Toyota Jidosha Kabushiki Kaisha

Yasuaki Tsurumi

Shiro Monzaki

Yoshihide Sekiya

Yutaka Ohnuma

In a steering device, the transmission ratio variable mechanism changes a transmission ratio. The transmission ratio is a ratio of the turning angle of a wheel to the steering angle of a steering wheel. In the stationary-steering mode, the ECU sets a low transmission-ratio state where the transmission ratio is reduced compared with the transmission ratio in an ordinary mode when the steering wheel is increasingly steered while setting a zero-transmission-ratio state where coupling between the steering wheel and the wheel is released to set the transmission ratio to zero when the steering wheel is returned.

Steering device

An electronic control unit inputs from temperature sensors a temperature of the heating side of a thermoelectric conversion section assembled to each of brake units provided for left and right rear wheels. When the temperature of the heating side is equal to or lower than a predetermined temperature, the electronic control unit drives and controls a brake hydraulic pressure control section so as to operate the brake units preferentially over brake units provided for left and right front wheels. With this operation, each of the brake units generates friction heat, and heats the heating side of the corresponding thermoelectric conversion section, whereby the thermoelectric conversion section efficiently collects thermal energy and generates electrical power. Meanwhile, when the heating side temperature is higher than the predetermined temperature, the electronic control unit drives and controls the brake hydraulic pressure control section so as to decrease the proportion of the braking forces applied by the brake units and increase the proportion of the braking forces applied by the brake units.

Braking apparatus for vehicle

A vehicle motion control system for a vehicle having a single front wheel, a right wheel and a left wheel. The control system includes (a) a rollover-probability judging portion configured to judge whether or not a vehicle-body acceleration falls in a high rollover-probability region; and (b) a rollover-prevention control executing portion configured, when the acceleration falls in the high rollover-probability region, to execute a rollover prevention control for controlling motion of the vehicle so as to reduce the probability of rollover of the vehicle. The rollover-probability judging portion is configured to obtain a direction and a magnitude of the acceleration by composing a component of the acceleration in a longitudinal direction of the vehicle and a component of the vehicle-body acceleration in a width direction of the vehicle. The high rollover-probability region is defined by a threshold whose amount varies depending on the direction of the vehicle-body acceleration.

Growing community of inventors

Nagoya, Japan

Yasuaki Tsurumi