Aisin Aw Co., Ltd.

Other

Toyota Jidosha Kabushiki Kaisha

Nhk Spring Co., Ltd.

Aisin-warner Limited

Shigeo Tsuzuki

Kenji Omote

Takeshi Hara

Satoru Wakuta

Satoru Tanaka

Kazumasa Tsukamoto

Takeshi Inuzuka

Manabu Watanabe

Masahiro Hasebe

Takao Taniguchi

Naoki Ohkoshi

Jiro Maeda

Atsushi Tabata

Yutaka Taga

Shiro Sakakibara

Nobuaki Miki

Masashi Hattori

Masao Kawai

Masaya Amano

Shoichi Miyagawa

Kazuo Takemoto

Kiyoshi Kurita

Seiji Nakamura

Seiji Sakakibara

Hironobu Imaizumi

Keiichi Shinohara

Akihiko Kita

Yukitoshi Ogawa

Takayuki Ishikawa

Hiroyuki Nozaki

Yoshinori Matsushita

Yuji Iwase

Yukihiro Minezawa

Mitsuhiro Umeyama

Yoshinori Miyaishi

Yoshitaka Murase

Toshihiro Shiimado

Hisanori Nomoto

Haruki Shirasaka

Mitsugi Yamashita

Takahiro Kido

Kouji Kobayashi

Hirotoshi Eishima

Hiroshi Ishigaki

Toshihiro Shimado

Takao Tanuguchi

Seiji Suzuki

Atsuya Ohshima

Kenji Itou

A coned disc spring is arranged between a second component and a third component provided inside a tubular first component and movable in an axial direction. The coned disc spring comprises a body having a circular dish shape, teeth closely fitting into spline grooves formed on an inner peripheral surface of the first component and projecting to a radial outer side on an outer periphery of the body, and a stress relaxation portion formed by notching a base of the tooth in an approximately circular arc shape in a direction at least one of a circumferential direction and a radial direction of the body.

Coned disc spring

A vehicle drive unit is provided which includes a hydraulic circuit capable of efficiently supplying a hydraulic pressure from an accumulator to a hydraulic servo while minimizing the capacity of the accumulator. In a hydraulic circuit included in a continuously variable transmission, an accumulator is connected through an electromagnetic switch valve to an oil passage connecting a clutch pressure control valve and a manual valve, a one-way valve for allowing oil to flow only in the direction from the clutch pressure control valve toward the accumulator and the forward clutch is provided in the oil passage. The electromagnetic switch valve switches an oil passage to a communicating state when the oil pump is driven and switches the oil passage to a shut-off state when the oil pump is stopped.

Vehicle drive unit

A cushion plate is provided, for example, between a piston of a hydraulic servo and an adjacent friction plate in a frictional engagement element of an automatic transmission. The cushion plate is deflected by a pressing force of the piston to absorb an engagement shock. The cushion plate includes a main body portion formed into a belleville-spring shape, and a plurality of pawls that extend from the outer periphery of the main body for spline engagement with a member that is splined to, for example, the friction plate. A side wall of each pawl is formed with a curved recess extending circumferentially of the cushion plate and located adjacent the juncture (base) of the pawl at the outer periphery of the main body.

Cushion plate

A motor/generator is arranged radially outward of a middle portion of a front cover of a torque converter so that at least a part of the motor/generator axially overlaps the torque converter, with a predetermined gap (C) between the front cover and the rotor of the motor/generator. The rotor of the motor/generator is supported by either the torque converter or an engine crankshaft or by any two of the torque converter, a motor housing and the crankshaft. The rotor is not affected by the torque converter and the efficiency of the motor is not reduced.

Hybrid vehicle driving device

A vehicle range changeover mechanism is driven in response to operation of a shift lever. The range changeover mechanism has an output sector gear that is unrotatably connected to a range control shaft, and a position detecting sensor, a portion of which that is interlocked with and connected to the range control shaft. Looseness between the output sector gear and the position detecting sensor portion is eliminated by provision of a leaf or spring plate, thereby assuring rotation of the position detecting sensor portion corresponding one to one with the rotational motion of the range control shaft.

Shift range changeover mechanism

A judging section judges whether or not ranges detected, respectively, by a first range detection section consisting of a first detection section and a position detecting sensor, and a second range detection section consisting of a second detection section; a Cdetecting sensor and a B1 detecting sensor are in mutual agreement, and when the detected ranges are not in mutual agreement, a failure judging section judges a failure of the first range detection section.

Vehicle range shift mechanism

A hybrid-vehicle drive unit supports a motor-generator with high precision, improving the efficiency of the motor-generator, and reducing the size of the motor-generator, independent of any influence of centering precision of the crank shaft and of deformation of the torque converter. According to the invention, a motor housing is disposed between a converter housing and an internal combustion engine, and a bearing is fitted to a lateral wall provided in a front portion of the motor housing. Rotor supporting members are independently supported by the bearing. Eccentric rotation of the crank shaft resulting from explosive vibrations of the engine is counteracted by two flex plates. Owing to a predetermined clearance, one of the rotor supporting members as a separate component is free from the influence of deformation of the torque converter.

Hybrid-vehicle drive unit

A lubricating apparatus, for a friction engagement element that engages a rotatable member with a case includes a hub connected to the rotatable member, friction members disposed between the hub and the case, a hydraulic servo for engaging the friction members, and an oil passage for supplying lubricant from the case to the friction members. A discharge opening of the oil passage is formed at a position which is radially inward of the friction members and which is axially to a side of the friction members. The discharge opening is directed toward the friction members. A weir member for restricting escape of lubricant in the axial direction through a gap between the hub and the friction members is provided at the other axial side of the friction members. Therefore, the axial escape of lubricant exiting the friction members can be prevented by a non-contact leakage restriction that does not cause drag resistance. The radially outward stream of oil between the friction members is secured, and the friction members can be reliably cooled to remove heat generated by slip control of the friction engagement element.

Friction engagement element with lubrication

An automatic transmission control apparatus includes a continuously variable transmission (CVT) which, in turn, includes a primary pulley, a secondary pulley, a belt stretched between the primary pulley and the secondary pulley. The control apparatus further includes a pinching pressure generator for generating a pinching pressure on the belt, a travel environment all detector for detecting the travel environment of a vehicle, a torque variation estimator for estimating the transmission torque variation during travel, and a pinching pressure changer for changing the pinching pressure based on the estimation. The pinching pressure is prevented from constantly increasing because the transmission torque variation during travel is estimated, and the pinching pressure for the belt is changed based on the estimation. Accordingly, the torque transmission efficiency can be increased, and the fuel efficiency can thus be improved.

Automatic speed changer controller, automatic speed changer control method, and recording medium having program for method recorded thereon

A range switching apparatus is provided with a pair of discs defining, an engagement groove therebetween, a pin, and an arm portion which are used for switching to a desired drive range; a motor for driving the discs, the engagement groove, the pin, and the arm portion used for switching the drive range; a speed reducing gear mechanism for reducing a drive force of the motor and transmitting the drive force to the discs, the engagement groove, the pin, and the arm portion, used for switching the drive range; and an electromagnetic clutch for engaging and disengaging a power transmission state between the motor and the speed reducing gear mechanism. An adsorbed disc of the electromagnetic clutch is connected to a power input shaft of the speed reducing gear mechanism.

Range switching device

To reduce the axial dimension and size of a drive train for a hybrid vehicle, a rotor is supported within a recess formed in the end face of the a crankshaft and is further supported by the front cover of the torque converter. As a result, compared with drive trains which have a fixed member extending from the motor housing to support the rotor, the axial dimension and size of the drive train are reduced.

Drive unit for hybrid vehicle

In a state a vehicle is stopped at an intersection, an infinitely variable transmission is in a neutral position, a motor/generator rotates with a low speed, an oil pump and an auxiliary equipment are in rotating state. At that time, an input clutch is disengaged, and the internal engine is stopped. When the vehicle is started, a continuously variable transmission performs continuous shift control from the neutral position using hydraulic pressure from an oil pump, and the rotation of the motor/generator is transmitted to drive wheels via a ring gear of a planetary gear. After the vehicle has started driving, the input clutch is engaged and the internal engine is started. The vehicle is driven while the motor/generator assists driving or the motor/generator charges batteries based on operation of the internal engine.

Hybrid drive system

The present invention improves mountability of a drive train in a hybrid vehicle by minimizing axial and radial dimensions while providing for adequate output torque of the motor/generator of the drive train. A center portion of a front cover of a torque converter extends axially and a multiple disc lock-up clutch is arranged at the inner circumferential surface of the center portion while the motor/generator is arranged at the outer circumferential surface of the center portion. A spring damper is provided at the radially inner side of a circumferential surface defined by friction plates of the lock-up clutch.

Vehicle drive train

A vehicle control unit controls a vehicle having a device capable of controlling deceleration, such as a continuously variable transmission. An information detection device is capable of determining a relationship between the instant vehicle and a preceding vehicle running in front of the instant vehicle, for example, a headway distance and a relative speed therebetween. Based on the information derived from the detection device, the vehicle correlation is determined and compared with a predetermined target correlation. Then, deceleration of the instant vehicle is set by a deceleration setting device such that the determined correlation reaches the predetermined target correlation. The device for performing deceleration is controlled based on the deceleration that has been set.

Vehicle deceleration control unit

A hybrid drive apparatus for a vehicle which is capable of improving the response in restarting an engine during the running of a vehicle. As a result, a shock due to deceleration can be reduced. The hybrid drive apparatus for a vehicle incorporates an engine, a motor generator, a clutch, a transmission unit and a control unit for controlling the other elements. The control unit incorporates a standby control device for realizing a constant cranking characteristic to improve the starting response at the start of the engine by transmitting the power of the motor generator to the engine and controlling the engagement pressure of the clutch, thus revolving the engine to a cranking start position.

Hybrid drive apparatus for vehicle

Growing community of inventors

Anjo, Japan

Shigeo Tsuzuki