Toyota Jidosha Kabushiki Kaisha

Toshihide Yano

Yukihide Kimura

Junrou Yamamoto

Taku Nagasawa

An automatic tilting vehicle is provided that includes left and right front wheels supported by knuckles, a steerable rear wheel, a vehicle tilting device, and a control unit. The vehicle tilting device includes a swing member, a tilt actuator for swing the swing member, and a pair of tie rods pivotally attached to the swing member and the knuckles. The control unit calculates a target lateral acceleration of the vehicle, estimates a lateral acceleration of the vehicle caused by the gyro moments of the wheels and calculates a target tilt angle of the vehicle based on a sum of the target lateral acceleration and the lateral acceleration caused by the gyro moments.

Automatic tilting vehicle

Automatic tilting vehicle is provided that includes left and right front wheels supported by knuckles, a rear wheel steered by a steering actuator, a vehicle tilting device, and a control unit. The control unit calculates a target tilt angle of the vehicle and a target steered angle of the rear wheel based on a steering angle and a vehicle speed, controls the vehicle tilting device so that a tilt angle of the vehicle becomes the target tilt angle, and controls the steering actuator so that a steered angle of the rear wheel becomes the target steered angle. When the vehicle is turning and decelerating, a steered angle of the rear wheel is controlled not to be the target steered angle but to zero, and a tilt angle of the vehicle is reduced by a gyro moment of the rear wheel.

Each of suspensions provided on a vehicle includes a shock absorber capable of adjusting the damping force and an air spring capable of adjusting the spring constant. Small ports are provided respectively on two front sides of a car body suspended from the suspensions and pipes each of which is connected on one end to one of the small ports and connected on the other ends to a pressure sensor. A control unit calculates the size of a lateral force according to signals of a vehicle speed sensor provided on the car body and the pressure sensor and controls each of the suspensions such that the damping force of the shock absorber and the spring constant of the air spring are made rigid when the size of the lateral force exceeds a certain value.

Growing community of inventors

Susono, Japan

Toshihide Yano