Patents Assigned to Mazda Motor Corporation
  • Patent number: 11827205
    Abstract: A vehicle gear-shifting control apparatus is equipped with an engine, a motor, an automatic transmission, a friction brake system, and a controller which executes, during deceleration of an automobile, a gear-shifting control of changing a shift stage of the automatic transmission by outputting a gear-shifting signal in accordance with the rotation speed of an input shaft and a regeneration control of performing regeneration by at least one of distributing a braking force by the friction brake system and imparting a regenerative braking torque to rear wheels by causing the motor to perform a regeneration operation. The controller executes a first coordinated gear-shifting control of reducing hydraulic pressure in the friction brake system and, at the same time, changing the shift stage while continuing the regeneration operation during brake regeneration and executes a second coordinated gear-shifting control of changing the shift stage after increasing an input torque during non-brake regeneration.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 24, 2023
    Date of Patent: November 28, 2023
    Assignee: Mazda Motor Corporation
    Inventors: Makoto Yamada, Tooru Uematsu, Atsushi Yamasaki
  • Patent number: 11827211
    Abstract: A control system for a vehicle is provided, which includes a driving force source configured to generate torque for driving drive wheels, a steering wheel, a steering angle sensor, and a controller. Based on the detected steering angle, the controller reduces the driving torque to add deceleration to the vehicle when the steering wheel is being turned in one direction, and increases the torque to add acceleration when the steering wheel is being turned back in the other direction. The controller controls the torque, when the steering wheel is being turned in the returning direction from a state where it is turned in the one direction, so as to add forward acceleration until the steering wheel returns to a neutral position, and when the steering wheel is then being turned in the other direction after passing through the neutral position, so as not to add the forward acceleration.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 24, 2022
    Date of Patent: November 28, 2023
    Assignee: Mazda Motor Corporation
    Inventors: Daisaku Ogawa, Osamu Sunahara, Daisuke Umetsu
  • Publication number: 20230373566
    Abstract: A side sill in a lower part and on an outer side in a vehicle width direction of a vehicle and forms, in its inner part, a closed cross section that extends in a front-rear direction of the vehicle; the side sill includes a side sill outer that has a front end and a main body located behind the front end, an outer-side reinforcement member that has a shape extending along a front face part and a side face part of the front end of the side sill outer is joined to the front end from inside or outside the closed cross section, a front end of the main body is opposed to a rear end of a side face part of the outer-side reinforcement member in the front-rear direction, and the main body has a protrusion part that protrudes to the inner side of the closed cross section.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 23, 2023
    Publication date: November 23, 2023
    Applicant: Mazda Motor Corporation
    Inventors: Ippei KURODA, Masaya NISHIMOTO
  • Patent number: 11825145
    Abstract: A communication management method includes: flag transmission of transmitting, to an on-vehicle communication device, identification flag information for identifying a function to be enabled among a plurality of functions of a vehicle, using a management server; port assignment of assigning different dedicated source ports for respective functions to be enabled based on the identification flag information, using the on-vehicle communication device, upon receipt of the identification flag information; and data communications for the respective functions assigned to the dedicated source ports in the port assignment via the dedicated source ports to allow a communication carrier to accumulate data traffic for the respective functions, using the on-vehicle communication device.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 22, 2021
    Date of Patent: November 21, 2023
    Assignee: MAZDA MOTOR CORPORATION
    Inventors: Motoki Oishi, Satoshi Nakao, Yoshiki Maekawa, Eiji Okazaki, Hiroshi Ariki
  • Patent number: 11820432
    Abstract: A side load-transmitting member extending in a vehicle longitudinal direction and transmitting a load applied to a vehicle-inward side from a vehicle-outward side toward the vehicle-inward side is provided inside a side sill. A lower portion of the side sill is provided to overlap a battery case in a vehicle side view. The side load-transmitting member comprises a first vertical wall portion provided to overlap a floor-side cross member in the vehicle side view and a second vertical wall portion provided to overlap the battery case in the vehicle side view.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 17, 2022
    Date of Patent: November 21, 2023
    Assignee: MAZDA MOTOR CORPORATION
    Inventors: Takehiro Kamei, Takayuki Kimura
  • Patent number: 11821832
    Abstract: An anticorrosion test method for a coated metallic material may include: a preparation step of adding an artificial flaw at two positions of the coated metallic material; a first measurement step of measuring a size of the artificial flaw; a connection step of electrically connecting the artificial flaws at the two positions by an external circuit via water-containing materials; an energization step of energizing a steel sheet to produce a bulge of an electrodeposition coating film; a second measurement step of measuring size of the bulge of the electrodeposition coating film; a calculation step of calculating a degree of progress of corrosion of the coated metallic material; and a correction step of correcting the degree of the progress of the corrosion.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 12, 2021
    Date of Patent: November 21, 2023
    Assignee: MAZDA MOTOR CORPORATION
    Inventors: Teruaki Asada, Katsunobu Sasaki, Tsutomu Shigenaga
  • Patent number: 11821353
    Abstract: To meet both a request to improve the thermal efficiency in medium load operation of an engine and a request to suppress knocking in high load operation of the engine, the engine includes a main combustion chamber including a cylinder block, a cylinder head, and a piston; a pre-chamber having a plurality of injection holes that open into the main combustion chamber; and a spark plug that ignites an air-fuel mixture in the pre-chamber. A compression ratio of the main combustion chamber is not less than 14 and not more than 24, an aperture ratio, which is the ratio of a total cross-sectional area of the plurality of injection holes to a volume of the pre-chamber, is not less than 0.0078 mm?1 and not more than 0.0145 mm?1, and the volume of the pre-chamber 15 is not less than 0.0430 cm3 and not more than 0.5631 cm3.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 15, 2022
    Date of Patent: November 21, 2023
    Assignee: Mazda Motor Corporation
    Inventors: Yuji Harada, Kenji Uchida, Ryohei Ono
  • Patent number: 11820194
    Abstract: A vehicle suspension system smoothly changes a vehicle posture with respect to a steering force and a steering angle by minimizing a kinematic roll at an initial turning stage, thereby allowing a driver to obtain the sensation of maneuvering the vehicle well. The suspension system includes a front suspension having geometry satisfying that a caster angle is +3° to +5°, a caster trail is +20 to +30 mm, an intersection point between a kingpin axis and ground is located on an inner side in a vehicle width direction of a center of a tire contact patch, and an anhedral angle of a lower arm is +2.8° to +7.2°. A rear suspension includes five links and has geometry satisfying that a virtual kingpin axis extends near the center of a tire contact patch of a rear wheel assembly and extends vertically at ?2° to 0°.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 22, 2022
    Date of Patent: November 21, 2023
    Assignee: MAZDA MOTOR CORPORATION
    Inventors: Kazuhiro Okuyama, Masaya Hiramatsu, Yoshitada Toyoshima
  • Patent number: 11807095
    Abstract: A vehicle may include a propeller shaft that extends from a transmission toward a vehicle rear side and left and right battery units disposed below floor panels disposed on the left and right sides of a floor tunnel. The propeller shaft may include a first shaft portion connected to the transmission and a second shaft portion connected to the first shaft portion via a universal joint. The left and right battery units may have inner side surface portions that face the inner side in the vehicle width direction, respectively. Planar protectors that cover the portions of the inner side surface portions on the vehicle rear side of the universal joint may be mounted to the battery units, respectively.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 10, 2021
    Date of Patent: November 7, 2023
    Assignee: MAZDA MOTOR CORPORATION
    Inventors: Shintaro Harugaichi, Sho Yoshida, Yosuke Sawada, Yasushi Ishikawa
  • Patent number: 11807363
    Abstract: An on-vehicle aircraft control system includes a winding device provided on a landing platform, a connecting member connecting the winding device and an aircraft and wound up or drawn out by the winding device, and a controller controlling the winding device and the aircraft. Upon receipt of a landing request to land the aircraft on the landing platform, the controller winds up the connecting member by the winding device and controls an attitude of the aircraft so as to land the aircraft with a photographing unit provided on the aircraft facing in a specified photographing direction determined in advance.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 10, 2021
    Date of Patent: November 7, 2023
    Assignee: MAZDA MOTOR CORPORATION
    Inventors: Hironobu Hashiguchi, Akira Yasutake, Tsuyoshi Arinaga
  • Patent number: 11809621
    Abstract: A state of a user of a mobile terminal having a display for displaying an image may be estimated. A sightline detector detects a sightline of the user of a mobile terminal and processing circuitry is configured to estimate a state of the user. The processing circuitry is configured to determine a top-down index value that is correlated with an attention source amount allocated to top-down attention of the user with respect to an image displayed on a display of the mobile terminal. The processing circuitry is configured to determine a bottom-up index value correlated with the attention source amount allocated to bottom-up attention of the user with respect to the image displayed on the display. The processing circuitry is configured to estimate the user state including an attention function degraded state based on the top-down index value and the bottom-up index value.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 18, 2021
    Date of Patent: November 7, 2023
    Assignee: MAZDA MOTOR CORPORATION
    Inventors: Koji Iwase, Kazuo Sakamoto, Akihide Takami
  • Patent number: 11808202
    Abstract: An engine crank pulley structure disposed at a vehicle front side of a longitudinal engine includes: a front pulley that transmits crank rotational force to the water pump via a belt; a rear pulley that is disposed at a vehicle rear side of the front pulley and transmits a crank rotational force to a compressor via a belt; and a connecting portion that connects the front pulley and the rear pulley, the connecting portion crushing and deforming in a vehicle front-rear direction as a collision load toward the vehicle rear side is applied to it. An outer diameter of the front pulley is smaller than an inner diameter of the rear pulley.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 21, 2020
    Date of Patent: November 7, 2023
    Assignee: Mazda Motor Corporation
    Inventors: Masayuki Furutani, Koichi Hirata, Satoshi Nishizaka, Kazuhiro Tokushima, Yuzo Fujino
  • Patent number: 11808200
    Abstract: An engine system is provided, including an engine having a water jacket, a circulation system that circulates coolant through the water jacket, and a controller. The circulation system includes a radiator passage including a heat exchanger, a bypass passage bypassing the heat exchanger, a flow rate control device, and a thermally-actuated valve connected to the radiator passage and that opens to allow the coolant to pass through the heat exchanger. When an engine load is below a first load, the controller controls the flow rate control device to adjust the coolant flow rate flowing through the water jacket according to the load, by closing the radiator passage and adjusting the coolant flow rate flowing through the bypass passage. When the load is above the first load, the controller controls the flow rate control device so that the coolant flows through each of the radiator passage and the bypass passage.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 13, 2022
    Date of Patent: November 7, 2023
    Assignee: Mazda Motor Corporation
    Inventors: Haruki Misumi, Takuma Yamagaki
  • Publication number: 20230347983
    Abstract: In a vehicle side body structure, when a force that deforms a side door inward in a vehicle width direction acts on the side door, a second engagement section enters a clearance in the vehicle width direction of the side door, a first engagement section and the second engagement section respectively engage with a first engaged section and a second engaged section, and an engagement structure bent with the first engagement section serving as a fulcrum, so as to prevent the side door from flipping up.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 27, 2023
    Publication date: November 2, 2023
    Applicant: Mazda Motor Corporation
    Inventors: Tomohito OKUYAMA, Kyohei YUKITA, Isamu KIZAKI, Kaori SUZUKI, Takuto FUKUSHIMA
  • Publication number: 20230347727
    Abstract: A floor tunnel protruding upwardly and extending in a vehicle longitudinal direction at a central position, in a vehicle width direction, of a floor panel, a cross member having ridgelines extending in the vehicle width direction at a rear end of the floor tunnel and a closed-cross section portion interconnecting a pair of right-and-left side sills, and a pair of right-and-left battery units positioned below the floor panel and between the side sills and provided on right-and-left sides, in the vehicle width direction, of the floor tunnel are provided. The cross member is provided with a reinforcement portion to reinforce the ridgelines in a range, in the vehicle width direction, which includes at least the position of the battery units and excludes the central position, in the vehicle width direction, of the floor panel.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 10, 2023
    Publication date: November 2, 2023
    Applicant: MAZDA MOTOR CORPORATION
    Inventors: Hirotaka NATSUME, Toshiyuki KOGA, Akiko NAKAMOTO, Kento OTSUKA, Kohichi TANIMOTO, Yuji YOKOGI, Yoshie NISHIMOTO
  • Publication number: 20230349307
    Abstract: A blowby gas return apparatus is provided that achieves inhibition of condensation of water vapor in blowby gas in branched return passages. A blowby gas return apparatus that returns blowby gas generated in an engine having a plurality of cylinders to an intake system of the engine includes a distribution portion inside a head cover of the engine, and distributes the blowby gas to intake paths of the cylinders. The distribution portion includes an introduction portion through which the blowby gas is introduced and a plurality of branch passages communicating with the introduction portion, plurality of branch passages branching from the introduction portion to communicate with the intake paths.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 21, 2023
    Publication date: November 2, 2023
    Applicant: MAZDA MOTOR CORPORATION
    Inventors: Takashi KASHIWABARA, Yuki TSUKAGOSHI
  • Patent number: 11802518
    Abstract: An engine system is provided, which includes a vehicle-mounted engine having an injector, a spark plug, an intake valve operating mechanism, and an exhaust valve operating mechanism, an accelerator opening sensor, and a controller. The engine is configured to execute flame propagation combustion and compressed self-ignition combustion. The controller performs a combustion control so that a target torque set based on an accelerator opening is realized in a specific cycle in the future from a present time by a given delay time. The controller sets beforehand the combustion mode based on a target load, estimates an in-cylinder property when the intake valve is closed in the present cycle, sets a target in-cylinder property so that the set combustion mode is realized in the specific cycle, and sets a target operating amount of each of the intake and exhaust valve operating mechanisms based on the set target in-cylinder property.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 13, 2022
    Date of Patent: October 31, 2023
    Assignee: Mazda Motor Corporation
    Inventors: Takuma Fujii, Takayuki Hikita, Saori Mizuno, Mitsuhiro Muto
  • Patent number: 11802828
    Abstract: A corrosion resistance test method for a coated metal material that includes a metal base and a surface treatment film, includes the steps of: disposing one or more water-containing material holders each holding a water-containing material to be in contact with the surface treatment film and one or more electrodes to be in contact with the water-containing material, and electrically connecting, with an external circuit, between the one electrode and the metal base, or between the electrodes; and supplying a current between the one electrode and the metal base, or between at least one of the electrodes and at least one of the other electrodes, as an anode and a cathode, to bring corrosion of the coated metal material to progress. The water-containing material has a viscosity at 65° C. of 10 mPa·s or more to 40 mPa·s or less.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 21, 2021
    Date of Patent: October 31, 2023
    Assignee: MAZDA MOTOR CORPORATION
    Inventors: Teruaki Asada, Katsunobu Sasaki, Tatsuya Ezaki, Tsutomu Shigenaga, Akihide Takami
  • Patent number: 11804978
    Abstract: A network hub device used for building a simple network configuration in an in-vehicle network system is provided. A network hub device (35) is coupled to a trunk network and performs input/output of a signal to/from an in-vehicle device via a plurality of device side communication ports. A signal conversion section (35a, 35b) configured to perform signal conversion between a digital control signal and an analog control signal is provided between a trunk side communication port and an analog port. A second signal conversion section (70) configured to perform signal conversion between a digital control signal and an analog control signal is provided between a digital port (49) and a predetermined in-vehicle device (353).
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 10, 2020
    Date of Patent: October 31, 2023
    Assignee: MAZDA MOTOR CORPORATION
    Inventors: Sadahisa Yamada, Yoshimasa Kurokawa, Tetsuhiro Yamashita, Masaaki Shimizu
  • Publication number: 20230339300
    Abstract: A back door structure of a vehicle capable of reducing noise in a vehicle interior by suppressing vibration of an outer panel while reducing the weight and costs includes an outer panel and an inner panel. The inner panel includes a horizontal frame part, side-direction frame parts, and connecting parts. The horizontal frame part and each of the side-direction frame parts are mutually connected. The connecting part extends only from one end part on an opening part side in a vertical width direction of the horizontal frame part, the connecting part extends only from one end part on an opening part side in the vertical width direction of the side-direction frame part, and the connecting part extends only from one end part on an opening part side in the vertical width direction of the side-direction frame part. The connecting parts are respectively connected to the outer panel.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 27, 2023
    Publication date: October 26, 2023
    Applicant: Mazda Motor Corporation
    Inventors: Masaki MATSUSHITA, Kohei Fukumitsu, Atsushi Ito, Takayuki Sugishima