Toyota Jidosha Kabushiki Kaisha

Aisin Seiki Kabushiki Kaisha

Mizuho Sugiyama

Hiroaki Tanaka

Kaoru Ohashi

Shoji Inagaki

Osamu Takeda

Shirou Monzaki

Shin Koike

Masaru Ishikawa

Yasuo Oguni

Hitoshi Iwata

Takashi Kondo

Akio Sato

Shinji Kato

Yuji Yokoya

Soya Takagi

Hideki Kusunoki

Tsukasa Watanabe

Fumio Kojima

A braking and drive force control apparatus for a vehicle whose wheels are separately driven by electric motors. A controller calculates a drive force or a braking force to be applied to each wheel in accordance with the average sprung displacement and average sprung velocity of the vehicle body which are calculated based on sensed sprung acceleration. By adding the calculated drive force or braking force to the drive force at the time of running, at the time of bouncing of the vehicle body, a downwards force can be generated in the vehicle body which is rising, and an upwards force can be generated in the vehicle body which is descending. By applying an upwards or downwards force to each wheel so as to permit upwards and downwards vibration of the wheels, variations in the ground contact load can be suppressed.

Braking and drive force control apparatus for a vehicle

A vehicle attitude control apparatus has suspensions Sfl, Srl, Sfr, and Srr that suspend each of front-left, rear-left, front-right and rear-right wheels Wfl, Wrl, Wfr, and Wrr; electric motorsandthat independently drive each of four wheels; lateral acceleration sensor; and controller. The controllercalculates the roll angle and roll direction of a vehicle body BD by using the detected lateral acceleration. Further, the controllerincreases or decreases the driving torques generated by the electric motorstoby a driving torque changing amount in accordance with the calculated roll angle and roll direction. With the increase or decrease in the driving torques generated by the electric motorstoby the driving torque changing amount, downward force is generated on the vehicle body moving up upon the vehicle roll (at respective instant centers determined by the suspensions at the side where the vehicle body moves up), and upward force is generated on the vehicle body moving down upon the vehicle roll (at respective instant centers determined by the suspensions at the side where the vehicle body moves down).

Vehicle attitude control apparatus

A housing structure of an in-wheel motor, the housing structure being formed by combining a plurality of divided housings, the housing structure receiving at least an electric motor for revolving a wheel, the housing structure includes a suspension side divided housing having a fixing boss for fixing the housing structure to a suspension system, and a connection side divided housing connecting to the suspension side divided housing and having a connection boss formed in a position corresponding to a position where the fixing boss is formed.

Housing structure of in-wheel motor

A device for measuring a rotation angle of a rotary element has first, second and third photo-electric sensors, and a rotary disk having first and second circular arrays of openings, each radial edge of the first array of openings being adapted to be detectable by the first photo-electric sensor so as to generate a first electric signal alternating between &ldquo;on&rdquo; and &ldquo;off&rdquo; each time when the rotary disk rotates each five times of a unit angle, each radial edge of the second array of openings being adapted to be detectable by the second and third photo-electric sensors so as to generate second and third electric signals, respectively, the second and third signals each alternating between either &ldquo;on&rdquo; and &ldquo;off&rdquo; or &ldquo;off&rdquo; and &ldquo;on&rdquo; each time when the rotary disk rotates alternately two times and three times of the unit angle, the &ldquo;on&rdquo; and &ldquo;off&rdquo; alternations of the first, second and third signals being shifted from one another by a multiple (including one) of the unit angle, wherein the &ldquo;on&rdquo; and &ldquo;off&rdquo; alternations of the first, second and third signals successively occurs are counted to obtain a rotation angle of the disk, and various irregularities in the occurrence of the &ldquo;on&rdquo; and &ldquo;off&rdquo; signals are checked by the order of occurrence thereof in each set of five consecutive occurrences thereof.

Device for measuring rotation angle of rotary element by unit angles grouped for five units

A gear shift control device of an automatic transmission of a vehicle, including a slip angle estimator for estimating a slip angle of at least one of a pair of drive wheels; a slip ratio estimator that estimates the slip ratio of the one drive wheel; a determiner that determines an upshift of the automatic transmission when the absolute value of the estimated slip ratio is greater than a threshold value; and a upshift executor for executing the upshift automatic transmission according to the upshift determined by the determiner, wherein the determiner determines the upshift to be of a greater number of stage within an available range against the absolute value of the estimated slip ratio according as the absolute value of the estimated slip angle is greater.

Gear shift control device of automatic transmission for variable stage

A gear shift control device of an automatic transmission of a vehicle, including: a means for estimating a target shift stage for harmonizing rotation speed and power output of engine of the vehicle; a means for estimating slip angle of at least one of the pair of drive wheels; a means for estimating slip ratio of the at least one drive wheel which would be caused thereon by the automatic transmission being shifted to the target shift stage; a means for estimating tire grip of the at least one drive wheel based upon the estimated slip angle and the estimated slip ratio; a means for judging if the estimated tire grip of the at least one drive wheel is in a grip range predetermined therefor; and a means for executing gear shift of the automatic transmission when the target shift stage is different from a current shift stage with the estimated tire grip being within the predetermined grip range.

Gear shift control device of automatic transmission with estimation of

A stability control device for a vehicle is shown that estimates a liability of a vehicle body to drift-out in order to produce a drift-out quantity that generally increases along with the increase of the drift-out liability. A brake device selectively applies a variable braking force to each wheel, with the brake device including a manually controlled pressure source having a brake pedal and an accumulator pressure source. A controller controls the brake device according to the drift-out quantity so as to variably apply a braking force to a selected wheel for suppressing the vehicle body against drifting out. The controller controls the brake device by employing the manually controlled pressure source when the brake pedal is substantially stepped on, while employing the accumulator pressure source when the brake pedal is not substantially stepped on. The use of the manually controlled pressure source may also be conditioned upon a friction coefficient of a road surface not being greater than a predetermined threshold value.

Stability control device of vehicle compatible with foot braking

A drift-out suppress control device of a vehicle having a mechanism for estimating a liability of the vehicle body to drift out for producing a drift-out quantity which generally increases along with increase of the drift-out liability; a brake mechanism for selectively applying a variable braking force to each wheel; and a control mechanism for controlling the brake mechanism according to the drift-out quantity so as variably to apply a braking force to rear left and rear right wheels with a target value therefor for suppressing the vehicle body against drifting out, the target value being generally proportional to the drift-out quantity and being divided between the rear left and rear right wheels according to a distribution ratio, wherein the control mechanism decreases a share of the distribution ratio for one of the rear left and rear right wheels serving at the inside of a turn to be progressively lesser relative to a share of the distribution ratio for the other of the rear left and rear right wheels serving at the outside of the turn as the drift-out control approaches the end thereof.

Drift-out suppress control device of vehicle improved for termination of

An electric control system for controlling a travel characteristic of an automotive vehicle, wherein a driving condition, movement conditions and a travel course of the vehicle are detected and a number of parameters indicative of a resultant of learning based on a teacher data are memorized, and wherein a neural network is adapted to estimate a characteristic index indicative of a driving characteristic of the driver on a basis of the memorized parameters and the detected driving condition and travel course of the vehicle. In the control system, a control signal for control of the travel characteristic of the vehicle is produced in accordance with the detected movement conditions of the vehicle and corrected in accordance with the estimated characteristic index.

Travel characteristic control system for automotive vehicle

A device for estimating side slide velocity of a vehicle, comprising: a component for detecting longitudinal velocity of the vehicle body; a component for detecting yaw rate of the vehicle body about its center of gravity; a component for detecting lateral acceleration of the vehicle body at the center of gravity; and a component for integrating on time basis difference between the lateral acceleration detected by the lateral acceleration detection component and product of the yaw rate detected by the yaw rate detection component and the longitudinal velocity detected by the longitudinal velocity detection component such that only high frequency components thereof are integrated to produce a side slide velocity signal. The device may further comprise a component for estimating slip angle of at least either the front wheels or the rear wheels and converting the estimated slip angle into side slide velocity of the vehicle body at its center of gravity to produce a side slide velocity signal; and a component for summing the side slide velocity signal produced by the integration component and the side slide velocity signal produced by the slip angle estimation and conversion component to produce a final side slide velocity signal.

Device for estimating side slide velocity of vehicle compatible with

An electric control apparatus for a four-wheel steering system of an automotive vehicle having a front wheel steering mechanism for a set of dirigible front road wheels and a rear wheel steering mechanism for a set of dirigible rear road wheels, which includes a yaw rate sensor arranged to detect an actual yaw rate of the vehicle for producing a detection signal indicative of the actual yaw rate, and a microcomputer programmed to determine a target steering angle of the rear road wheels in proportion to a high-frequency component of the actual yaw rate for producing a control signal indicative of the target steering angle and to apply the control signal to an electrically operated actuator of the rear wheel steering mechanism so that the rear road wheels are steered at the target steering angle.

Electric control apparatus for four-wheel steering system

A steering angle sensor for accurately detecting the steering angle of a vehicle, which has a signal pattern based on partial changes of the electromagnetic characteristics formed at part of the steering rack bar of the steering gear box and reads the same by a signal detector provided opposing the steering rack bar so as to detect the absolute position of the steering rack bar.

Steering angle sensor

An electric control apparatus for a rear wheel steering mechanism in a four-wheel steering system of a wheeled vehicle is designed to detect a yaw rate of the vehicle body for determining a target steering amount for steering a set of dirigible rear road wheels in accordance with a magnitude of the detected yaw rate in a direction restraining the yaw rate of the vehicle body and to produce a control signal indicative of the target steering amount for applying it to an electrically operated actuator of the rear wheel steering mechanism. The electric control apparatus is further designed to detect a roll angle and/or a roll angle speed of the vehicle body and to determine a correction amount for steering the rear road wheels in accordance with a magnitude of the detected roll angle and/or roll angle speed in an opposite direction relative to the direction restraining the yaw rate of the vehicle body and adding the correction amount to the target steering amount.

Electric control apparatus for rear wheel steering mechanism of wheeled

A rear-wheel steering apparatus for a wheeled vehicle has a linkage mechanism for steering a set of dirigible rear road wheels. The steering apparatus includes a planetary gear unit, the carrier of which is adapted as an output element drivingly connected to an input member of the linkage mechanism, a first electric motor, the output shaft of which is drivingly connected to a sun gear of the planetary gear unit, a first electromagnetic brake mechanism arranged to be activated only when the vehicle is travelling at a higher speed than a predetermined speed for restricting rotation of the sun gear, a second electric motor, the output shaft of which is drivingly connected to a ring gear of the planetary gear unit, and a second electromagnetic brake mechanism arranged to be activated only when the vehicle is travelling at a lower speed than the predetermined speed for restricting rotation of the ring gear.

Rear-wheel steering apparatus for wheeled vehicle

Rear wheels are returned to central orientations when a rear wheel steering mechanism of 4WS system fails to operate. Required drive power is minimized and the apparatus is reduced in size. A main motor M1 is coupled to a steering shaft 1 through a drive transmitting mechanism 1a, 5a, 5b and 6a, and an auxiliary electric motor M2 is coupled to a drive shaft 6 through a gear mechanism 9, 12, 8a, 7 which includes a solenoid operated clutch CL. The motor M2 is normally disengaged from the drive shaft, but upon detecting the occurrence of a failure, the clutch is activated and the motor M2 is set in operation for returning the steered position of the rear wheels to the center.

Growing community of inventors

Toyota, Japan

Mizuho Sugiyama