Honda Motor Co., Ltd.

Honda Giken Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha

University of Washington

Yuta Urushiyama

Shunji Suzuki

Eisei Higuchi

Katsuaki Taguchi

Takayuki Yamada

Suguru Yoshida

Minoru Taya

Satoru Kawabe

Jogen Yamaki

Shotaro Ayuzawa

Kosuke Tatsushima

Yasuaki Gunji

Yoshikatsu Ohta

Takahira Kawata

Hirokazu Kobayashi

Takeshi Watanabe

Shiro Yamamuro

Taishi Wada

Naoki Hayashi

Yusuke Tsuchiyama

Tadashi Naitou

Daisei Abe

Yasuharu Hontani

Nobuo Aizawa

Kimihito Hayakawa

Michael Bruyneel

Koji Nozoe

A mandrel around which fiber-reinforced resin is wound, the mandrel including a cylinder portion having a plurality of first flat surface portions, and a pair of dome portions that are formed at respective ends of the cylinder portion and each include a plurality of second flat surface portions.

Mandrel and test piece collecting method for filament winding

A high-pressure container includes a liner and a fiber layer formed of reinforcing fibers wound around an outer periphery of the liner. The fiber layer has a plurality of hoop layers in which reinforcing fibers are wound in the circumferential direction of the liner to reinforce the body portion. The reinforcing fibers used for a first hoop layer from an inner peripheral side of the fiber layer or the first hoop layer and one or more hoop layers subsequent to the first hoop layer, among the plurality of hoop layers, have a structure in which a plurality of filaments are twisted so as to be inclined with respect to a fiber bundle direction, and have a property of more easily elongating than the reinforcing fibers used for the hoop layer that is located on an outer peripheral side of the fiber layer.

High-pressure container and method of manufacturing high-pressure container

In a body structure of an automobile, a floor panel having a sandwich structure in which a core is sandwiched between and joined to an outer skin and an inner skin, which are made of a CFRP, and a first load-dispersing frame extending in the fore-and-aft direction along a side sill is disposed between an energy-absorbing member and the core. A locally concentrated load inputted into the side sill is absorbed by crumpling of the energy-absorbing member of the interior of the floor panel beneath the side sill and then widely dispersed through the floor panel further inside in the vehicle width direction than the side sill by the first load-dispersing frame, and local destruction of the floor panel further inside in the vehicle width direction than the side sill is inhibited. Furthermore, by increasing bending stiffness of the first load-dispersing frame, to reduce the sheet thickness of the CFRP outer and the inner skins, a light weight is achieved.

Body structure of automobile and method for manufacturing body floor

A vehicle body side structure in which a load acting from the front of the vehicle body is efficiently transferred to a door beam, whereby the weight of a side sill is reduced. A vehicle body side structure includes a front door provided to a front vehicle body opening via a front hinge, a front door beam provided to the front door and coupled at the front end to the front hinge, and an interaction for transferring a load to a rear part of the vehicle body, the interaction being provided to the side of the front hinge facing the front of the vehicle body. The front hinge includes a front attachment part provided to the vehicle body, and a front coupling part rotatably supported on the front attachment part and coupled with the front door beam. The front attachment part has a front bearing for bearing a load acting from the interaction.

Vehicle body side structure

A fastening device includes a fastening member that fixedly fastens fastened members, and a driving member that is capable of releasing a fastening state of the fastening member by applying a driving force to a moving portion provided in the fastening member to drive it, wherein the driving member is formed of a shape memory alloy, and the driving force is a restoring force of the shape memory alloy to its memory shape.

Fastening device

A vehicle body strength adjusting system is provided in which a bumper beam includes a body portion which extends in a widthwise direction of a vehicle and inclined portions which extend from left and right opposite ends of the body portion and which are inclined in a longitudinal direction of the vehicle body. Further, the vehicle body strength adjusting system includes a variable crush-strength device which is disposed between the inclined portions of the vehicle body frames, which can be crushed when a collision with the vehicle occurs, and which has a variable crush-strength. A first bolt hole is formed in each of the inclined portions of the bumper beam and a second bolt hole is formed in the mounting bracket of the variable crush-strength device. At least one of the first bolt hole and the second bolt hole is an elongate hole. The first bolt hole and the second bolt hole are fastened to each other by a bolt.

Crushable body strength adjusting device for a vehicle

To readily remove on-vehicle components from a vehicle body, suitably reflecting the state of the vehicle or occupant in addition to the will of the operator. The safety confirmation devicedetermines whether or not to permit actuation of the separation actuator, that is, whether to set the switchto the ON state to allow an electrical connection from the power supplyto the separation actuator, based on the signals input from the external input receiving portion, the occupant protection device, the status quantity sensor, and the input portion, and outputs a gate signal corresponding to this determination result to the switch. Electrification of the separation actuatorfrom the power supplyvia the switchreleases the fixation of an on-vehicle component by disassembling the fixation member that fixes the on-vehicle component to the vehicle body.

On-vehicle component fixation-release apparatus

In this vehicle body strength control apparatus, a control unit estimates the collision energy that will be generated when a host vehicle collides or makes contact with another object based on various signals input from an external sensor and from a vehicle quantity of state sensor. At a point in time when it is determined that there is a possibility of a collision or of contact occurring between the host vehicle and another object, or, alternatively, at the point in time when a collision or contact between the host vehicle and another object is actually detected, actuators are driven in a strength mode that corresponds to the strength that it is considered is required by a strength varying device for the previously estimated collision energy to be absorbed.

Vehicle body strength control apparatus

A shock absorbing component used as a structural component which realizes a larger energy absorption volume compared to the conventional shock absorbing component is provided. According to the present invention, with regards to the shock absorbing component, a sheet-shaped longitudinal component is formed by placing two or more types of sheet-shaped part materials alternately in the longitudinal direction, and this sheet-shaped longitudinal component is implemented in all of the layers or a part of the layers in the surface component of the shock absorbing component. Therefore, when load due to impact if applied to this shock absorbing component, unlike cases wherein the surface component is formed from a single component, the direction of the load and strain is intricately dispersed by two or more types of sheet-shaped longitudinal components and the concentration of load and deformation is prevented, thereby replacing impact energy with energy which destroys a wide area of the shock absorbing component.

Shock absorbing component

A vehicle body rigidity control apparatus is equipped with a U-shape member substantially becoming a U-shape, a base member for supporting both ends of the U-shape member, and a constraint element for constraining a deformation of the U-shape member in a substantially orthogonal direction for a collision load and releasing the constraint.

Apparatus for controlling vehicle body rigidity

An apparatus for controlling the rigidity of vehicle body according to the present invention comprises a controller for controlling a buckling form, which controls the buckling form by adding to a member to be inputted to a collision load a lateral force in the direction substantially perpendicular to the member.

Apparatus for controlling rigidity of vehicle body

An apparatus for adjusting the rigidity of vehicle body can appropriately control the rigidity of a vehicle body. An apparatus for varying rigidity includes a plurality of (e.g. three) plate-like members comprising shape-memory alloy, and a plurality of (e.g. two) connecting-disconnecting members that are detachably connected to the plate-like members. Each connecting-disconnecting member includes a base member that detachably connects to the plurality of plate-like members via a connecting member fitted to each plate-like member, a plurality of pairs of pin guides and movable pin members that are fitted to the base member, and a plurality of (e.g. two) actuators that are controlled by an unillustrated controller.

Apparatus for adjusting rigidity of vehicle body

An apparatus for controlling stiffness of a vehicle body includes a slide member, a base member, a deformable member and an actuator. The slide member is disposed parallel to a direction of impact force acting on a first end of the slide member. The base member, which is disposed at a second end of the slide member, has a slit into which the slide member moves. The deformable member is disposed at the first end of the slide member. Both ends of the deformable member are connected to the base member and a cross section of the deformable member is substantially U-shaped. The actuator executes one of permitting the slide member to move into the slit and inhibiting the slide member from moving into the slit at a collision.

Apparatus for controlling stiffness of a vehicle body

An apparatus for controlling rigidity of a vehicle body includes a wall to which a collision load is imposed from its front end side, a base member disposed at a rear end side of the wall, a slide member having opposite top and bottom plates and one vertical plate contiguously extending between edges of the top and bottom plates, and actuators for establishing and releasing connection between the wall and the slide member. The top plate is disposed over a top end (upper end portion) of the wall, the bottom plate is disposed underneath a bottom end (lower end portion) of the wall, and the vertical plate is disposed at the front end of the wall. The slide member is slidable with respect to the base member in a collision. The actuators serve to establish the connection between the top end and the top plate and between the bottom end and the bottom plate.

A vehicle body frame hollow member has an external contour whose cross section forms a polygon and has a plurality of plates, each defining a circumferential wall of the hollow member, each of points of intersection being formed by intersecting prolongations from exterior surfaces of the adjacent two plates, ribs connecting respective apical angles of the polygon with a center shaft thereof; and an elongated projection projecting outwardly of a circle tangent to the points of intersection and extending along an edge of each of the apical angles.

Growing community of inventors

Saitama, Japan

Yuta Urushiyama