Abstract: A motor-driven steering controller for controlling a steering wheel of a vehicle. The controller includes a steering torque controlling unit, a braking force estimating unit, a right and left braking force difference estimating unit and an assist steering torque providing unit. The steering torque controlling unit controls a steering torque on the steering wheel depending on a steering operation. The braking force estimating unit estimates braking forces to be imposed on wheels of the vehicle. The right and left braking force difference estimating unit estimates difference between the braking forces to be imposed on the right and left wheels each estimated by the braking forces estimating unit. The assist steering torque providing unit provides an assist steering torque for the steering torque controlling unit on the basis of the difference in braking force between right and left wheels estimated by the right and left braking force difference estimating unit.

Abstract: A vehicle control device incorporating an electric power steering is provided, wherein an extraordinary yaw motion acting on a vehicle is detected and is suppressed or moderated, so that the stability of the vehicle in a straight-ahead steering is improved. The causes of the extraordinary yaw motion are one of lateral wind, asymmetrical surface state of the road, lateral slant of the road and the like. A countermeasure against the extraordinary yaw motion is taken by applying a counter (opposite direction) yaw motion on the vehicle or switching over the control mode from a proportional control to a proportional integral control.

Abstract: In order to estimate a braking force gradient in a low slip region including a steady travelling region, there is provided a device comprising a wheel speed sensor for detecting a wheel speed in a predetermined sampling period and outputting time series data of the wheel speed as a wheel speed signal, a break point frequency estimating section for estimating a break point frequency in a gain diagram that represents a frequency response of a first order lag model that approximates a transmission characteristics from road surface disturbances to wheel speed, and a braking force gradient estimating section for estimating a braking force gradient with respect to the estimated break point frequency on the basis of the map showing a relationship between braking force gradient and break point frequency stored in advance.

Abstract: A power steering apparatus is provided to generate an assistant force corresponding to a change of viscous friction in the steering unit or the like, without losing information on reaction force from a road surface. An external force calculation portion calculates an external force, that is, a force other than a force for steering (i.e. a steering force) among forces (action forces) acting on the steering unit of a vehicle. The external force is assumed to be composed of an outside force received from the road surface, such as an SAT (self-aligning torque), and an internal drag resulting from a viscous friction generated in the steering unit, and the like and these two forces are separated in an outside force and internal drag calculation portion. In separating these two forces, under the assumption that the outside force is a function of a side slip angle and an internal drag is a function of a steering angular velocity, and coefficients of functions are obtained.

Abstract: A physical amount estimating apparatus including first outputting means for outputting a first physical amount that does not include a hysteresis characteristic, second outputting means for outputting a second physical amount that has a predetermined physical relationship to the first physical amount and includes a hysteresis characteristic, hysteresis removing means for calculating a corrected value with the hysteresis characteristic removed therefrom based on the second physical amount, and estimating means for estimating a third physical amount based on a physical relationship between the first physical amount and the corrected value.

Abstract: A control apparatus for controlling a control system having a sliding resistance by using a sliding mode control method determines a deviation of an actual value of a quantity of state that is to be caused to follow a target value from the target value (step 1), calculates a switching surface &sgr; from the deviation (step 2), and determines a corrected switching surface &sgr;′ by adding a carrier wave to the calculated switching surface &sgr; (step 3). The carrier wave is expressed by a periodic function, for example, a sine wave, a sawtooth pulse wave, or the like, and has finite gradients on its waveform. Then, the control apparatus outputs an amount of operation u based on the value of the corrected switching surface &sgr;′ (step 4). The amount of operation u behaves in a manner similar to that in an ordinary sliding mode control method when the switching surface &sgr; is not close to zero.

Abstract: Fine particulate silica gel having the following characteristics (1) to (3): (1) average particle size: from 1 to 200 &mgr;m; (2) oil absorption in accordance with JIS K5101: from 100 to 300 ml/100 g; and (3) hygroscopicity represented by moisture adsorption under a relative humidity of 90% at 25° C. in accordance with JIS Z0701: not more than 20 wt %.

Abstract: A process for producing a hardenable composition with high storage stability containing scaly silica particles which consist essentially of foliar secondary silica particles and have a laminated structure, said process comprising:

Abstract: A wheel velocity signal for each wheel detected by a wheel velocity sensor is input to a bandpass filter. Signals from frequency bands unrelated to the unsprung resonance are then removed from the wheel velocity signal and only signals from frequency bands related to the unsprung resonance are output. A road surface &mgr; gradient estimation device uses an online identification method to identify an damping ratio of a second order resonance model similar to a suspension—tire resonance model from the signal output from the bandpass filter. The road surface &mgr; gradient is then estimated from the identified damping ratio. The damping ratio of the second order resonance model corresponds to the road surface &mgr; gradient in the following manner: when the damping ratio is identified as being small, the road surface &mgr; gradient is estimated as being large; and when the road surface &mgr; gradient is identified as being large, the damping ratio is estimated as being small.

Abstract: A power steering apparatus is provided to generate an assistant force corresponding to a change of viscous friction in the steering unit or the like, without losing information on reaction force from a road surface. An external force calculation portion calculates an external force, that is, a force other than a force for steering (i.e. a steering force) among forces (action forces) acting on the steering unit of a vehicle. The external force is assumed to be composed of an outside force received from the road surface, such as an SAT (self-aligning torque), and an internal drag resulting from a viscous friction generated in the steering unit, and the like and these two forces are separated in an outside force and internal drag calculation portion. In separating these two forces, under the assumption that the outside force is a function of a side slip angle and an internal drag is a function of a steering angular velocity, and coefficients of functions are obtained.

Abstract: A floor polishing composition containing a film-formable organic high molecular material as the main component, which further contains at least scaly particles.

Abstract: In order to estimate a braking force gradient in a low slip region including a steady travelling region, there is provided a device comprising a wheel speed sensor for detecting a wheel speed in a predetermined sampling period and outputting time series data of the wheel speed as a wheel speed signal, a break point frequency estimating section for estimating a break point frequency in a gain diagram that represents a frequency response of a first order lag model that approximates a transmission characteristics from road surface disturbances to wheel speed, and a braking force gradient estimating section for estimating a braking force gradient with respect to the estimated break point frequency on the basis of the map showing a relationship between braking force gradient and break point frequency stored in advance.

Abstract: Tire air pressure during high speed travel is estimated without a sensor for detecting the tire air pressure directly. An apparatus is constituted by a wheel speed sensor, road surface friction state estimator for estimating a friction state estimation value representing friction between the tire and a road surface from wheel speed detected by the wheel speed sensor, tire air pressure estimator for estimating any reduction in the tire air pressure based on the friction state estimation value, and a display for displaying the estimated reduction in the tire air pressure.

Abstract: A characteristics change of a control object is functionally represented by a parameter &thgr; which varies between values of 0 and 1 as the gain of the control object is surveyed. The frequency of the identification signal is set at a frequency where the difference in gains becomes large. The amplitude of the identification signal is set so that the variation width of the output of the control object is less than or equal to a predetermined value. Because the identification accuracy improves where the input/output characteristics with respect to the parameter are more sensitive, the identification signal set by such a setting apparatus imparts high identification accuracy. Moreover, because the amplitude of the identification signal is set based on the variation width of the output of the control object, identification can be performed without significantly affecting the output of the control object.

Abstract: A braking force control device is provided in which wheel speeds of respective wheels of a vehicle are detected. On the basis of detected wheel speeds, a road surface &mgr; slope, which is a slope of a coefficient of friction &mgr; between a wheel and a road surface, is estimated for each wheel. On the basis of the road surface &mgr; slope estimated for each wheel, a braking force of each wheel is controlled such that the braking force of each wheel is adjusted.

Abstract: A braking force control device is provided in which wheel speeds of respective wheels of a vehicle are detected. On the basis of detected wheel speeds, a road surface &mgr; slope, which is a slope of a coefficient of friction &mgr; between a wheel and a road surface, is estimated for each wheel. On the basis of the road surface &mgr; slope estimated for each wheel, a braking force of each wheel is controlled such that the braking force of each wheel is adjusted.

Abstract: A braking force distribution control device is provided in which wheel speeds of respective wheels of a vehicle are detected. On the basis of the detected wheel speeds, slopes of coefficients of friction &mgr; between the wheels and a road surface are estimated as road surface &mgr; slope values of the respective wheels. On the basis of the estimated road surface &mgr; slope values of the respective wheels, braking forces of the respective wheels are controlled such that the braking forces among the respective wheels are adjusted.

Abstract: Disclosed is a road surface condition estimating apparatus including: a converting portion having a table showing a relation among a vehicle speed, a braking force and a resonance gain for each road surface condition and converting a detected value of the input vehicle speed and braking force into a resonance gain on the basis of the table, a subtracting device for computing each of differences between the resonance gain for each road surface condition converted by each of the converting portions and the detected value of the input resonance gain, and a minimum value selecting portion selecting the minimum value among the computed values in the subtracting device and outputting an information of the road surface condition corresponding to the converting portion giving the minimum value.

Abstract: A deviation between a target value of a quantity of state and an actual value of the quantity of state that is caused to follow the target value or a time-integral of the deviation is filtered. Based on the filtered value, a switching surface &sgr; is calculated. Based on a value of the switching surface &sgr;, a control input value u is outputted. The filter is set through comparison in Bode diagrams between a design model of a control system based on an ordinary sliding mode control method and a characteristic variation model of the control system, and by performing compensation in such a direction as to cancel out the variation. The filtering process makes it possible to properly control the control system having a dead time by the sliding mode control method.

Abstract: In a wheel condition estimating apparatus for estimating a wheel condition in a wheel resonance system including a frictional characteristic between a tire and a road surface, a transfer characteristic of the wheel resonance system from the vibration input to the output response is expressed by a transfer function including, as an unknown component of a wheel condition, a physical quantity relating to ease of a slipping between the tire and the road surface, an output response with respect to the vibration input to the wheel resonance system is detected and the unknown component which substantially satisfies the detected output response is estimated on the basis of the transfer function.