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:
Nov. 15, 1994
Filed:
Jul. 05, 1991
Nobuo Momose, Okazaki, JP;
Hiroaki Yoshida, Okazaki, JP;
Mitsubishi Jidosha Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha, Tokyo, JP;
Abstract
A method for detecting a friction coefficient of the road surface includes a detection step of detecting an operating angle of the steering wheel of the vehicle, a vehicle speed and an operating pressure of the hydraulic power steering unit for the front wheels, and a calculation step of calculating the friction coefficient of the road surface on turning of the vehicle by considering relationships among a slip angle of the front wheel, the friction coefficient of the road surface and a cornering force of the front wheels. The method further includes a step of prohibiting the execution of the calculation step when the steering wheel is turned back, whereby the calculation step is executed only when the direction of the operating pressure of power steering unit is in the equiphase with the operating direction of the steering wheel. Also, a four-wheel steering system includes has a rear steering actuator for steering the rear wheels so as to increase the steering angle of the rear wheels as the friction coefficient of the road surface calculated by the above-described method decreases.