of elongate projections which are respectively subject to compression and elongation when the shaft in which they are defined, is subject to torque. Two yoked coils which are excited with an alternating current, are each disposed close to a set of projections. The compression and elongation of the projections changes the amount of magnetic flux which flows along the projections and therefore the inductance of the coils. The coils form part of a bridge circuit which is sensitive to the change in inductance in a manner which enables the amount of torque to be measured.

Magnetostriction type torque sensor

An annular milling cutter for machining bevel gears is disclosed, which has a set of cutter blades including an inner blade and an outer one. A blade point width and a radius of curvature of a corner of a head of the outer blade are larger than the counterparts of the inner blade.

Annular milling cutter for machining bevel gear

A torque sensor for use in automotive transmissions includes first and second sets of grooves define first and second sets of elongate projections which are respectively subject to compression and elongation when the shaft in which they are defined, is subject to torque. Two yoked coils which are excited with an alternating current, are each disposed close to a set of projections. The compression and elongation of the projections changes the amount of magnetic flux which flows along the projections and therefore the inductance of the coils. The coils form part of a bridge circuit which is sensitive to the change in inductance in a manner which enables the amount of torque to be measured.

In a method of manufacturing a rack for a variable ratio rack and pinion steering gear, having a preforming process for preparing a rack blank having a plurality of teeth which are formed to a shape corresponding approximately to the shape desired in the finished rack and a finishing process for converting the teeth to the finished shape by cold forming in a die having a shape which is the exact counterpart of the finished shape, the preformed rack teeth are shaped to have top lands which are level with those in the finished shape and bottom lands that are deeper than those of same. The rack teeth in the preformed shape are all wider at the top areas than in the finished shape, and the ratio of the widths at the root areas of the rack teeth in the preformed shape to those in the finished shape varies in proportion to the variation of the steering ratio such that a rack tooth for a higher steering ratio is given the above-mentioned ratio that is larger.

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Hiratsuka, Japan

Kunihiko Morikawa