Patents by Inventor Teruo Wakashiro

Teruo Wakashiro 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).

  • Patent number: 6702052
    Abstract: A control apparatus of a hybrid vehicle is provided, capable of charging the battery device when the state of charge of the battery device tends to decrease and the initial state of charge of the battery device is reduced by a predetermined amount. The present device comprises a lower limit threshold value setting device S060, an upper limit threshold value setting device for setting the lower limit and upper limit threshold values, respectively, of the discharge amount of the battery device, a mode setting device S054 for increasing the state of charge when the state of charge is reduced to the lower limit threshold value, a mode setting release device S062 for releasing the mode setting changed by the mode setting device, and a discharge depth detecting device S063 for detecting the discharge amount of the present state of charge by comparison with the initial state of charge.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 20, 2000
    Date of Patent: March 9, 2004
    Assignee: Honda Giken Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Teruo Wakashiro, Shigetaka Kuroda, Shinichi Kitajima, Kazutomo Sawamura, Atsushi Izumiura, Yasuo Nakamoto, Hideyuki Oki, Kan Nakaune
  • Patent number: 6702715
    Abstract: A power transmission comprises an engine E with a plurality of cylinders, a belt-type continuously variable transmission CVT, which changes the rotational speed being transmitted from the engine, a control valve CV, which variably sets the line pressure used for controlling the speed change ratio of the transmission, and an electrical control unit ECU, which calculates the torque of the output shaft of the engine when the engine is decelerating in a partial cylinder operation mode. While a vehicle equipped with this power transmission is decelerating with the engine being in a partial cylinder operation mode, the control valve CV sets the line pressure in correspondence to the torque of the engine output shaft calculated by the electrical control unit ECU.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 29, 2002
    Date of Patent: March 9, 2004
    Assignee: Honda Giken Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Takahiro Eguchi, Masaaki Yamaguchi, Teruo Wakashiro
  • Patent number: 6700213
    Abstract: A control system provided in a hybrid vehicle with a combustion engine for outputting a driving force, an electric motor for generating a force for assisting the output from the engine, depending on driving conditions, a power storage unit for storing electric energy generated by the motor acting as a generator using the output from the engine and electric energy regenerated by the motor when the vehicle decelerates. The control system includes an output assist determination means for determining, based on a determination threshold value as the standard, whether to assist the output from the engine by the motor, depending on the driving conditions of the vehicle. An air-fuel controller is provided for changing the air-fuel ratio of the mixture, which is to be supplied to the engine, to a condition leaner or richer than the stoichiometric air-fuel ratio.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 26, 2000
    Date of Patent: March 2, 2004
    Assignee: Honda Giken Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Teruo Wakashiro, Atsushi Izumiura, Kan Nakaune, Takashi Iwamoto, Asao Ukai, Katsuhiro Kumagai
  • Publication number: 20040035113
    Abstract: In order to improve the fuel consumption efficiency of a hybrid vehicle, a control apparatus 1 for a hybrid vehicle is provided, which comprises as a power source a motor M and an engine E capable of executing partial cylinder deactivation operation and the driving force of at least one of these is transmitted to wheels for running the vehicle. When the required output is larger than the output of the engine under partial cylinder deactivation operation, and is smaller than the total output of the engine and the motor, which is adjustable for assisting the engine, the control apparatus operates the engine under partial deactivation and adjusts the motor output so as to compensate the difference between the total output of the power source and the output of the partial cylinder deactivated engine.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 5, 2003
    Publication date: February 26, 2004
    Applicant: HONDA GIKEN KOGYO KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Kohei Hanada, Teruo Wakashiro, Shigetaka Kuroda, Takahiro Yonekura, Makoto Kishida, Tomohiro Nishi
  • Publication number: 20040026928
    Abstract: A control device for a hybrid vehicle having an engine and a motor as driving sources for the vehicle, and when decelerating, the control device stops the fuel supply to the engine and generates energy by regenerative braking. The engine is a cylinder pause-type engine which is capable of switching between the all-cylinder driving state in which all of cylinders are operating, and a cylinder paused driving state in which all of the cylinders are paused, and the control device of the hybrid vehicle comprises a cylinder pause state determination device for determining whether the engine is in the all cylinder driving state or in a cylinder paused driving state and a regeneration amount supplementing device for supplementing the regeneration energy by the motor by use of the increment of the regeneration energy obtained during the cylinder pausing operation than that obtained during all cylinder driving state.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 15, 2003
    Publication date: February 12, 2004
    Inventors: Teruo Wakashiro, Hideyuki Takahashi, Atsushi Matsubara, Tomoharu Kamo, Toshiyuki Sato, Yasuo Nakamoto
  • Patent number: 6687603
    Abstract: In an assist control apparatus for a hybrid vehicle comprising an engine as a drive source of the vehicle, and a motor assisting drive of the engine in accordance with driving conditions of the vehicle, the engine is a cylinder deactivating engine switchable between a normal operation and a cylinder deactivating operation, and there is provided a cylinder resumption assist judgment device which judges whether the drive of the engine should be assisted by the motor, when the engine shifts from the cylinder deactivating operation to the normal operation, and when the cylinder resumption assist judgment device judges a resumption from the cylinder deactivated condition, and judges that a throttle opening is larger than a predetermined value, drive of the engine is assisted by the motor.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 14, 2002
    Date of Patent: February 3, 2004
    Assignee: Honda Giken Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Teruo Wakashiro, Atsushi Matsubara, Shinichi Kitajima, Toshinari Shinohara, Yasuo Nakamoto, Shigeo Hidai
  • Publication number: 20040012206
    Abstract: A control device for a hybrid vehicle, the hybrid vehicle comprising an engine and a motor as power sources, the control device including: a battery device sending energy to and receiving energy from the motor, a temperature sensor for measuring the temperature of the battery device; a control section which is adapted to execute a warming control operation for the battery device when the temperature of the battery device is low; and a determination section for determining whether a cylinder deactivation operation is permitted for the engine depending on the running state of the engine. The control section executes a vibration control operation for the engine by operating the motor so as to reduce vibration of the engine when it is determined by the determination section that the partial cylinder deactivation operation is permitted for the engine, and to perform the warming control operation for the battery device by executing a vibration control operation for the engine.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 14, 2003
    Publication date: January 22, 2004
    Applicant: Honda Giken Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Teruo Wakashiro, Kohei Hanada, Takahiro Yonekura, Makoto Kishida, Tomohiro Nishi, Kazuhiro Hara
  • Patent number: 6616570
    Abstract: A hybrid vehicle control apparatus is provided which can improve fuel consumption. There is provided: a cylinder cut-off determination section for determining whether all cylinders should be cut off; a cylinder cut-off cancellation determination section for determining whether cylinder cut-off cancellation conditions have been satisfied; a cylinder cut-off execution section for operating a spool valve when the cylinder cut-off determination section determines that cylinder cut-off is possible; and a cylinder cut-off control section for cutting off the cylinders of the engine based on the operating conditions of the cylinder cut-off determination section, the cylinder cut-off cancellation determination section and the cylinder cut-off execution section.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 11, 2002
    Date of Patent: September 9, 2003
    Assignee: Honda Giken Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Teruo Wakashiro, Atsushi Matsubara, Shinichi Kitajima, Toshinari Shinohara, Yasuo Nakamoto, Shigeo Hidai
  • Patent number: 6611115
    Abstract: In order to effectively prevent generation of a counter electromotive voltage during cruising, the present invention provides a control system of a hybrid vehicle comprising an engine, motor, and a capacitor, including an engine rotational speed sensor for detecting the engine rotational speed NE, a target voltage setting device for setting a charge target voltage (target capacitor voltage), and a motor ECU for controlling the charge of said power storage unit. A target capacitor voltage VCAPCMD is set based on the detected engine rotational speed NE (step S300), and when the capacitor voltage VCAP<the target capacitor voltage VCAPCMD (step S311 is “YES”), a charging operation is executed until the target capacitor voltage VCAPCMD≦the capacitor voltage VCAP. Thereby, it is possible to maintain the counter electromotive voltage<the capacitor voltage.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 10, 2001
    Date of Patent: August 26, 2003
    Assignee: Honda Giken Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Teruo Wakashiro, Atsushi Izumiura, Atsushi Matsubara, Hideyuki Oki, Shinichi Kitajima, Yasuo Nakamoto
  • Publication number: 20030107335
    Abstract: A control system for preventing a sudden change in the passengers' feeling for the acceleration. After determining whether the assistance using the motor is permitted with respect to each of different control modes, an amount of assistance for each mode is calculated. If the output assistance is permitted in any mode, the maximum amount of assistance is selected, and a previous value of the maximum amount of assistance is compared with the current value of the maximum amount of assistance. A shift value is obtained by subtracting a predetermined assistance value from the previous value when the current value is less than the previous value, and the amount of assistance is set to the shift value until the shift value becomes equal to or less than the current value, so as to gradually shift the amount of assistance from the previous value to the current value.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 6, 2002
    Publication date: June 12, 2003
    Applicant: Honda Giken Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Shinichi Kitajima, Atsushi Matsubara, Teruo Wakashiro, Toshinari Shinohara
  • Publication number: 20030102175
    Abstract: A control device for a hybrid vehicle is provided that can prevent fuel consumption from deteriorating by preventing a battery from tending to discharge if a failure such as being unable to operate a deceleration cylinder deactivation system occurs.
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 22, 2002
    Publication date: June 5, 2003
    Applicant: Honda Giken Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Teruo Wakashiro, Shigetaka Kuroda, Atsushi Matsubara, Shinichi Kitajima, Atsushi Izumiura, Yasuo Nakamoto
  • Patent number: 6570266
    Abstract: A control apparatus provided in a hybrid vehicle with a combustion engine for outputting a driving force, an electric motor for generating a force for assisting the output from the engine, depending on the driving conditions, a power storage unit for storing electric energy generated by the motor acting as a generator using the output from the engine and electric energy generated by the motor when the vehicle decelerates. The control apparatus includes an output assistance determining device for determining whether to assist the output from the engine by the motor; a generation controller for setting the amount of generation by the motor and performing the generation by the motor when the output assistance determining device determines that the motor is not to assist the output from the engine; and a generation limiter for limiting the amount of generation set by the generation controller.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 25, 2000
    Date of Patent: May 27, 2003
    Assignee: Honda Giken Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Teruo Wakashiro, Shigetaka Kuroda, Atsushi Matsubara, Shinichi Kitajima, Hideyuki Oki, Hideyuki Takahashi
  • Patent number: 6561295
    Abstract: A control system and method applied to a hybrid vehicle by which an excessive decrease of the remaining battery charge can be prevented while driving in a traffic jam. In the method, the remaining battery charge of the battery device is detected; and whether the vehicle is driving in a traffic jam is determined; and the charging device is made to charge the battery device if the detected remaining battery charge of the battery device is below a first predetermined value, and if it is determined that the vehicle is driving in a traffic jam.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 20, 2000
    Date of Patent: May 13, 2003
    Assignee: Honda Giken Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Shigetaka Kuroda, Teruo Wakashiro, Kazutomo Sawamura, Atsushi Izumiura, Atsushi Matsubara, Shinichi Kitajima
  • Patent number: 6550557
    Abstract: A control apparatus provided in a hybrid vehicle having a combustion engine for outputting a driving force, an electric motor for generating a force for assisting the output from the engine, depending on the driving conditions, a power storage unit for storing electric energy generated by the motor acting as a generator using the output from the engine and electric energy regenerated by the motor when the vehicle decelerates. The control apparatus includes: a speed limiter for decreasing the driving force produced by the motor when the vehicle speed exceeds a first threshold value while the engine and the motor produce the driving force; a generation starter for starting generation by the motor when the vehicle speed exceeds a second threshold value which is higher than the first threshold value; and a generation amount setting device for setting the amount of generation, depending on the driving conditions of the vehicle, when the generation starter starts the generation.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 18, 2000
    Date of Patent: April 22, 2003
    Assignee: Honda Giken Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Teruo Wakashiro, Kazutomo Sawamura, Shinichi Kitajima, Hideyuki Takahashi, Katsuhiro Kumagai, Fumihiko Konno
  • Publication number: 20030073538
    Abstract: A power transmission comprises an engine E with a plurality of cylinders, a belt-type continuously variable transmission CVT, which changes the rotational speed being transmitted from the engine, a control valve CV, which variably sets the line pressure used for controlling the speed change ratio of the transmission, and an electrical control unit ECU, which calculates the torque of the output shaft of the engine when the engine is decelerating in a partial cylinder operation mode. While a vehicle equipped with this power transmission is decelerating with the engine being in a partial cylinder operation mode, the control valve CV sets the line pressure in correspondence to the torque of the engine output shaft calculated by the electrical control unit ECU.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 29, 2002
    Publication date: April 17, 2003
    Inventors: Takahiro Eguchi, Masaaki Yamaguchi, Teruo Wakashiro
  • Patent number: 6532926
    Abstract: An engine automatic start stop control apparatus for controlling an engine of a vehicle to be automatically stopped or started in response to driving conditions of a vehicle, which is equipped with a manual transmission, an automatic transmission or a continuously variable transmission (CVT). The apparatus makes a determination whether or not to allow stop (or idle stop) of the engine in consideration of a relationship between outside air temperature and engine water temperature. This prevents a catalyst from being deteriorated in performance as a result of a temperature reduction of the catalyst occurs when the engine idling is carelessly stopped. Thus, it is possible to effectively reduce discharge gas of the vehicle. The outside air temperature can be estimated based on intake air temperature which is detected after the vehicle runs for a prescribed time. The idle stop of the engine is inhibited in response to a request from an air conditioner or to avoid cool-down of the engine to be restarted.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 4, 2000
    Date of Patent: March 18, 2003
    Assignee: Honda Giken Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Shigetaka Kuroda, Teruo Wakashiro, Hideyuki Oki, Kan Nakaune, Hideyuki Takahashi
  • Patent number: 6523626
    Abstract: A control device for a hybrid vehicle is provided, which executes charging of a capacitor when a depth-of-discharge of a capacitor exceeds a predetermined depth-of-discharge which is set based on a vehicle speed. The control device of the hybrid vehicle, provided with an engine, a motor for assisting the output of the engine, and a capacitor for supplying electric power to the motor and for storing regenerative energy, comprises a depth-of-discharge detecting device (S063) for detecting a depth-of-discharge DOD of the capacitor, wherein when the depth-of-discharge DOD of the capacitor falls below the depth-of-discharge limit value DODLMT (053), the capacitor is charged so as to recover the depth-of-discharge of the capacitor.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 16, 2001
    Date of Patent: February 25, 2003
    Assignee: Honda Giken Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Teruo Wakashiro, Atsushi Matsubara, Atsushi Izumiura, Shinichi Kitajima, Yasuo Nakamoto, Hideyuki Oki
  • Patent number: 6522959
    Abstract: A control apparatus for a hybrid vehicle that can improve the fuel consumption ratio while providing a good drivability is provided. It is determined whether the temperature of a catalyst in an exhaust system is equal to or below a predetermined temperature, and if this condition is satisfied, a Wide Open Throttle determination degree of throttle opening value for determining whether to carry out the Wide Open Throttle control is looked up in a table. Next, it is determined whether a degree of throttle opening is above the Wide Open Throttle determination degree of throttle opening value, and if this condition is satisfied, it is determined whether a remaining battery charge is equal to or above one within the normal use region. If this condition is satisfied, it is determined whether an engine speed is equal to or above a degree of throttle opening Wide Open Throttle prohibiting upper limit engine speed value.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 5, 2000
    Date of Patent: February 18, 2003
    Assignee: Honda Giken Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Kazutomo Sawamura, Teruo Wakashiro, Atsushi Matsubara, Shinichi Kitajima, Hideyuki Takahashi, Yasuo Nakamoto
  • Publication number: 20030028295
    Abstract: A control device for a hybrid vehicle includes an actual intake gas negative pressure detection unit which detects an intake air negative pressure for the engine, an estimated intake gas negative pressure calculation unit which estimates an intake air negative pressure based on a revolution number of the engine and an opening degree of a throttle, and an engine control unit which compares an actual intake gas negative pressure obtained by the actual intake gas negative pressure detection unit with an estimated intake gas negative pressure obtained by the estimated intake gas negative pressure calculation unit. The engine control unit prohibits a fuel supply to the engine until the actual intake gas negative pressure matches the estimated intake gas negative pressure, and carries out the fuel supply to the engine when the actual intake gas negative pressure matches the estimated intake gas negative pressure.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 25, 2002
    Publication date: February 6, 2003
    Applicant: HONDA GIKEN KOGYO KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Teruo Wakashiro, Atsushi Matsubara, Tomoharu Kamo, Kan Nakaune, Yasuo Nakamoto
  • Patent number: 6516254
    Abstract: A control device for a hybrid vehicle includes an actual intake gas negative pressure detection unit which detects an intake air negative pressure for the engine, an estimated intake gas negative pressure calculation unit which estimates an intake air negative pressure based on a revolution number of the engine and an opening degree of a throttle, and an engine control unit which compares an actual intake gas negative pressure obtained by the actual intake gas negative pressure detection unit with an estimated intake gas negative pressure obtained by the estimated intake gas negative pressure calculation unit. The engine control unit prohibits a fuel supply to the engine until the actual intake gas negative pressure matches the estimated intake gas negative pressure, and carries out the fuel supply to the engine when the actual intake gas negative pressure matches the estimated intake gas negative pressure.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 25, 2002
    Date of Patent: February 4, 2003
    Assignee: Honda Giken Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Teruo Wakashiro, Atsushi Matsubara, Tomoharu Kamo, Kan Nakaune, Yasuo Nakamoto