Kabushiki Kaisha Toyota Chuo Kenkyusho

Other

Michio Ishiguro

Yasutaka Hayashi

Kazumasa Sumi

Kazuo Miki

Katsuhiko Fukui

Yoshiyuki Yasui

Mamoru Sawada

Eiichi Ono

Kenji Asano

Akira Tanaka

Hiroaki Yoshida

Yuji Muragishi

Shunichi Doi

Shoji Ito

Yuzo Yamamoto

Kazukata Takei

Satoru Matsushima

Noboru Sugiura

Shigeru Sakuma

Tsugiharu Matsunaga

Yoshiteru Mizutani

A braking force control device is provided in which wheel speeds of respective wheels of a vehicle are detected. On the basis of detected wheel speeds, a road surface &mgr; slope, which is a slope of a coefficient of friction &mgr; between a wheel and a road surface, is estimated for each wheel. On the basis of the road surface &mgr; slope estimated for each wheel, a braking force of each wheel is controlled such that the braking force of each wheel is adjusted.

Braking force control device

A tire uniformity measuring apparatus having: a drum for rotating a tire; an oscillating member disposed parallel to a drum rotating shaft and pivotally supported on a machine base through a fulcrum; a movable member disposed in parallel to the drum rotating shaft in the plane including the drum rotating shaft and a tire rotating shaft, the movable member being laterally movable in response to a load acting on the tire in a lateral direction perpendicular to the radial direction of the tire; a load applying member for applying in advance a predetermined load to the tire; and a displacement detecting member for detecting as a displacement of the movable member the displacement of the tire rotating shaft which is dependent on variation in the lateral load; thereby detecting a variation in the lateral load of the tire. The apparatus may comprise a further movable member which is a shaft member constituting the fulcrum, the movable member being slidably movable along the longitudinal axis only in response to a variation in the tangential load, and a further displacement detecting member for detecting a displacement of the movable member, thereby detecting a variation in the tangential load acting on the tire.

Apparatus for measuring tire uniformity

A rear wheel steer angle controlling apparatus for vehicles having steerable front and rear wheels, adapted for controlling the steer angle of rear wheels in response to the operation of the steering wheel for steering the front wheels. When the steering wheel is operated quickly, a rear wheel steer angle is formed in the counter direction to the direction of the front wheel steer angle, so that the response to the steering input for turning the vehicle is improved. Conversely, when the steering wheel is operated slowly, a rear wheel steer angle is formed in the same direction as the front wheel steer angle, thus enhancing the stability of the vehicle running straight. When the vehicle is running at a high speed, the rear wheel steer angle is formed always in the same direction as the front wheel steer angle regardless of the speed of operation of the steering wheel, so that the steering stability during high speed running is improved. When a yawing moment is generated due to a disturbance such as lateral wind, the rear wheel steer angle is automatically controlled in such a manner as to negate the yawing moment, thus compensating for the lateral displacement of the vehicle without requiring correcting steering operation by the driver.

Apparatus for controlling steer angle of rear wheels of vehicle

An apparatus for controlling steer angle of rear wheels of a 4-wheel steering vehicle in accordance with the operation of a steering wheel for generating steer angle of front wheels. The apparatus comprises a first member which moves in response to the operation of the steering wheel; a second member which moves in response to the operation of the steering wheel in a direction counter to that of the first member; an output shaft for controlling the steer of the rear wheels; a resilient member disposed between the first member and the output shaft and a controller disposed between the second member and the output shaft for controlling the direction of movement of the output shaft in accordance with the speed of operation of the steering wheel. When the steering wheel is operated at high speed, the resilient member absorbs the force from the first member so that the output shaft moves in the same direction as the second member, whereby the rear wheels are turned in a direction counter to that of the front wheels. When the steering wheel is operated at low speed, the force from the second member is damped so that the output shaft moves in the same direction as the first member, whereby the rear wheels are turned in the same direction as the front wheels.

Apparatus for controlling steering angle of rear wheels of a vehicle

Growing community of inventors

Toyota, Japan

Michio Ishiguro