Honda Giken Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha

Osamu Bunya

Takeshi Wakabayashi

Kanji Hayashi

Yosuke Hasegawa

Tomoyuki Harada

Takeyasu Itabashi

Toshio Yamagiwa

Hiroaki Tsukui

Takehiko Nanri

Kazuo Yamamoto

Shinji Goto

Masakazu Kadota

Noritoshi Iwase

Yoshiaki Nakashima

Mikio Sagara

Hideo Koide

Noriyuki Kawamata

Takashi Ashigai

Hiroyuki Kawasaki

Hideki Yamaguchi

To make steerability more satisfactory in conformity with actual operation, by correcting the regulation of a damping force based on a variable quantity which has a close relationship with the magnitude of kick-back and with which the steering conditions at the time of actual operation can be grasped appropriately, in contrast to the system in which the regulation of the damping force is controlled linearly in proportion to a variable quantity related to the magnitude of kick-back. In a steering damper system of the liquid pressure type in which a damping force is exerted on a front wheel steering system provided at a front portion of a vehicle body and which comprises a control valve for making the damping force variable, the damping force is controlled based on the steering speed.

Steering damper system

An end of a hollow member is connected to an air valve for introducing air into a tire. A detecting and transmitting unit for detecting an air pressure in the tire and transmitting pressure information out of the detecting and transmitting unit is connected to an opposite end of the hollow member. A detecting and transmitting unit is mounted on a hub of a wheel portion. The positioning of the detecting and transmitting unit minimizes any deviation from the dynamic balancing of the wheel. Consequently, the air pressure detecting device for a wheel can be subsequently installed on the vehicle.

Air pressure detecting device for wheel

If a steering damper is fixed to a top bridge, since the steering damper is comparatively heavy and the top bridge is on the steering side, steering inertia increases. An arrangement structure of the steering damper which does not greatly influence the steering inertia has been realized. A rotatable partition wall is provided in a hydraulic chamber of a steering damper to partition the inside into a right hydraulic chamber and a left hydraulic chamber. Both hydraulic chambers are in communication with each other by a liquid passage. A control valve is provided in an intermediate part of the passage and is switched to a lock or a throttle thereby a damping force zero status or a damping force generation status is set.

Saddle-ride type vehicle steering damper apparatus

A steering damper device attenuating the oscillations of the handlebar of a motorcycle during operation, and more particularly, a device capable of varying a damping force variable. The steering damping device prevents the adverse effect of oscillations of the handlebar that would otherwise occur when the load on the front wheel of the motorcycle becomes light. The device includes a rotary steering damper provided in a coaxial manner on a steering shaft. Either a damping force or zero damping force is produced by a variable valve arranged in the bypass passage communicating with a right liquid chamber and a left liquid chamber. The variable valve is controlled by a control device and generates a damping force in the steering damper only when the acceleration of the motorcycle as detected by the acceleration sensor exceeds a threshold value.

Steering damper device

In a steering damper utilizing hydraulic pressure, even if generation of a damping force is controlled in correspondence with an external force inputted to a handle upon external perturbations and the like, the damping force changes due to change in liquid temperature of working liquid. Accordingly, to precisely control the damping force, correction based on change in liquid temperature of the working liquid is required. However, to measure the change in liquid temperature of the working liquid, it is necessary to provide a particular measurement device requiring a complicated structure, which increases the number of parts and costs. Accordingly, the present invention has an object to provide a steering damper which can easily temperature-correct the damping force without such difficulty. A liquid chamber is provided in a main body of a steering damper. An inside of the liquid chamber is partitioned into a right liquid chamber and a left liquid chamber by a rotatable partition wall integral with a shaft coaxial with a steering shaft. Both liquid chambers are connected with each other by a liquid passage, and a control valve is provided in the middle of the passage such that the damping force is variable. A control device drive-controls the control valve in correspondence with a turning angle speed of the shaft and the partition wall, thereby controls the damping force, and corrects the damping force based on intake temperature information detected by an intake temperature sensor.

Steering damper apparatus

An air pressure detecting device serves to detect the air pressure of a wheel of a vehicle which has a tire tube disposed in a tire, the air pressure detecting device is disposed between the tire tube and the rim of the wheel portion for detecting the air pressure of the tire. The air pressure detecting device has a pressure bearing plate held in contact with the outer surface of the tire tube, a pressure sensor for detecting a pressure of the pressure bearing plate, and a detecting and transmitting unit for detecting pressure information from the pressure sensor, converting the pressure information into an electric signal, and transmitting the electric signal as a radio wave. The pressure bearing plate, the pressure sensor, and the detecting and transmitting unit are superposed in the order named. The components including the pressure bearing plate, the pressure sensor, and the detecting and transmitting circuit can be installed without the need for a special modification of the tire tube and the rim. As a result, the cost of the air pressure detecting device can be reduced.

A liquid pressure type steering damper system for generating a damping force for preventing a handle from being swung due to a kick-back upon a disturbance wherein the generation of the damping force is nonlinear so that the steering angle would not be enlarged so much even if the kick-back becomes greater. A liquid pressure type steering damper is provided with a restriction passage for a working liquid and a solenoid-type control valve for varying the passage sectional area of the restriction passage. A needle portion is formed at the tip end of a plunger constituting the solenoid valve and is made to advance and retract in a restriction portion connected to a bypass passage. An annular gap passage is formed between the needle portion and the inside wall of the restriction portion so that, when the needle portion advances or retracts in proportion to the steering speed of a front wheel steering system, the clearance area of the gap passage is varied in the manner of a quadric curve in relation to the stroke amount of the needle portion, whereby the generation of the damping force is rapidly increased in the manner of a quadric curve. In addition, an upper limit of the damping force is restricted by an electromagnetic force of the solenoid valve.

A rim drop section dented in a shape of a ring is provided on an inner side of a bead seat section of a rim for holding a bead section of a tire. Furthermore, a recessed section is provided on this rim drop section, and a detecting device main body of a tire air pressure detecting device is accommodated in this recessed section. When a tire is assembled on a cast wheel by utilizing a tire changer or the like, or when the tire is removed from the cast wheel, the bead sections of the tire are prevented from interfering with an air pressure sensor, and damaging of the air pressure sensor is prevented.

On vehicle tire air pressure detecting device and cast wheel mounting the device

A steering damper for reducing the inertia of steering that is attached in a low position relative to the steering shaft. The upper portion of a steering shaft is fitted in the center of the rear of a top bridge as a fitting part and a lower screw part of a shaft is tightened in the fitting part and is integrated with the fitting part. The shaft is provided with a shaft main part having a small diameter extending in an axial direction of the steering shaft, when the shaft main part is made to pierce a turning shaft in the steering damper. A steering nut is attached to an upper screw part at the upper end and the upper screw part is tightened. The steering damper and the top bridge are fixed to the upper portion of the steering shaft by jointly fastening. Hereby, a steering nut heretofore provided under the steering damper can be omitted and a position in which the steering damper is attached can be lowered by the quantity. A rear portion of the liquid-operated steering damper is designed to fit into a space in the fuel tank so that it does not interfere with the front end of a fuel tank. The steering damper does not interfere with the capacity of the fuel tank.

Steering damper for saddle-type vehicle

To generate a damping force in a steering damper only upon an unintentionally caused handle action when it is truly necessary to restrain the turning of the handle, according to whether the cause of a handle action is intentional or unintentional. A rotation type steering damper is provided coaxially with a steering shaft, and the generation of a damping force or zero damping force is selected through a changeover by a variable valve provided in a bypass passage for communication between a right liquid chamber and a left liquid chamber of the steering damper. The changeover is controlled by a control device, which functions based on the direction of a moment exerted on the steering shaft detected by a moment sensor and the magnitude and direction of a rotational angular velocity concerning the turning of the steering shaft detected by a rotational angular velocity sensor, for controlling a damping force that is generated only when an unintentionally caused handle turning action opposite in direction to the moment is present and the rotational angular velocity has exceeded a predetermined threshold value.

A steering damper system for motorcycles provided for generating an adjustable damping force for restraining the shaking of the steering system at the time of disturbance. The system includes a cross member laid between the front portions of the mainframes branching to the left and right from the head pipe and extending to the rear, and a steering damper mounted at the center of the cross member. A sector gear projects forward from the housing, and the teeth thereof are inserted through the opening formed on the head pipe, and are engaged with the drive gear integrally mounted around the steering stem rotatably supported within the head pipe. The resulting steering damper provides the desired adjustable damping force without adversely increasing the inertia of the steering system.

Steering damper system for vehicles

An air pressure detecting device for detecting the air pressure of a wheel of a vehicle which has a tire tube disposed in a tire. The air pressure detecting device is disposed between the tire tube and the rim of the wheel portion for detecting the air pressure of the tire. The air pressure detecting device includes an annular seat mounted in an opening defined in the tire tube. A lid member is removably fitted over the seat. A detecting and transmitting unit is integrally mounted in the lid member for detecting an air pressure in the tire tube and transmitting pressure information out of the detecting and transmitting unit. When the tire is to be replaced, the lid member is removed, and the detecting and transmitting unit is attached to a new tire for use.

A tire air pressure detecting apparatus has an tire air pressure detecting mechanism for detecting the air pressure of a tire of a motorcycle, and a second control mechanism for comparing an actual air pressure detected by the tire air pressure detecting mechanism with a stored air pressure threshold, and controlling an engine output when the actual air pressure becomes lower than said air pressure threshold. Since the air pressure detecting apparatus comprises a small number of constituent elements including the tire air pressure detecting mechanism and the second control mechanism for reducing an engine output under certain conditions, the tire air pressure detecting apparatus can easily be reduced in size and cost.

Apparatus for detecting tire air pressure for motor vehicle

A partitioning member for dividing a connecting pipe into at least two exhaust passageways is provided in the connecting pipe, which is attached to an exhaust side of a silencer. A valve mechanism is operable to vary the passageway area of one of the exhaust passageways. With this structure, for example, when an engine is rotating at low revs, exhaust gas is discharged from the exhaust passageway without the valve mechanism, while when the engine is rotating at high revs exhaust gas is simultaneously discharged from the exhaust passageway having no valve mechanism and a passageway provided with the valve mechanism. Therefore, it is possible to reduce exhaust noise when the engine is rotating at low revs.

Growing community of inventors

Saitama, Japan

Osamu Bunya