Patents by Inventor Masashi Eto

Masashi Eto has filed for patents to protect the following inventions. This listing includes patent applications that are pending as well as patents that have already been granted by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).

  • Publication number: 20210253079
    Abstract: A control device is provided, which includes: a destination determining unit configured to determine a destination of a hybrid vehicle that includes an engine, a motor and a battery and is able to supply waste heat from the engine to the battery; a arrival judging unit configured to judge whether the hybrid vehicle can arrive at the destination with a remaining capacity of the battery based on the remaining capacity and a temperature of the battery; and a vehicle control unit configured to control the hybrid vehicle to start the engine and supply the waste heat from the engine to the battery when the arrival judging unit judges that the hybrid vehicle cannot arrive at the destination.
    Type: Application
    Filed: January 27, 2021
    Publication date: August 19, 2021
    Inventors: Masashi ETO, Koichiro FUJITA
  • Publication number: 20210253080
    Abstract: A control device is provided, which includes: a route determining unit configured to determine a travelling route of a hybrid vehicle; a travelling time estimating unit configured to, in a case where the travelling route includes an engine travelling restricted section and an engine requiring section, in which engine travelling is required, exists before the engine travelling restricted section in the travelling route, estimate a travelling time during which the hybrid vehicle travels from the beginning of the engine requiring section to the engine travelling restricted section; and a vehicle control unit configured to cause the hybrid vehicle to start the engine before the engine requiring section when the travelling time is shorter than a predetermined time.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 3, 2021
    Publication date: August 19, 2021
    Inventors: Takanori NAKASHIMA, Takeshi SAITO, Tomohiro SHIBATA, Masashi ETO, Shinya MIWA
  • Publication number: 20200122712
    Abstract: A vehicle control device having a prime mover, a first rotating member which is rotated by power of the prime mover, and a second rotating member which is connected to the first rotating member and which rotate a drive wheel, includes a deriving unit which derive a prime mover request output that is an output requested by the prime mover in accordance with a request output to the drive wheel, and a control unit which increase or decrease a rotation speed of the prime mover between a lower limit rotation speed and an upper limit rotation speed in accordance with a change in a rotation speed of the drive wheel. The control unit increases or decreases the rotation speed of the prime mover without changing a power output by the prime mover or an output of the first rotating member in accordance with the prime mover request output.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 30, 2017
    Publication date: April 23, 2020
    Applicant: HONDA MOTOR CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Haruhiko MIKI, Hiroshi SAITO, Masashi ETO, Yusuke SASAKI
  • Patent number: 10392005
    Abstract: A hybrid electric vehicle including a gradient acquiring portion which acquires a gradient of a road surface on which the vehicle is running, and a control portion which determines whether the vehicle runs on a first driving by means of power from the motor by releasing the engagement and disengagement portion, or on a second driving by means of power from at least the internal combustion engine by applying the engagement and disengagement portion. The control portion restricts a switch from the second driving to the first driving when the gradient of the downward slope is equal to or greater than a threshold value. The control portion holds the second driving when the switch from the second driving to the first driving is restricted, even though the control portion obtains a request for a switch to the first driving while the vehicle runs the downward slope on the second driving.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 23, 2016
    Date of Patent: August 27, 2019
    Assignee: HONDA MOTOR CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Junpei Hatsuda, Shigeki Kazehare, Masashi Eto, Takanori Kon
  • Patent number: 9969380
    Abstract: In a hybrid vehicle control apparatus, driving of the vehicle is switched between driving modes including engine driving mode in which driving is to be powered by an internal combustion engine and electrical machine driving mode in which driving is to be powered by a rotating electrical machine, and required driving force in each of the driving modes in accordance with predetermined characteristics based on accelerator position and vehicle speed to control driving force of the vehicle to the calculated required driving force, when the driving mode is switched, driving force of the vehicle is controlled based on the required driving force of the driving mode before switched unless at least one of the accelerator position and the vehicle speed changes.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 12, 2016
    Date of Patent: May 15, 2018
    Assignee: Honda Motor Co., Ltd.
    Inventor: Masashi Eto
  • Publication number: 20170182998
    Abstract: A hybrid electric vehicle including a gradient acquiring portion which acquires a gradient of a road surface on which the vehicle is running, and a control portion which determines whether the vehicle runs on a first driving by means of power from the motor by releasing the engagement and disengagement portion, or on a second driving by means of power from at least the internal combustion engine by applying the engagement and disengagement portion. The control portion restricts a switch from the second driving to the first driving when the gradient of the downward slope is equal to or greater than a threshold value. The control portion holds the second driving when the switch from the second driving to the first driving is restricted, even though the control portion obtains a request for a switch to the first driving while the vehicle runs the downward slope on the second driving.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 23, 2016
    Publication date: June 29, 2017
    Applicant: HONDA MOTOR CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Junpei Hatsuda, Shigeki Kazehare, Masashi Eto, Takanori Kon
  • Patent number: 9611934
    Abstract: A shift control apparatus for an automatic transmission includes a controller. The controller is configured to control the automatic transmission. The automatic transmission includes a first input shaft, a second input shaft, an output shaft, a first clutch, a second clutch, and gear trains. In a case where a standby shift stage does not lie between a predetermined current shift stage and a target shift stage, the controller controls the first clutch to be disengaged and the second clutch to be engaged, and then controls a synchronizing device among synchronizing devices for the predetermined current shift stage to be disengaged and a synchronizing device among the synchronizing devices for the target shift stage to be engaged during a disengagement of the first clutch, and then controls the second clutch to be disengaged and the first clutch to be engaged.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 29, 2015
    Date of Patent: April 4, 2017
    Assignee: HONDA MOTOR CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Masashi Eto, Yoshiharu Saito, Hiroki Endo
  • Patent number: 9581235
    Abstract: A cooling device for cooling lubrication oil which circulates in a vehicle transmission is provided with a first oil circulating circuit through which a clutch oil for lubricating a first and second clutch of the transmission circulates, a second oil circulating circuit through which a gear oil circulates to lubricate mechanisms other than the first and the second clutches, and a cooling water circulating circuit through which a cooling water circulates to cool an engine and a motor. Also provided is a first heat exchanger exchanging heat between the first lubrication oil and the second lubrication oil, and a second heat exchanger exchanging heat between the first lubrication oil and the cooling water.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 10, 2014
    Date of Patent: February 28, 2017
    Assignee: HONDA MOTOR CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Yuuichi Hidaka, Akio Muto, Masashi Eto
  • Publication number: 20160304079
    Abstract: In a hybrid vehicle control apparatus, driving of the vehicle is switched between driving modes including engine driving mode in which driving is to be powered by an internal combustion engine and electrical machine driving mode in which driving is to be powered by a rotating electrical machine, and required driving force in each of the driving modes in accordance with predetermined characteristics based on accelerator position and vehicle speed to control driving force of the vehicle to the calculated required driving force, when the driving mode is switched, driving force of the vehicle is controlled based on the required driving force of the driving mode before switched unless at least one of the accelerator position and the vehicle speed changes.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 12, 2016
    Publication date: October 20, 2016
    Inventor: Masashi Eto
  • Patent number: 9453575
    Abstract: A control device of a twin-clutch transmission includes a gear operation mechanism driven by a single actuator mechanism . The gear operation mechanism performs a selection operation to select a synchromesh unit to operate from a plurality of synchromesh units and a shift operation to drive the selected synchromesh unit to an engagement position (in-gear position) corresponding to a shift position. In the control device, based on a deceleration rate of a vehicle, a determination is made to allow or disallow continuation of the shift operation at a change of a shift position to a target shift position. When a determination is made to disallow continuation of the shift operation, only the selection operation is performed, and the shift operation is prohibited. When a determination is made to allow continuation of the shift operation, the shift operation is allowed.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 24, 2014
    Date of Patent: September 27, 2016
    Assignee: HONDA MOTOR CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Masashi Eto, Shohei Taka, Atsuhiro Saeki
  • Publication number: 20150345633
    Abstract: A shift control apparatus for an automatic transmission includes a controller. The controller is configured to control the automatic transmission. The automatic transmission includes a first input shaft, a second input shaft, an output shaft, a first clutch, a second clutch, and gear trains. In a case where a standby shift stage does not lie between a predetermined current shift stage and a target shift stage, the controller controls the first clutch to be disengaged and the second clutch to be engaged, and then controls a synchronizing device among synchronizing devices for the predetermined current shift stage to be disengaged and a synchronizing device among the synchronizing devices for the target shift stage to be engaged during a disengagement of the first clutch, and then controls the second clutch to be disengaged and the first clutch to be engaged.
    Type: Application
    Filed: May 29, 2015
    Publication date: December 3, 2015
    Applicant: HONDA MOTOR CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Masashi ETO, Yoshiharu SAITO, Hiroki ENDO
  • Publication number: 20150184743
    Abstract: A control device of a twin-clutch transmission includes a gear operation mechanism driven by a single actuator mechanism . The gear operation mechanism performs a selection operation to select a synchromesh unit to operate from a plurality of synchromesh units and a shift operation to drive the selected synchromesh unit to an engagement position (in-gear position) corresponding to a shift position. In the control device, based on a deceleration rate of a vehicle, a determination is made to allow or disallow continuation of the shift operation at a change of a shift position to a target shift position. When a determination is made to disallow continuation of the shift operation, only the selection operation is performed, and the shift operation is prohibited. When a determination is made to allow continuation of the shift operation, the shift operation is allowed.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 24, 2014
    Publication date: July 2, 2015
    Inventors: Masashi ETO, Shohei TAKA, Atsuhiro SAEKI
  • Publication number: 20150176696
    Abstract: A cooling device for cooling lubrication oil which circulates in a vehicle transmission is provided with a first oil circulating circuit through which a clutch oil for lubricating a first and second clutch of the transmission circulates, a second oil circulating circuit through which a gear oil circulates to lubricate mechanisms other than the first and the second clutches, and a cooling water circulating circuit through which a cooling water circulates to cool an engine and a motor. Also provided is a first heat exchanger exchanging heat between the first lubrication oil and the second lubrication oil, and a second heat exchanger exchanging heat between the first lubrication oil and the cooling water.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 10, 2014
    Publication date: June 25, 2015
    Applicant: HONDA MOTOR CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Yuuichi Hidaka, Akio Muto, Masashi Eto