The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Jun. 01, 1993
Filed:
Jan. 22, 1991
Masayoshi Ito, Okazaki, JP;
Kiichi Yamada, Nagoya, JP;
Masayuki Hashiguchi, Ohbu, JP;
Keiji Isoda, Nagoya, JP;
Toshio Shigehara, Okazaki, JP;
Mitsubishi Jidosha Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha, Tokyo, JP;
Abstract
An apparatus for effecting a method for estimating the friction coefficient of a road surface according to the present invention comprises front- and rear-wheel rotation sensors for detecting the running speed of a vehicle, a linear G sensor for detecting an actual transverse acceleration of the vehicle, a steering angle sensor for detecting the steering angle of front wheels, and a torque calculating unit supplied with the vehicle speed, actual transverse acceleration, and steering angle detected by means of these sensors. In the torque calculating unit, which takes account of an assumed value of the stability factor of the vehicle in addition to the vehicle speed, actual transverse acceleration, and steering angle, a target transverse acceleration required by a driver is calculated, for example, and whether or not the friction coefficient of the road surface is low is then estimated according to the relationship between the calculated target transverse acceleration and the actual transverse acceleration.