Honda Giken Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha

Honda Giken Kogyo K.k.

Honda Kigen Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha

Takashi Nishihara

Shuji Shiraishi

Hironobu Kiryu

Osamu Yamamoto

Osamu Yano

Toru Ikeda

Naoki Omomo

Tooru Ikeda

Makoto Sato

Yoshimitsu Akuta

Ryoji Mori

Masakazu Sakaguchi

Mitsuya Serizawa

Shigenobu Sekiya

Yutaka Nishi

Nobuharu Kuriki

Hiroyuki Kawagoe

Yukihisa Ishii

Hidenori Ishihama

Yuichi Hashimoto

Osamo Yamamoto

Akihiko Ohtsu

Naoki Ohmomo

Toyotaka Torii

Kuniaki Murata

Takuya Sakai

A cockpit is supported by a motion base in a state of being capable of making swinging movement. A host computer calculate vehicle motion information in accordance with operation of various operation equipments performed by a driver accommodated in the cockpit. A simulation image is formed, the cockpit is controlled for swinging movement, and various meters or the like in the cockpit are controlled on the basis of an obtained result of the calculation. Thus, the drive simulation is carried out in a state approximate to that of a real vehicle.

Drive simulation apparatus

A reduction in tire pressure in follower wheels and driven wheels is precisely determined irrespective of slipping states of the driven wheels through the use of apparatus wherein in a driven wheel slip amount calculating means M4 calculates a driven wheel slip amount KIDD as a left and right follower wheel speed difference FID and a left and right driven wheel speed difference RID; in a driven wheel torque calculating means M5, a driven wheel torque TQDW is calculated; in a driven wheel slip amount estimating means M6, a characteristic of variation in driven wheel slip amount KIDD relative to the variation in driven wheel torque TQDW is estimated using a least squares method; in a deviation calculating means M7, a deviation CKID between the follower wheel speed difference FID and the driven wheel speed difference RID in a state in which the driven wheels are not slipping, is calculated as an intercept of the driven wheel slip amount KIDD at a driven wheel torque equal to 0 (zero) in a graph of the variation characteristic; and in a wheel pressure-reduction determining means M8, a reduction in tire pressure is determined from a difference in diameter between the follower wheels and the driven wheels by comparing the deviation CKID with a reference value.

Wheel pressure-reduction determining system for vehicle

A reduction in pressure in tires fitted to follower wheels and driven wheels is precisely determined irrespective of slipping states of the driven wheels. A driven wheel slip rate calculating means M1 calculates driven wheel slip rates .lambda.L and .lambda.R. A driven wheel torque calculating means M2 calculates a driven wheel torque TQDW. A driven wheel slip rate estimating means M4 estimates a characteristic of variation in driven wheel slip rates .lambda.L and .lambda.R relative to the variation in driven wheel torque TQDW using a least squares method. A rotation-number ratio calculating means M5 calculates ratios CVWL and CVWR of the numbers of rotations of the follower wheels to the numbers of rotations of the driven wheels in a state in which the driven wheel torque in a graph of the variation characteristic is equal to zero. A tire pressure-reduction determining means M6 then determines a reduction in pressure from a difference in diameter between the follower wheels and the driven wheels by comparing the rotation-number ratios CVWL and CVWR with a reference value.

Tire pressure-reduction determining system for wheels of a vehicle

The rotational speed difference between rotational speeds of front and rear road wheels of a motor vehicle is weighted by a first ratio, and the difference between the rotational speed difference between rotational speeds of front left and right road wheels and an average signal of reference steering angle or between the rotational speed difference between rotational speeds of rear left and right road wheels and the average signal of reference steering angle is weighted by a second ratio. A sum signal representative of the sum of the rotational speed difference weighted by the first ratio and the difference weighted by the second ratio is used to determine a pneumatic tire pressure reduction highly accurately even when running conditions of the motor vehicle change such as when the motor vehicle makes a turn.

System for determining pneumatic tire pressure for motor vehicle

A system is provided to prevent suspension judder from being generated at the start of a vehicle which includes a traction control system. If the starting of the vehicle is detected based on driving-wheel speeds RL and RR, a shift position and an accelerator opening degree .theta.th1, an initial torque TQ2 and a delay time are map-searched based on the accelerator opening degree .theta.th1 and a steering angle .theta.st. The driving force for driven wheels is limited to the initial torque TQ2, until a delay time from the starting of the vehicle has elapsed, to prevent the generation of suspension judder. When the delay time has elapsed, an accelerating increment torque TQ3 is map-searched based on the accelerator opening degree .theta.th1 and the steering angle .theta.st, and is added to the initial torque TQ2, thereby ensuring the accelerating performance of the vehicle.

Driving force control system in vehicle

A method for determining the fully-closed state of a subsidiary throttle valve. If a stable state judging circuit judges that there is no outside influence exerted on the operational state of the engine (a state in which the vehicle is stopped and the engine is in an idling state) even if the subsidiary throttle valve is fully closed, a valve closing circuit closes the subsidiary throttle valve and a fully-closed state determination is carried out. If the opening degree of the subsidiary throttle valve or the engine revolution number is largely varied during the determination process of the fully-closed state determination circuit, a valve-closing inhibiting circuit inhibits the closing of the subsidiary throttle valve to discontinue the determination. Even if all of the conditions for determination are satisfied again, the closing of the subsidiary throttle valve and the restarting of determination by the fully-closed state determination circuit are inhibited until the comparator circuit judges that the vehicle starts traveling and vehicle speed exceeds a reference value.

System for determining the fully-closed state of subsidiary throttle

A traction control system for a vehicle includes a calculator for calculating a speed of a driven wheel of the vehicle, a calculator for calculating a vehicle speed and a calculator for calculating a slip rate of the driven wheel on the basis of the driven wheel speed and the vehicle speed, such that the feed-back control of a throttle valve is carried out to reduce the output torque from an engine to inhibit the excessive slipping of the driven wheel, when the slip rate exceeds a predetermined threshold value. The system further includes a calculator for calculating a total grip force of the vehicle, a calculator for calculating an initial engine required torque at the start of the feed-back control of the throttle valve on the basis of the total grip force, and a calculator for calculating an initial throttle opening degree of the throttle valve on the basis of the initial engine required torque. Thus, the excessive slipping of the driven wheels can be reduced without an abrupt change exerted to the behavior of the vehicle by setting an appropriate initial throttle opening degree.

Traction control system for vehicle

A subtractor calculates an actual wheel speed difference between rotational speeds of left and right wheels on a motor vehicle, and a steering angle converter calculates an actual steering angle from the actual wheel speed difference. The difference between the actual steering angle and an adequate steering angle which is produced based on a lateral acceleration is compared with a predetermined reference range. If the difference between the actual and adequate steering angles exceeds the predetermined reference range, then the pneumatic pressure of a tire on one of the left and right wheels is determined as being lowered. In the steering angle converter, a weight value is established according to a running condition of the motor vehicle, and the calculated actual steering angle or comparative sensitivity is varied according to the weight value. Since the comparative sensitivity is varied according to the running condition, a reduction in the pneumatic pressure of the tire can be detected even under running conditions which lead to large errors.

Pneumatic tire pressure change detecting system comparing wheel speeds

A wheel speed detecting device for a vehicle having wheel speed detectors for detecting left and right wheel speeds, respectively; a turning state detector for detecting the turning state of the vehicle; and a correcting and calculating device for correcting the wheel speeds on the basis of an output from the turning state detector and for calculating a value representative of the left and right wheel speeds on the basis of the corrected wheel speeds. Thus, an error of wheel speeds detected during turning of the vehicle can be compensated for, thereby determining a correct wheel speed.

Wheel speed detecting device for vehicle

In a traction control device in which an initial control torque of an engine is determined in accordance with an acceleration of the vehicle, when an excessive slipping of driven wheels is detected, a time taken for proceeding of the excessive slipping of the driven wheels from a large slip state to a small slip state is counted by a timer. If such time is smaller than a reference time and a gear ratio of the vehicle is of a first gear shift to provide a low vehicle speed, it is decided that the vehicle is traveling on an upward sloping road, and a lower limit value for defining the initial control torque of the engine determined in an initial control torque calculating means is corrected into an increased value in an initial torque correcting means. This prevents the initial control torque of the engine from being excessively reduced at the start of a traction control. By this construction, it is possible to prevent an initial control torque from being excessively reduced due to a misjudgment of a friction coefficient of a surface of an upward or downward sloping road to insure an acceleratability of a vehicle.

Traction control device for vehicle

A steering stability control system for a vehicle includes a turning state judging device for judging turning state of the vehicle to output an oversteering signal or an understeering signal, and a steering stability control device for controlling an output torque from an engine on the basis of an output from the turning state judging device. This system further includes a counter-steering judging device capable of judging a counter-steering state of the vehicle and causing the turning state judging device to output an oversteering signal when the counter-steering state is judged. Thus, it is possible to reliably judge the oversteering and the understeering during turning of the vehicle.

Steering stability control system for vehicle

An apparatus for controlling a DC motor connected to an intake throttle valve in an internal combustion engine to detect an actual opening degree of the intake throttle valve and to match the actual opening degree with a command opening degree. The apparatus includes a feedback loop for defining a feedback signal indicative of a command to converge the actual opening degree of the control member to the command opening degree by reception of the command opening degree delivered by a command opening degree generating means and the actual opening degree delivered by an actual opening degree detecting means, a combined-signal generating means for combining the feedback signal defined by the feedback loop with the command opening degree delivered by the command opening degree generating means, and a motor driving means for driving the DC motor in response to an output from the combined-signal generating means. Thus, it is possible to converge the actual opening degree of the intake throttle valve to the command opening degree with a good responsiveness and a good positioning accuracy.

Apparatus for controlling the position of control member

In a traction control system for a vehicle which controls the traction of the driven wheels according to the slip ratio of the driven wheels obtained as a relationship between the vehicle speed and the speed of the driven wheels, the vehicle speed is obtained from the speed of the non-driven wheels. Normally, the average value of the speeds of the non-driven wheels is used as the basis for computing the vehicle speed, but when one of the non-driven wheels is likely to be lifted from the road surface due to the turning maneuver of the vehicle, the speed of one of the non-driven wheels which is higher than that of the other non-driven wheel and is therefore likely to be in contact with the road surface is used for fining the vehicle speed. Thus, the vehicle speed is simply obtained from the speed of the non-driven wheels, but the traction control can be reliably carried out according to a correctly obtained vehicle speed.

Vehicle traction control system

In a control system wherein slippage of a vehicle drive wheel is detected and when the slip is excessively large, an engine output or drive wheel torque is reduced, there are provided means for calculating the grip force of the drive wheel and further means for changing the reduction amount of engine output or drive wheel torque, or the reduction speed, or the reduction characteristic dependent on a signal from the grip force calculating means. This enables a sporty travel of a vehicle.

Drive wheel slip control system for vehicle

In a system for preventing an excessive slipping of a drive wheel of a vehicle, including a drive wheel torque decrement calculating means for calculating a drive wheel torque decrement in accordance with the slipping state of the drive wheel on the basis of a drive wheel velocity and a vehicle velocity, there is further includes a switchover means which produces a torque decrement switchover signal in accordance with a further large slipping of the drive wheel appearing during a given torque reduction control, and a torque decrement changeover means which delivers, to the drive wheel torque decrement calculating means,a correcting signal indicative of a command to reduce the degree of relation of the torque decrement to the slipping state of the drive wheel in accordance with an output of the torque decrement changeover signal from the switchover means, whereby it is possible to avoid a control hunting which may be caused by a larger slipping state of the drive wheel due to a disturbance factor.

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Wako, Japan

Takashi Nishihara