Denso Corporation

Nippon Soken, Inc.

Takamichi Kamiya

Takayoshi Honda

Takehiro Abeta

Keiichi Kato

Tsutomu Nakamura

Noboru Nagase

Hideo Naruse

Yasuhiro Fukagawa

Takuya Shinoda

A waterproof case for housing an electronic component includes a case member that has a plurality of breathing holes, and a breathable waterproof filter fitted to the case member at a position corresponding to the breathing holes to cover the breathing holes. For example, open surfaces of at least two of the breathing holes, opened outside of the case member, can be made to face in different directions. Furthermore, the breathing hole has an open area on a side of the breathable waterproof filter, which is larger than an open area of the breathing hole on a side opposite to the breathable waterproof filter, in the case member. Accordingly, the waterproof case enhances waterproofness while circulating air between the inside and the outside of the waterproof case.

Waterproof case

In a driving device for a piezoelectric actuator, when a driving signal is input, a charging switch is repetitively turned on/off to charge and expand the piezoelectric actuator under the state that a discharging switch is turned off. Thereafter, when the input of the driving signal is stopped, the discharging switch is repetitively turned on/off under the state that the charging switch is turned off, thereby discharging and contracting the piezoelectric actuator. Particularly, during the charging period, the charging switch is turned on at a fixed period, and the charging switch is turned off when an integration value of current flowing in a charging circuit at the ON-time of the charging switch reaches a target charge amount.

Driving device for piezoelectric actuator

A control system and method for controlling operation of a group of linear solenoids, which in turn control operation of an electrical load such as a solenoid or actuator, that exhibits increased responsiveness to a change in the target linear solenoid load current. A microcomputer cyclically generates and outputs pulse-width-modulated drive signals based on acquired drive data to establish clock periods. A switch connected between the microcomputer and the target load switchably connects the target load to a power source based on the drive data to selectively drive the target load. A feedback loop between the target load and the microcomputer provides actual target load drive data to the microcomputer, and the microcomputer adjusts the drive signals at a rate of not more than two times per cycle based on the actual drive data to converge the actual drive data to a calculated target load drive value. The present invention also provides an apparatus that prevents a drop in controller current control responsiveness due to signal response delay produced by feedback or the drive system. A converter converts input signals to digital values at a conversion cycle shorter than a cycle of the input signals. A data storage device sequentially stores digital values obtained from the converter, and a processor calculates a mean value to fetch the stored digital values for a cycle time of the input signals, and computes an arithmetic mean of the fetched digital values for target control purposes.

Linear solenoid control apparatus and method having increased responsiveness features

An electronic control device has a housing, a circuit board, and a connector. One of surfaces of the housing is formed as a mounting surface. The circuit board including a heat-producing component is fixed to an inner wall of the housing. The connector is electrically connectable with an external device. The mounting surface and the inner wall, to which the circuit board is fixed, are located on opposite sides of the housing. The circuit board and the connector are electrically connected to each other via a flexible connecting member.

Electronic control device and manufacturing method for the same

An electronic control unit includes a first microprocessor monitoring the operation of a second microprocessor and has a monitoring operation blocking unit for preventing the second microprocessor from being reset by the first microprocessor while the second microprocessor is loading from a memory thereof so that even when a control program is loaded into the monitoring microprocessor before one is loaded into the monitored microprocessor, the control program can be loaded with certainty. Each microprocessor executes a control program stored in the memory, and when a predetermined reloading condition has been established, executes a loading process for receiving load data transmitted thereto from outside into the memory. The microprocessors use the same single communication line to conduct communication with the outside and the electronic control unit further includes a communication operation controlling unit for, when one of the microprocessors is loading, prohibiting the other microprocessors from transmitting data to the communication line. In this way, it is possible to reload a control program and control data into any of the microprocessors without the data being destroyed by data from the other microprocessors.

Electronic control unit

An electronic control unit has a microprocessor having a nonvolatile memory which is electrically reloadable. Data, with a predetermined loading voltage, is supplied as a condition. The microprocessor controls an object of control during normal operation by executing a control program made up of data stored in the nonvolatile memory. When a predetermined reloading condition has been established, the microprocessor carries out a loading process for loading load data, transmitted thereto from outside the nonvolatile memory, as an update. Along with executing the control program, a monitor signal is generated at predetermined time intervals indicating normal. A system monitoring circuit is also provided for monitoring the monitor signal outputted from the microprocessor. As such, when the monitor signal is not outputted within a predetermined time, a reset signal for resetting the microprocessor is sent to the microprocessor. A blocking circuit is provided for detecting whether the loading voltage is being supplied to the nonvolatile memory and preventing the microprocessor from being reset by the system monitoring circuit when the loading voltage is being supplied.

Growing community of inventors

Kasugai, Japan

Takamichi Kamiya