Mikuni Corporation

Mikumi Corporation

Shigeru Yamazaki

Hiromutsu Touhachi

Hirokazu Hirosawa

Masato Kumamoto

Meguru Kashiyama

Tsuyoshi Oosawa

Shogo Hashimoto

Osamu Miura

Kazuhiro Musashi

Kunihiko Hayakawa

Takanao Tanzawa

Takahiko Ueta

An accelerator pedal apparatus includes an accelerator pedal, a hysteresis generating mechanism which generates hysteresis on pedaling force, a reaction force adding mechanism which adds reaction force to push back the accelerator pedal toward a rest position, and controller which performs drive control of the reaction force adding mechanism, while the controller performs drive control of the reaction force adding mechanism so that reaction force is added during returning as well as during depressing of the accelerator pedal under predetermined conditions as the reaction force being larger than pedaling force difference between pedaling force at the depression side and pedaling force at the return side of the pedaling force hysteresis to obtain an appropriate accelerator feeling and to quickly perform danger avoidance or danger notification.

Accelerator pedal apparatus

An accelerator pedal apparatus includes a torque motor which generates operational reaction force corresponding to operation of an accelerator pedal, an accelerator pedal position sensor (APS) which detects an accelerator opening rate of an accelerator pedal and outputs the accelerator opening rate to an engine control unit (ECU) being an upper device, and a control unit which applies the operational reaction force as controlling driving of the torque motor. The control unit applies the operational reaction force as controlling driving of the torque motor based on the accelerator opening rate when being commanded to apply the operational reaction force by the ECU.

An accelerator pedal apparatus including an actuator pedal, a hysteresis generating mechanism which provides a hysteresis pedaling force characteristic having larger pedaling force in a depression direction than that in a return direction, and a reaction force adding control mechanism which adds operational reaction force to operation of the accelerator pedal based on an adjustment force generation command from an upper unit, while the operational reaction force added by the reaction force adding control mechanism is not larger than a hysteresis amount generated by the hysteresis generating mechanism.

A fuel injection method is provided for correcting the fuel injection amount accurately by eliminating offset components when detecting a current flowing through a solenoid for fuel injection. A current component, which is detected during normal running and a drive current flowing through the solenoid for fuel injection is OFF (Step), is input to an A/D converter that stores the value thereof (Step). Thereafter, the drive current is turned ON (Step S), elapse of a fixed time period is waited (Step S), and an input voltage of the A/D converter is detected (Step S). A difference current (offset component) is calculated by subtracting the offset voltage from the input voltage (Step S), and a current span is adjusted based on a span correction factor (Step S). Thereafter, a pulse width current correction factor is calculated (Step S) and, based on the pulse width current correction factor, a drive pulse width is calculated (Step S) and provided to the solenoid.

Fuel injection method

The present invention provides a sensor installation structure for installation of a plurality of sensors disposed on an inlet pipe side of an engine, and enables each of the sensors to be positioned in an accurate measuring position. A sensor module unit is integrally provided with a plurality of sensors necessary for fuel supply control and intake-air flow rate control in an internal-combustion engine, and has an intake-air temperature sensor holding portion installed with an intake-air temperature sensor, at least one of a throttle position sensor holding portion installed with a position sensor to detect an opening angle of a throttle valve in an intake throttle apparatus, and an intake-air pressure sensor holding portion installed with an intake-air pressure sensor, and a unit main body that integrally accommodates the intake-air temperature sensor holding portion, and the at least one of the throttle position sensor holding portion and the intake-air pressure sensor holding portion to position these holding portions in respective predetermined arrangement positions in the unit, whereby each of the sensors is positioned in a predetermined measuring position in the throttle apparatus when the unit main body is installed in the vicinity of a throttle axle of the intake throttle apparatus.

Sensor module unit and a throttle apparatus equipped with the sensor module unit

In a solenoid driving device of the type in which energy stored in a capacitor is used for re-driving of the solenoid, the generation of heat in a current back-flow preventing circuit preventing the back-flow of current to a power supply terminal is suppressed, and the generation of heat in a rectifying element through which the current that flows to the capacitor passes is suppressed. Electric power accumulated in the solenoid when the driving of the solenoid is stopped is temporarily stored in the capacitor, and a high voltage that is generated by the charging utilizing the peak voltage of the capacitor is utilized as the power supply for a discharge control circuit that controls the discharge of the capacitor. The current back-flow preventing circuit is constructed from a switching element such as an FET so that the generation of heat in this circuit is suppressed. Furthermore, the rectifying element through which the current that flows to the capacitor passes is constructed from a switching element such as an FET so that the generation of heat in this element is suppressed.

Solenoid drive apparatus

The present invention achieves an increase in the amount of vapor that is expelled, stabilized fuel injection and improved starting characteristics in a fuel injection pump. In an electromagnetically driven fuel injection pumpwhich allows fuel to escape into the return passagein the initial region of the pressure-feeding stroke of the plunger, and which pressure-feeds fuel into the injection portin the later region of the pressure-feeding stroke, pulse powering of the coilthat does not lead to the injection of fuel, i.e., pulse powering which is such that the plungerperforms a reciprocating motion through the initial region, is performed when the engineis in an idle operating state, or in a state in which the engineis re-started after being stopped immediately following high-load operation. As a result, vapor can be expelled with good efficiency, and the flow rate of the circulated fuel is increased so that the cooling effect is also increased, thus causing the generation of vapor to be suppressed as well, so that the starting characteristics or re-starting characteristics are improved.

Method for driving fuel injection pump

A fuel injection control apparatus and fuel injection method are provided for injecting a suitable fuel with a quick response in accordance with variations in required fuel injection amounts, while improving the energy efficiency, and enabling support for an electromagnetic fuel injection apparatus. The control apparatus controls the electromagnetic fuel injection apparatus that pressurizes fuel to be injected, and has a driving circuit for driving a solenoid for fuel injection, a driving signal generating circuit for generating a solenoid driving signal based on an injection cycle signal for specifying a fuel injection period and a PWM cycle signal to provide to the driving circuit, and a control circuit for generating the PWM cycle signal with a duty ratio corresponding to a required fuel injection amount, and providing the PWM cycle signal and the injection cycle signal to the driving signal generating circuit.

Fuel injection controller and controlling method

Intake air pressure of an internal combustion engine is detected at a plurality of timings during a full stroke, a threshold pressure is set between the minimum and maximum values of detected intake air pressures, detected intake air pressures lower than the threshold pressure are averaged, and an intake air volume is measured using the average intake air pressure as a parameter. A method for measuring the intake air volume in an internal combustion engine is thereby provided in which the relation between a detected intake air pressure and an intake air volume is linear regardless of crank timing when the intake air volume is estimated based on the intake air pressure.

Method for measuring intake air volume in internal combustion engine

A power supply unit for an internal combustion engine capable of more stably providing drive power to a control circuit of the internal combustion engine and capable of more rapidly starting up the control circuit. The power supply unit may include a generator for generating electrical power, a main power supply circuit for regulating drive power, a capacitor for storing electrical power supplied by the main power supply circuit, a current control circuit for supplying electrical power to the control circuit other than the capacitor and various loads when the voltage output by the main power supply circuit is less than a first voltage, and supplying electrical power to the capacitor when the voltage output by the main power supply circuit is greater than or equal to the first voltage, and a discharge circuit for supplying electrical power accumulated at the capacitor to the control circuit and the various loads when the output voltage of the main power supply circuit falls to a voltage equal to or less than the capacitor voltage.

Growing community of inventors

Odawara, Japan

Shigeru Yamazaki