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:
May. 03, 2005
Filed:
Jan. 12, 2000
Hiroshi Hata, Toyota, JP;
Hideaki Matsui, Aichi-ken, JP;
Ryuji Ibaraki, Toyota, JP;
Toyota Jidosha Kabushiki Kaisha, Toyota, JP;
Abstract
In a planetary gear unit, a planetary carrieris linked with an engine, a sun gearwith a motor, and a ring gearwith a motorand an axle. A clutchis disposed between the planetary gear unitand the motorto connect and disconnect the planetary gear unitwith and from the motorA brakeis also provided to constrain the ring gearin a released position of the clutchThe state of coupling the clutchattains the structure of a parallel hybrid vehicle. The state of releasing the clutchand activating the braketo constrain the ring gearattains the structure of a series hybrid vehicle. The technique of the present invention changes over the drive mode according to the driving state of the hybrid vehicle, thus ensuring an efficient drive that takes advantage of the characteristics of the respective drive modes.