Toyota Jidosha Kabushiki Kaisha

Ruriko Sakaguchi

Hiroyuki Toyoda

Hironobu Fukuta

Koichi Ito

Ikuo Kushiro

Shunsuke Yoshida

A turning system is configured to move a turning shaft to turn a left wheel and a right wheel of a vehicle. The turning shaft is configured to couple the left wheel and the right wheel to each other. A torsion bar is engaged with the turning shaft via a steering gear box. The turning system includes: a turning mechanism including (i) an electric turning mechanism including an electric motor configured to rotate a portion of the torsion bar which is located upstream of the steering gear box and (ii) a hydraulic turning mechanism configured to apply a moving force to the turning shaft in an axial direction, the moving force being produced by a hydraulic pressure; and an electric-motor controller configured to control the electric motor based on a frictional force in the turning mechanism and a road-surface reaction force that acts between (a) a tire on the left wheel and a tire on the right wheel and (b) a road surface.

Turning system

A steering apparatus includes left and right swing arm members, left and right tie rods pivotally attached to the arm portions of the swing arm members at their inner ends, relay rods pivotally attached to the arm portions at both ends, and a steering input transmission system. Rack-and-pinion type electric power steering devices are connected to the arm portions of the left and right swing arm members. A control unit calculates correcting steering torques for reducing rotational vibrations generated in the electric power steering devices due to a disturbance, and correct target steering assist torques calculated based on a steering torque with the correcting steering torques and control the electric power steering devices with the corrected target steering assist torques.

Steering apparatus for a vehicle

An electric power steering apparatus includes left and right swing arm members, right and left tie rods pivotally connected at inner ends to arm portions of the swing arm members via a relay rod pivotally connected to the arm portions at both ends, a rack-and-pinion device in which one end of a rack bar is connected to the arm portion of one of the swing arm members, and a steering input transmission system that transmits a steering input to the rack-and-pinion device. An electric steering assist force applying device is connected to the arm portion of the other swing arm member, and applies a force to assist the other swing arm member to swing.

Electric power steering apparatus for a vehicle

A steering system steers wheels of a vehicle through a shift of a steering shaft. The steering system includes: an electric motor; transmission device that transmits an output of the electric motor to the steering shaft; and a malfunction detector that detects a malfunction of the transmission device based on a rotational angle of the electric motor and a shift distance of the steering shaft.

Growing community of inventors

Toyota, Japan

Ruriko Sakaguchi