Honda Giken Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha

Takeyasu Itabashi

Takeshi Wakabayashi

Yosuke Hasegawa

Osamu Bunya

Kanji Hayashi

Satoshi Iijima

Takeshi Kuroe

Tomoyuki Harada

Hideki Akiyama

Yosuke Matsuoka

Yoshitaka Yanagibashi

Takenori Yamamoto

Toyokazu Nakamura

To secure the capacity of an inflator for deploying an airbag even when the airbag unit is downsized due to a limitation with respect to the mounting space. An airbag unit is disposed at the front portion of a fuel tank of a motorcycle V. A pair of inflator units is disposed on the left side and the right side of the centerline L of the vehicle body in a symmetrical manner. The inflators stored in the respective inflator units are connected to the airbag unit via gas supply hoses. Accordingly, even when a space for storing an inflator having a sufficient capacity cannot be provided in the airbag unit, the airbag can reliably be deployed by merging a sufficient amount of gas supplied from the inflators of a plurality of inflator units without any problems.

Airbag system

If a steering damper is fixed to a top bridge, since the steering damper is comparatively heavy and the top bridge is on the steering side, steering inertia increases. An arrangement structure of the steering damper which does not greatly influence the steering inertia has been realized. A rotatable partition wall is provided in a hydraulic chamber of a steering damper to partition the inside into a right hydraulic chamber and a left hydraulic chamber. Both hydraulic chambers are in communication with each other by a liquid passage. A control valve is provided in an intermediate part of the passage and is switched to a lock or a throttle thereby a damping force zero status or a damping force generation status is set.

Saddle-ride type vehicle steering damper apparatus

A steering damper device attenuating the oscillations of the handlebar of a motorcycle during operation, and more particularly, a device capable of varying a damping force variable. The steering damping device prevents the adverse effect of oscillations of the handlebar that would otherwise occur when the load on the front wheel of the motorcycle becomes light. The device includes a rotary steering damper provided in a coaxial manner on a steering shaft. Either a damping force or zero damping force is produced by a variable valve arranged in the bypass passage communicating with a right liquid chamber and a left liquid chamber. The variable valve is controlled by a control device and generates a damping force in the steering damper only when the acceleration of the motorcycle as detected by the acceleration sensor exceeds a threshold value.

Steering damper device

A motorcycle having a passenger seat at the center of vehicle body frame, has side members guarding the left and right sides of a passenger M sitting on the passenger seat with air bags in the side members for expanding the air bags in case of necessity. As the structure has the side members guarding the left and right sides of the passenger, the structure can reinforce the vehicle body frame. Further, since the structure includes the air bags in the side members, it can contribute to the protection of the passenger.

Vehicle air bag structure

In a steering damper utilizing hydraulic pressure, even if generation of a damping force is controlled in correspondence with an external force inputted to a handle upon external perturbations and the like, the damping force changes due to change in liquid temperature of working liquid. Accordingly, to precisely control the damping force, correction based on change in liquid temperature of the working liquid is required. However, to measure the change in liquid temperature of the working liquid, it is necessary to provide a particular measurement device requiring a complicated structure, which increases the number of parts and costs. Accordingly, the present invention has an object to provide a steering damper which can easily temperature-correct the damping force without such difficulty. A liquid chamber is provided in a main body of a steering damper. An inside of the liquid chamber is partitioned into a right liquid chamber and a left liquid chamber by a rotatable partition wall integral with a shaft coaxial with a steering shaft. Both liquid chambers are connected with each other by a liquid passage, and a control valve is provided in the middle of the passage such that the damping force is variable. A control device drive-controls the control valve in correspondence with a turning angle speed of the shaft and the partition wall, thereby controls the damping force, and corrects the damping force based on intake temperature information detected by an intake temperature sensor.

Steering damper apparatus

In order to have an external force heading from the front toward the occupant received, a bumper member extending substantially along the length of the vehicle is disposed under or by the sides of the cabin (riding space). The shock absorbing members are connected at the rear ends of the bumper member. Even in the case of the vehicle in which it is difficult to dispose the shock absorbing member at the front portion of the vehicle within the range of the length of the vehicle for example, when an impact load is exerted to such a vehicle, the impact load may be efficiently absorbed. As a consequent the riding space for an occupant can be maintained. The shock absorbing body may be constructed of an upper shock absorbing member and a lower shock absorbing member. The upper and lower shock absorbing members may be formed of two types of members having different crushing features. Accordingly, since the shock absorbing body is constructed by combining two members having different crushing features, the crushing extent of the shock absorbing body may preferably be determined corresponding to the two-wheel vehicle.

Shock absorbing structure for vehicles

A steering damper for reducing the inertia of steering that is attached in a low position relative to the steering shaft. The upper portion of a steering shaft is fitted in the center of the rear of a top bridge as a fitting part and a lower screw part of a shaft is tightened in the fitting part and is integrated with the fitting part. The shaft is provided with a shaft main part having a small diameter extending in an axial direction of the steering shaft, when the shaft main part is made to pierce a turning shaft in the steering damper. A steering nut is attached to an upper screw part at the upper end and the upper screw part is tightened. The steering damper and the top bridge are fixed to the upper portion of the steering shaft by jointly fastening. Hereby, a steering nut heretofore provided under the steering damper can be omitted and a position in which the steering damper is attached can be lowered by the quantity. A rear portion of the liquid-operated steering damper is designed to fit into a space in the fuel tank so that it does not interfere with the front end of a fuel tank. The steering damper does not interfere with the capacity of the fuel tank.

Steering damper for saddle-type vehicle

To generate a damping force in a steering damper only upon an unintentionally caused handle action when it is truly necessary to restrain the turning of the handle, according to whether the cause of a handle action is intentional or unintentional. A rotation type steering damper is provided coaxially with a steering shaft, and the generation of a damping force or zero damping force is selected through a changeover by a variable valve provided in a bypass passage for communication between a right liquid chamber and a left liquid chamber of the steering damper. The changeover is controlled by a control device, which functions based on the direction of a moment exerted on the steering shaft detected by a moment sensor and the magnitude and direction of a rotational angular velocity concerning the turning of the steering shaft detected by a rotational angular velocity sensor, for controlling a damping force that is generated only when an unintentionally caused handle turning action opposite in direction to the moment is present and the rotational angular velocity has exceeded a predetermined threshold value.

Steering damper system

A steering damper system for motorcycles provided for generating an adjustable damping force for restraining the shaking of the steering system at the time of disturbance. The system includes a cross member laid between the front portions of the mainframes branching to the left and right from the head pipe and extending to the rear, and a steering damper mounted at the center of the cross member. A sector gear projects forward from the housing, and the teeth thereof are inserted through the opening formed on the head pipe, and are engaged with the drive gear integrally mounted around the steering stem rotatably supported within the head pipe. The resulting steering damper provides the desired adjustable damping force without adversely increasing the inertia of the steering system.

Growing community of inventors

Saitama, Japan

Takeyasu Itabashi