Nissan Motor Company Limited

Calsonic Corporation

Toshio Hirota

Toshimi Yamanoi

Tadaki Oota

Yasuhiro Nogami

Takuya Endo

Hisao Nunokawa

Masuo Ozawa

When a seat beltis unfastened, reactive force against treading pressure on the accelerator pedal is enhanced by a pedal reactive force enhancereven if a driver tries to drive a vehicle by turning on an ignition switchand pressing on the accelerator pedal. Thus, it is possible to prompt the driver to fasten the seat belt. When the seat belt is unfastened in an emergency, although the reactive force against treading pressure on the accelerator pedal is enhanced, the driver can drive the vehicle by pressing the accelerator pedal harder. In this way, the driver can deal with such emergency.

Accelerator pedal device for a vehicle

A child seat anchoring structure is provided that can prevent the seat belt webbing from getting caught in the components that secure the child seat to the vehicle. The child seat anchoring structure has child seat attachment part in which a child seat is installed by moving a locking part of the child seat from the forward direction of the vehicle so that the locking part approaches the rod-shaped attachment part of a child seat fixing striker that is mounted close to a seat belt anchor to which the webbing is fixed. The structure is provided with a webbing guide bar part that prevents the webbing from entering the region between the rod-shaped attachment part and the locking part of the child seat.

Child seat anchoring structure

A fuel sensor for sensing methanol in methanol-mixed fuel, which comprises a structure which defines a fuel passage through which the mixed fuel flows, an electrode assembly including a pair of probe portions which are exposed to the fuel passage, and an electric circuit causing the paired probe portions to exhibit positive and negative characteristics respectively in the mixed fuel. At least the positive probe portion is intimately covered with an electrically insulating film.

Capacitance-type fuel sensor for sensing methanol in methanol-mixed fuel

A fuel gauge system is disclosed, which includes a first device capable of visually indicating the amount of the mixed fuel in the container; a second device for detecting a real amount of the fuel in the container; a third device for detecting the mixing ratio of compositions in the mixed fuel; a fourth device for determining a critical effective amount of the mixed fuel in accordance with the fuel mixing ratio detected by the third device; a fifth device for judging whether the real amount is less than the critical effective amount or not; a sixth device for determining, based on the fuel mixing ratio detected and the real amount, a value corresponding to a calorific power possessed by the mixed fuel in the container; and a seventh device for controlling the first device in such a manner that, when the real amount is less than the critical effective amount, the first device indicates the value corresponding to the calorific power possessed by the mixed fuel in the container, and when the real amount is not less than the critical effective amount and the container is filled with the mixed fuel, the first device indicates the real amount of the mixed fuel by volume.

Fuel gauge system for indicating amount of mixed fuel

Starter for an alcohol engine

In a method and apparatus for starting an alcohol engine equipped with a starting motor, alcohol is converted into a high-temperature gaseous mixture containing a relatively highly volatile substance. The gas is cooled to provide a liquid condensate containing the relatively highly volatile substance. The liquid condensate is supplied to the engine as fuel when the starting motor is in operation.

Method and apparatus for starting an alcohol engine

An excess air factor control device for an alcohol reformed gas engine comprises a primary air valve, a reformed gas supply device interlocked with the primary air valve, a primary air flow meter for measuring primary air flow rate, a gas flow meter for measuring reformed gas flow rate, a secondary air valve for a secondary air controlled by the reformed gas flow rate and an alcohol adding device controlled by the primary air flow rate and reformed gas flow rate, thereby supplying alcohol to the engine when the supply of the reformed gas becomes little or is stopped.

Excess air factor control device for an alcohol reformed gas engine

A system constituted at a relatively large capacity and low output first battery such as a fuel cell, a smaller capacity and higher output second battery, and a current-limiting circuit for restricting the maximum discharge current of the first battery to a predetermined value slightly above the open-circuit voltage of the second battery, which circuit consists of a measuring circuit for measuring the discharge current, a signal generating circuit for providing a reference signal representing the predetermined current, a comparator for the comparison between the reference signal and the measured current and a current flow control circuit operated by the output of the comparator.

Power supply system having two different types of batteries and

In a power supply system constituted of a relatively high output and small capacity first battery such as a lead or alkaline storage battery and a lower output and larger capacity second battery such as a fuel cell, a portion of the discharge current of the second battery is utilized for charging the first battery, while the system is delivering a fluctuating load current under the control of a chopper, by controlling the flow of the charging current through a second chopper circuit such that the charging current is continuously furnished to the first battery when its residual capacity decreases to a predetermined value, but is interrupted periodically when the residual capacity reaches a predetermined upper limit so as to compensate slightly insufficiently for discharged energy in each cycle of the load current controlling chopper actions, resulting in gradual drop of the residual capacity to the former predetermined value and recurrence of the continuous charging.

Growing community of inventors

Yokosuka, Japan

Toshio Hirota