Correction Or Modification Patents (Class 701/75)
  • Patent number: 11932222
    Abstract: A brake control system of the present disclosure includes an accelerometer coupled to an axle. A brake control unit is configured to receive an axle acceleration signal indicative of an axle acceleration from the accelerometer, and decrease a braking command pressure in response to the axle acceleration being greater than a threshold acceleration value.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 4, 2020
    Date of Patent: March 19, 2024
    Assignee: GOODRICH CORPORATION
    Inventors: Marc Georgin, Phillip E. Cooley, Michael Abbott
  • Patent number: 11713045
    Abstract: A method for determining a friction coefficient potential of a road surface. A total torque for operating a vehicle is unequally distributed among at least two wheel torques at wheels of the vehicle. The friction coefficient potential is ascertained using a detected slip between the road surface and at least one of the wheels and the wheel torque present at the wheel.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 21, 2019
    Date of Patent: August 1, 2023
    Assignee: ROBERT BOSCH GMBH
    Inventors: Andreas Erban, Nils Hagenlocher, Tobias Oberhardt, Tobias Hofmann
  • Patent number: 11506906
    Abstract: A head-up display system mounted on a vehicle, the system including: a head-up display device that displays an image in front of the vehicle; and a forward sensing device that detects a forward object of the vehicle, the head-up display device including an image data generation unit, and an image display unit, the image data generated by the image data generation unit including a constantly displayed object, and a real scene overlaid object, a gyro sensor being installed in the vehicle, the image data generation unit performing pitching correction on a display position of an object to be displayed, based on angular velocity information for two axial directions, and in a case where the vehicle travels on a curve in an inclined state, the pitching correction being suppressed or stopped, and a brightness of display of the real scene overlaid object being reduced or stopped.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 13, 2019
    Date of Patent: November 22, 2022
    Assignee: MAXELL, LTD.
    Inventors: Yuji Fujita, Nozomu Shimoda
  • Patent number: 11214257
    Abstract: It is determined that (a) a first vehicle is driving on a curve on a first road or, (b) by detecting a second road, a road boundary of the first road. It is further determined that there is (c) parallel traffic by determining that a second vehicle is moving in a lane of the second road adjacent to the first road, or (d) tangential traffic by detecting a third vehicle is moving tangentially to the curve. Upon determining that there is simultaneously at least one of (a) the first vehicle driving on the curve on the first road or (b) the road boundary of the first road, and at least one of (c) parallel traffic or (d) tangential traffic, then it is determined that the first vehicle is driving on an on-ramp.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 22, 2019
    Date of Patent: January 4, 2022
    Assignee: FORD GLOBAL TECHNOLOGIES, LLC
    Inventors: Benjamin Maus, Guido Weitkus, Andreas Meyer, Peter W. A. Zegelaar, Christoph Schlaug
  • Patent number: 10255814
    Abstract: A driving assistance apparatus includes a plurality of sensor devices and at least one electronic control unit. The electronic control unit estimates a linear path of a finite length extending in a traveling direction of a host vehicle as an expected path. The electronic control unit determines whether or not a target object that is an object having a possibility of crossing the expected path within a threshold time period is present, and determines whether or not a traffic situation estimated to hinder traveling of the target object occurs. The electronic control unit generates a driving assistance request signal when the electronic control unit determines that the target object is present and that the traffic situation does not occur, and forbids generation of the driving assistance request signal when the electronic control unit determines that the target object is present and that the traffic situation occurs.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 6, 2017
    Date of Patent: April 9, 2019
    Assignee: TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Yuji Ikedo, Ryo Morishita, Tomonori Akiyama
  • Patent number: 9168831
    Abstract: A system and a method of controlling vehicle starting may include a wheel speed sensor detecting a speed of at least one wheel among wheels of the vehicle, a vehicle speed detector detecting a vehicle speed, an acceleration detector detecting a vehicle acceleration, a vertical acceleration sensor detecting a vertical acceleration of the vehicle, a wheel torque detector calculating a wheel torque, an ambient temperature sensor detecting an ambient temperature, and a controller. The controller may calculate a wheel slip amount based on the speed of at least one wheel, the vehicle speed and the vehicle acceleration, determine whether a wheel slip occurs by comparing the wheel slip amount with a first predetermined wheel slip amount, determine a road state based on the ambient temperature and the vertical acceleration of the vehicle if the wheel slip occurs, and perform a starting control according to the road state.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 12, 2013
    Date of Patent: October 27, 2015
    Assignees: HYUNDAI MOTOR COMPANY, KIA MOTORS CORPORATION
    Inventors: Joseph D Chang, Byeong Wook Jeon, Dong Hoon Jeong
  • Patent number: 9056673
    Abstract: The method of maintaining optimal braking and skid protection for a two-wheeled vehicle wheel with a wheel speed sensor failure involves providing pulsed braking pressure to the affected wheel with the wheel speed sensor failure. If an incipient or initial skid on another wheel with a functioning wheel speed sensor has occurred, the pulsed braking pressure to the affected wheel is limited to the brake pressure command that caused the last incipient or initial skid on the other wheel, scaled by a factor for safety. Otherwise the pulsed braking pressure to the affected wheel is limited to be no greater than the greatest commanded brake pressure to the other wheel. The pulsed braking pressure is also limited to be less than the brake pressure commanded to the affected wheel.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 9, 2012
    Date of Patent: June 16, 2015
    Assignee: Hydro-Aire, Inc.
    Inventors: Ronald Raby, Jordan Silberling
  • Patent number: 9026332
    Abstract: The invention relates to a method of controlling a vehicle brake adapted to exert a braking force in response to an actuation setpoint, in which: from a braking setpoint including low frequency components and high frequency components, a nominal actuation setpoint is determined for the brake actuator that takes account of all of the components of the braking setpoint; from the same braking setpoint, and from a measurement of the torque developed by the brake, a correction for the nominal actuation setpoint is determined, the correction taking account only of low frequency variations in the braking setpoint, the correction being adapted to take account of current or future operating conditions of at least said brake or of brakes subjected to the same braking setpoint; and the correction is added to the nominal setpoint.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 12, 2010
    Date of Patent: May 5, 2015
    Assignee: Messier-Bugatti-Dowty
    Inventor: Dominique Onfroy
  • Patent number: 9020744
    Abstract: A method of controlling a three-wheeled vehicle comprises: determining a state of a load sensor associated with a portion of vehicle; selecting a first start mass when the load sensor is in a non-loaded state; selecting a second start mass when the load sensor is in a loaded state; determining at least one vehicle parameter during operation of the vehicle; determining a calculated mass based at least in part on the at least one vehicle parameter; determining an effective mass based at least in part on the calculated mass and a selected one of the first and second start masses; defining an output of an electronic stability system of the vehicle based at least in part on the effective mass; and controlling a stability of the vehicle using the output of the electronic stability system.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 13, 2013
    Date of Patent: April 28, 2015
    Assignee: Bombardier Recreational Products Inc.
    Inventor: Mario Dagenais
  • Patent number: 9008903
    Abstract: The present disclosure presents a wheel diameter variation-detecting device capable of properly detecting relative variation in diameter between a plurality of wheels of a vehicle. The wheel diameter variation-detecting device can detect variation in diameter between a plurality of wheels of a vehicle, can detect rotational speeds of the respective wheels, and can calculate a variation parameter indicative of variation in diameter between the wheels using one of the wheels as a reference wheel, based on a result of comparison between the rotational speed of the reference wheel and that of one of the wheels other than the reference wheel. Further, the wheel diameter variation-detecting device can learn the variation parameter based on a value obtained by averaging a plurality of values of the variation parameter obtained before the detected travelled distance reaches a predetermined distance.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 12, 2008
    Date of Patent: April 14, 2015
    Assignee: Honda Motor Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Takeshi Kurata, Takahiro Eguchi, Shuichi Fujimoto, Hirohiko Totsuka
  • Patent number: 8983747
    Abstract: In a brake control method of a power wheelchair, the power wheelchair includes an electronic gradienter, a brake sensor, a brake apparatus, and a brake controller. The electronic gradienter detects stability data of the power wheelchair to obtain a gradient angle and a gradient direction of the power wheelchair. When the gradient angle does not exceed a safety angle range, the brake controller controls the brake apparatus to brake the power wheelchair, and the brake sensor detects braking data of the power wheelchair. The method calculates a braking strength value for braking each wheel of the power wheelchair according to the gradient angle and the gradient direction of the power wheelchair when the brake operation on the power wheelchair is improper. The brake controller adjusts the brake apparatus to brake the power wheelchair according to the braking strength value of each of the wheels.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 27, 2012
    Date of Patent: March 17, 2015
    Assignee: Zhongshan Innocloud Intellectual Property Services Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Hou-Hsien Lee, Chang-Jung Lee, Chih-Ping Lo
  • Patent number: 8965657
    Abstract: Systems and methods for detecting an on ground condition of an aircraft are disclosed. A weight on wheel system may determine that an aircraft is on the ground. Wheel speed sensors may measure the speed of the aircraft wheels. Axle reference speeds may be calculated for each landing gear based on the speed of the aircraft wheels. A brake control unit may determine that the axle reference speed for each axle of the landing gears is above an on ground threshold speed, and the brake control unit may allow braking to be applied.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 2, 2013
    Date of Patent: February 24, 2015
    Assignee: Goodrich Corporation
    Inventors: Marc Georgin, Richard Metzger
  • Patent number: 8965609
    Abstract: An electric vehicle is presented. The electric vehicle may include a front motor for driving a front wheel; a rear motor for driving a rear wheel; a target torque determiner for determining a target torque of the front motor and a target torque of the rear motor, based on at least a displacement amount of an accelerator operation member operated by a driver; and a motor controller for controlling the front motor and the rear motor to cause the front motor to output the target torque and the rear motor to output the target torque.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 29, 2011
    Date of Patent: February 24, 2015
    Assignee: Kawasaki Jukogyo Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventor: Izumi Takagi
  • Patent number: 8948994
    Abstract: The invention relates to an aircraft braking system having brakes with electromechanical braking actuators (103) adapted to press selectively against associated stacks of disks in order to generate a braking torque on associated wheels of the aircraft; at least one control module (130) receiving braking setpoints and responding by generating a braking command (121); and at least one power module (120) responding to the braking command by delivering AC power to the motors of actuators connected to the power module so that the motors develop a braking force corresponding to the braking setpoints. According to the invention, the control module includes a digital processor stage (131) and an analog processor unit (135).
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 12, 2013
    Date of Patent: February 3, 2015
    Assignee: Messier-Bugatti-Dowty
    Inventor: David Frank
  • Patent number: 8930111
    Abstract: A vehicle braking force control apparatus includes a controller that performs a front-rear braking force distribution control in which the braking forces applied to the left and right rear wheels are controlled individually so that a wheel speed of each of the rear wheels is equal to a target wheel speed of the rear wheel, which is set based on a predetermined relationship between the wheel speed of the front wheel and the target rear wheel speed of the rear wheel, and that corrects the target wheel speed of at least one of the left and right rear wheels, based on a parameter related to a change rate of load shift amount in a vehicle transverse direction, so that the target wheel speed of the rear wheel on a ground contact load increase side is less than the target wheel speed of the rear wheel on a ground contact load decrease side.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 28, 2011
    Date of Patent: January 6, 2015
    Assignee: Toyota Jidosha Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventor: Yoshinori Watanabe
  • Patent number: 8892305
    Abstract: A motion control device for a vehicle, including a braking means for applying a brake torque to a wheel of the vehicle and maintaining a traveling stability of the vehicle by controlling the braking means, the motion control device for the vehicle, includes a steering angular velocity obtaining means for obtaining a steering angular velocity of the vehicle, a yaw angular acceleration obtaining means for obtaining a yaw angular acceleration of the vehicle, and a control means for controlling the brake torque on the basis of the steering angular velocity and the yaw angular acceleration.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 24, 2010
    Date of Patent: November 18, 2014
    Assignee: Advics Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Yoshiyuki Yasui, Toshihisa Kato, Toshio Yasutake, Atsushi Ikematsu
  • Patent number: 8886433
    Abstract: An electric braking control apparatus for controlling an electric braking apparatus which includes a brake pad, a motor which generates a rotational torque, and a rotation/linear motion conversion mechanism which causes the brake pad to generate a pressing force based on the torque. The braking control apparatus includes an inverter which converts and outputs an electric current supplied from a power supply to the motor, and a microcomputer that receives power from the power supply, detects the value of a voltage applied from the power supply to the inverter, and controls the electric current output from the inverter depending on a result of the detection.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 22, 2007
    Date of Patent: November 11, 2014
    Assignee: Hitachi, Ltd.
    Inventors: Yasufumi Konishi, Toshiyuki Innami, Satoru Kuragaki, Takafumi Suzuki
  • Patent number: 8831854
    Abstract: A system mitigates shimmy of a wheel of a vehicle. The wheel is rotatable about an axis and is steerable by varying a steering angle of the wheel about a steering axis. The system includes a shimmy detection device that detects whether an oscillation/shimmy of the steering angle of the wheel occurs. The system also includes a brake that applies a braking load to decelerate rotation of the wheel about the axis. Furthermore, the system includes a controller that controls the brake to selectively apply the braking load to reduce the oscillation/shimmy of the steering angle of the wheel.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 16, 2010
    Date of Patent: September 9, 2014
    Assignee: Chrysler Group LLC
    Inventors: Douglas W. Killian, Amanda J. French, Loren M. Trotter
  • Patent number: 8825333
    Abstract: Control to inhibit a slip of a wheel by controlling braking/driving force generated at the wheel is performed when a slip ratio of the wheel of a vehicle according to a running state of the vehicle becomes larger than a slip ratio threshold value set in advance or when a ratio between wheel acceleration of the wheel and a vehicle speed of the vehicle according to the running state of the vehicle becomes larger than a ratio threshold value. Therefore, it is possible to improve control accuracy when controlling a slip state of the wheel by decreasing an effect of operation by a driver and a road surface and the like, for example.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 2, 2010
    Date of Patent: September 2, 2014
    Assignee: Toyota Jidosha Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventor: Ryosuke Okubo
  • Publication number: 20140229086
    Abstract: An ECU is formed of an ABS control device for controlling operation of a braking device when a slip ratio of wheels FR to RL becomes greater than a threshold, an automatic brake control device that controls operation of the braking device based on information on surroundings of the vehicle, and the threshold changing device that changes the threshold at which the braking device is activated by the ABS control device so that the threshold when the braking deice is being operated by the automatic brake control device is smaller than the threshold when the braking device is not being operated by the automatic brake control device.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 10, 2012
    Publication date: August 14, 2014
    Applicant: TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventor: Satoshi Udaka
  • Patent number: 8774990
    Abstract: A method for demanding safety reactions for a rail vehicle having a plurality of appliances each able to demand a safety reaction when required, namely a braking process or a traction inhibit or both for the rail vehicle, includes: a) identification of a state in which one of the safety reactions should be carried out by one of the appliances, b) demanding the safety reaction by the appliance through a data bus, and c) feeding back information to the demanding appliance that the safety reaction has been carried out or intervening in a safety loop to initiate the desired safety reaction, if the safety reaction is not carried out.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 29, 2010
    Date of Patent: July 8, 2014
    Assignee: Siemens Aktiengesellschaft
    Inventors: Wilhelm Burg, Norbert Werkmeister
  • Patent number: 8738266
    Abstract: A vehicle has at least two drive wheels which can be driven in each case by single-wheel drive units which are in particular of structurally identical dimensions and which can be actuated by means of a control device, control device determines a target torque which, in a torque distribution unit, can be divided into a first target torque for the first drive unit and a second target torque for the second drive unit. The torque distribution unit is assigned an adjustment unit by means of which the first and/or the second target torque can be corrected with an adjustment factor which can be determined as a function of a torque difference, arising owing to manufacturing and/or component tolerances, between the drive units.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 3, 2011
    Date of Patent: May 27, 2014
    Assignee: Audi AG
    Inventors: Alexander Kruse, Ruben Maier, Michael Wein
  • Patent number: 8706376
    Abstract: To provide an ABS control system and software with an automatic parameter calibration function. An ABS control system according to the present invention includes an electronic control unit (ECU), a wheel speed sensor, and a brake pressure sensor. The wheel speed sensor and the brake pressure sensor measure wheel speed and brake pressure during ABS braking, and the ABS control system automatically calibrates an internal parameter used in ABS control in response to the wheel speed and brake pressure measurement results.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 22, 2008
    Date of Patent: April 22, 2014
    Assignee: Bosch Corporation
    Inventors: Shunsaku Ono, Shuichi Miyagawa
  • Patent number: 8694223
    Abstract: A method of controlling a traction control system (30) includes continuously adapting a steady state driven wheel speed to reference wheel speed ratio, so that said traction control system can avoid unnecessary actuations (e.g., demanding torque reduction). The continuous adaptation methodology provides traction control robustness to vehicles equipped with a spare tire, or a different final drive such as in the use of aftermarket parts. The method includes a dual rate adaptation that allows both fast adaptation and fine tuning capabilities of the ratio. The method includes comparing the instant driven wheel speed to reference wheel speed ratio to the filtered driven wheel speed to reference wheel speed ratio, to obtain a ratio difference. When the difference is above a threshold, the first filter constant is selected and the first constant is applied to an adaptation filter, resulting in a first filtered and adapted ratio. The traction control system is controlled with the adapted ratio.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 19, 2009
    Date of Patent: April 8, 2014
    Assignee: Ford Global Technologies, LLC
    Inventors: Hongtei Eric Tseng, Michael Fodor, Davor Hrovat
  • Patent number: 8689920
    Abstract: A traction control system comprises a detector configured to detect a monitored spin value corresponding to a spin amount of a drive wheel in a vehicle; a condition determiner configured to determine whether or not the monitored spin value detected by the detector meets a driving power suppressing condition; and a controller configured to execute a traction control for reducing a driving power of the drive wheel based on the determination; the condition determiner being configured to set the driving power suppressing condition variably based on at least one of a variable parameter relating to a rotation number difference which is variable according to a change rate of a rotation number difference between the drive wheel and a driven wheel, and a variable parameter relating to rotation of a drive system which is variable according to a rotation change rate of the drive system for driving the drive wheel.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 28, 2010
    Date of Patent: April 8, 2014
    Assignee: Kawasaki Jukogyo Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventor: Yoshimoto Matsuda
  • Patent number: 8670910
    Abstract: A method for controlling a speed difference between speed of wheels of a front axle and speed of wheels of a rear axle of a four-wheel drive vehicle. The method: determines an initial speed difference set point based on the speed of the vehicle; determines one or more intermediate speed difference set points based on one or more operational parameters of the vehicle; modulates the initial speed difference set point based on the intermediate speed difference set points to obtain a final speed difference set point; measures the speed difference and compares the measured speed difference with the final speed difference set point; and controls the measured speed difference, so that the measured speed difference reaches the final speed difference set point.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 11, 2010
    Date of Patent: March 11, 2014
    Assignee: Renault S.A.S.
    Inventors: Francois Foussard, Alessandro Monti, Richard Pothin, Nicolas Romani, Philippe Saint-Loup
  • Patent number: 8606478
    Abstract: A system and a method are provided for controlling a foundation brake of a vehicle having at least one foundation brake device, wherein the usability of the foundation brake is limited to a predetermined total application-time of the foundation brake within a predetermined time interval.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 12, 2007
    Date of Patent: December 10, 2013
    Assignee: Volvo Lastvagnar AB
    Inventors: Jens Samsioe, Peter Lingman
  • Publication number: 20130325281
    Abstract: A brake ECU determines whether or not interference-based vibration components are included in a vehicle body deceleration (DV) (steps S74, S76). Then, in the case of a positive determination (YES in step S74 or step S76), the brake ECU makes a comparison with when the determination is not positive, and revises a first deceleration determination value (DV_st) to be a larger value (step S79). If the vehicle body deceleration value (DV) exceeds the first deceleration determination value (DV_st) and a G sensor value (G) exceeds a second deceleration determination value (G_st) (YES in steps S84 and S89), the brake ECU initiates auxiliary control.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 17, 2012
    Publication date: December 5, 2013
    Applicant: ADVICS CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Masato Terasaka, Yusuke Takeya, Shinji Tsukamoto
  • Patent number: 8600609
    Abstract: A method for operating a longitudinal driver assist system of an automobile, in particular an ACC system, wherein environmental data of the automobile are evaluated with respect to travel in a longitudinal convoy with at least three automobiles which include the automobile and at least two additional automobiles, which are driving immediately behind one another and each have an active longitudinal driver assist system. A convoy value is formed, and at least one operating parameter of the driver assist system is adapted depending on the convoy value.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 23, 2012
    Date of Patent: December 3, 2013
    Assignee: Audi AG
    Inventors: Manfred Holzmann, Carmen Staudte
  • Patent number: 8583341
    Abstract: A method for the open-loop and closed-loop control of traffic flow by means of the automatic takeover of the longitudinal control a vehicle by a driver assistance system. First, the method detects the occurrence of a special situation. Then, a driver assistance system automatically takes over the longitudinal control of the vehicle. When the special situation ends, the driver regains the control over the vehicle, which he had before the activation of the driver assistance system.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 11, 2009
    Date of Patent: November 12, 2013
    Assignee: Continental Teves AG & Co. oHG
    Inventors: Ulrich Stählin, Adam Swoboda, Thomas Grotendorst
  • Patent number: 8577588
    Abstract: A vehicle comprising a seat defining a driver seat portion and a passenger seat portion, an electronic stability system, adapted to receive inputs from a load sensor, a wheel rotation sensor and a lateral acceleration sensor, the electronic stability system adapted to provide outputs to at least one of the brake system for braking the vehicle, and the engine control unit to change the power output transmitted to the wheels by the engine, the electronic stability system using a first calibration to determine the outputs when the load sensor is in a non-loaded state and a second calibration to determine the outputs when the load sensor is in a loaded state.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 19, 2012
    Date of Patent: November 5, 2013
    Assignee: Bombardier Recreational Products Inc.
    Inventor: Mario Dagenais
  • Patent number: 8526681
    Abstract: An image processing device includes a first camera that captures the periphery of a vehicle, specific region extracting units that extract regions, each of which is closer to the edge of an image than to the center of the image, as specific regions, and a movement amount calculating unit that calculates the amount of movement of the vehicle on the basis of image information in a plurality of specific regions. Therefore, it is possible to process only the first specific region and the second specific region of the captured image and thus effectively perform image processing.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 17, 2008
    Date of Patent: September 3, 2013
    Assignee: Toyota Jidosha Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventor: Eisaku Akutsu
  • Patent number: 8527128
    Abstract: A vehicle control apparatus is provided with a power generator driven by a torque transmitted between an internal combustion engine and a drive wheel. The vehicle control apparatus executes a torque control that smoothly changes a torque at the drive wheel by changing a torque of the power generator during deceleration of the vehicle. The vehicle control apparatus determines whether a factor restricting the torque of the power generator is in effect during the deceleration of the vehicle, and controls a manner of the torque control to be different between when the restricting factor is in effect and when the restricting factor is not in effect.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 26, 2011
    Date of Patent: September 3, 2013
    Assignee: Toyota Jidosha Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventor: Junichi Morimura
  • Patent number: 8489301
    Abstract: A device for controlling the brake pressure in a hydraulic brake system with the aid of a pressure-limiting valve that limits the brake pressure to a predefined threshold value, and to that end is driven by an electronic device in accordance with a valve characteristic curve. The setting accuracy can be improved considerably if an estimating unit for estimating the brake pressure, a sensor system for measuring the brake pressure, a unit for determining a pressure difference between the measured brake pressure and the estimated brake pressure, as well as a controller unit which drives the pressure-limiting valve as a function of the pressure difference are provided.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 3, 2007
    Date of Patent: July 16, 2013
    Assignee: Robert Bosch GmbH
    Inventors: Bettina Crepin, Michael Bunk, Roland Galbas, Ralf Kinder, Matthias Schanzenbach, Christoph Betz
  • Patent number: 8442737
    Abstract: A method for operating a vehicle braking system for motor vehicles including a hybrid or electric drive and hydraulically actutable wheel brakes on the front axle, wherein the wheels associated with the rear axle are driven at least partially by an electric motor that can be operated as a generator to recover braking energy and, in generator mode, exerts a braking force on the vehicle wheel associated with the respective axle, thereby generating a drag torque including the braking torque and the regeneration torque of the electric drive, the drag torque being separately regulatable on the front and rear axles. To prevent overbraking of the rear axle and a loss of driving stability of the vehicle, a regeneration torque acting on the rear axle is controlled or regulated such that the drag torque acting on the rear axle does not exceed a maximum drag torque value associated with that axle.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 3, 2008
    Date of Patent: May 14, 2013
    Assignee: Continental Teves AG & Co. oHG
    Inventors: Frank Seurer, Daniel Fischer, Stefan Stölzl
  • Patent number: 8442699
    Abstract: An integrated control system includes a main control system controlling a driving system, a main control system controlling a brake system, and a main control system controlling a steering system, an adviser unit generating and providing information to be used at each control system based on environmental information around the vehicle or information related to a driver, an agent unit generating and providing information to be used at each of the main control systems to cause the vehicle to realize a predetermined behavior, and a supporter unit generating and providing information to be used at each of the main control systems based on the current dynamic state of the vehicle.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 30, 2004
    Date of Patent: May 14, 2013
    Assignee: Toyota Jidosha Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Hideki Takamatsu, Masanori Hirose, Hiroshi Mizuno, Yoshiyuki Hashimoto, Hirotada Otake
  • Patent number: 8392087
    Abstract: When a vehicle is started on an uphill road, slip may easily occur between vehicle wheels and a sloping road surface. When vehicle condition is changed from its stopping condition to its traveling condition on the uphill road, vehicle acceleration is controlled in a feed-back operation in such a manner that a target acceleration is made smaller as road gradient becomes larger or coefficient of friction becomes smaller.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 26, 2008
    Date of Patent: March 5, 2013
    Assignee: Advics Co., Ltd
    Inventors: Hiroyuki Kodama, Masayoshi Takeda, Yasuhiro Nakai
  • Patent number: 8370040
    Abstract: A vehicle travel control device has a engine that controls an engine based on a driving target controlled variable; a brake that controls a brake device based on a braking target controlled variable; and a automatic travel control that calculates the driving target controlled variable and/or braking target controlled variable so that a vehicle speed of a vehicle becomes a target vehicle speed, and outputs the driving target controlled variable to the engine and the braking target controlled variable to the brake, the vehicle travel control device being configured such that, upon detection of an acceleration operation during the vehicle travel control, the automatic travel control calculates a target vehicle speed for vehicle travel control by the brake device, so that the target vehicle speed becomes higher than a current vehicle speed of the vehicle.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 4, 2008
    Date of Patent: February 5, 2013
    Assignees: Toyota Jidosha Kabushiki Kaisha, Advics Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Gen Inoue, Yasuhito Ishida
  • Patent number: 8335625
    Abstract: A method and apparatus for rapidly causing a slip of a driving wheel to converge regardless of the change in vehicle conditions when the driving wheel is in a slip state. When a slip occurs on a driving wheel, a second driving force command value is calculated from a driving force control value controlled by driving force control means and an angular acceleration. The second driving force command value is calculated so that torque capable of being transmitted to a road surface by the driving wheel takes the maximum value. Therefore, even if the friction coefficient of road surface or the wheel load changes, the driving torque of driving wheel can be commanded properly, so that the slip can be converged rapidly. The occurrence of slip at the time of re-acceleration after slip convergence can be avoided.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 5, 2006
    Date of Patent: December 18, 2012
    Assignee: Nissan Motor Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Ichiro Yamaguchi, Yoshitaka Deguchi
  • Patent number: 8326506
    Abstract: The method of maintaining optimal braking and skid protection for a two-wheeled vehicle wheel with a wheel speed sensor failure involves providing pulsed braking pressure to the affected wheel with the wheel speed sensor failure. If an incipient or initial skid on another wheel with a functioning wheel speed sensor has occurred, the pulsed braking pressure to the affected wheel is limited to the brake pressure command that caused the last incipient or initial skid on the other wheel, scaled by a factor for safety. Otherwise the pulsed braking pressure to the affected wheel is limited to be no greater than the greatest commanded brake pressure to the other wheel. The pulsed braking pressure is also limited to be less than the brake pressure commanded to the affected wheel.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 7, 2011
    Date of Patent: December 4, 2012
    Assignee: Hydro-Aire, Inc.
    Inventors: Ronald Raby, Jordan Silberling
  • Patent number: 8280586
    Abstract: In a method for determining the actual yaw rate and slip angle of a vehicle, a slip angle characteristic is first determined by a driving condition sensor system, a yaw rate sensor and a position determination system. If the slip angle characteristic remains below a threshold value, the actual yaw angle is adjusted to match the actual speed vector angle. Otherwise, the actual yaw angle is determined by a continuous value integration using yaw rate sensor values and the slip angle is calculated as the difference between the yaw angle and the speed vector angle. The slip angle is reliably determined with sufficient accuracy, without the need for additional sensors, if the values of the slip angle increase over several seconds. In addition, the yaw angle is reliably determined over long periods of time and the deviations in the values that occur in the integrating methods are adjusted at frequent intervals.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 11, 2006
    Date of Patent: October 2, 2012
    Assignee: Continental Automotive GmbH
    Inventors: Andreas Jung, Andreas Mayer, Peter Trippler
  • Patent number: 8271175
    Abstract: A control means for controlling actuators of a vehicle creates a time series of a future behavior of the vehicle using a vehicle model. A state amount of the vehicle model is initialized on the basis of a state amount of the vehicle, and the future behavior is created starting from the initial state amount. The future behavior is created such that operation commands of the actuators in the vehicle model at the current time coincide with or approximate basic values based on operation of a manipulating device, such as a steering wheel of the vehicle. It is evaluated whether vehicle motion, road surface reaction force, and wheel sliding, in the created future behavior satisfy predetermined restrictive conditions. Based on the evaluation result, the operation commands of the actuators are successively decided. This permits ideal travel of the vehicle to be achieved by properly predicting future behaviors of the vehicle.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 7, 2006
    Date of Patent: September 18, 2012
    Assignee: Honda Motor Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Toru Takenaka, Yasuji Shibahata
  • Patent number: 8260535
    Abstract: A vehicle comprising a seat defining a driver seat portion and a passenger seat portion, an electronic stability system, adapted to receive inputs from a load sensor, a wheel rotation sensor and a lateral acceleration sensor, the electronic stability system adapted to provide outputs to at least one of the brake system for braking the vehicle, and the engine control unit to change the power output transmitted to the wheels by the engine, the electronic stability system using a first calibration to determine the outputs when the load sensor is in a non-loaded state and a second calibration to determine the outputs when the load sensor is in a loaded state.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 28, 2007
    Date of Patent: September 4, 2012
    Assignee: Bombardier Recreational Products Inc.
    Inventor: Mario Dagenais
  • Patent number: 8249790
    Abstract: It is predicted whether a spin amount is tending to diverge and a vehicle is tending to become unstable, or the spin amount is tending to converge and the vehicle is tending to become stable. When the convergent tendency is predicted, a correction to reduce the spin amount is performed. As a result, the performance of a braking force control can be made difficult when the spin amount is tending to converge. Thus, it is possible to prevent an anti-spin control from being performed when there is actually no need to perform the anti-spin control, such as when the vehicle posture is correcting.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 3, 2008
    Date of Patent: August 21, 2012
    Assignee: Advics Co., Ltd.
    Inventor: Kazuhiro Kato
  • Patent number: 8229640
    Abstract: When determining that a vehicle is not skidding, the ECU carries out tight corner control if vehicle speed is smaller than the upper limit value of the vehicle speed range corresponding to the starting state of the vehicle and the steering wheel turning angle of a steering wheel is greater than or equal to the minimum value of the steering wheel turning angle at which the tight corner braking phenomenon may occur. When determining that the vehicle is skidding, the ECU inhibits the tight corner control even if the vehicle speed is smaller than the upper limit value and the steering wheel turning angle is greater than or equal to the minimum value of the steering wheel turning angle at which the tight corner braking phenomenon may occur.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 23, 2009
    Date of Patent: July 24, 2012
    Assignee: JTEKT Corporation
    Inventors: Ryouhei Shigeta, Akihiro Ohno, Hiroyuki Ando, Masaki Mita, Tomohiro Nozu
  • Patent number: 8204661
    Abstract: An electric brake system for an aircraft as described herein is capable of operating in a normal full power mode, a low power mode, and a sleep mode. The full power mode is supported by the active power supply of the aircraft, while the low power and sleep modes are supported by the backup power supply (e.g., a battery) of the aircraft. The low power mode is activated in response to the detection of certain conditions or operating states where full braking performance is not required. For example, the low power mode can be utilized in connection with towing operations and parking brake adjustment operations. The sleep mode is activated in response to the absence of braking commands for an extended period of time. Various parameters and/or settings of the electric brake system are adjusted, controlled, or regulated during the low power and sleep modes to achieve reduced power consumption relative to the full power mode.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 21, 2006
    Date of Patent: June 19, 2012
    Assignee: The Boeing Company
    Inventor: Erik Godo
  • Patent number: 8195372
    Abstract: A braking control method that includes: (1) regularly updating a grip model representative of a relationship between a coefficient of friction and a wheel slip rate; (2) determining, with an iterative calculation process including a plurality of calculation cycles a variation of a braking setpoint in a given prediction horizon, the variation of the braking setpoint in the given prediction horizon being established using the regularly updated grip model and its characteristic shape and so that the variation of the braking setpoint in the given prediction horizon complies with the braking order and complies with a given calculation constraint which is function of the wheel slip rate; and (3) retaining as the generated braking setpoint a value of the braking setpoint in the given prediction horizon which corresponds to a first calculation cycle of the plurality of calculation cycles of the iterative calculation process.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 18, 2007
    Date of Patent: June 5, 2012
    Assignee: Messier-Bugatti-Dowty
    Inventors: Jean-Pierre Garcia, David Frank, Gérard Léon Gissinger, Michel Basset, Yann Chamaillard, Arnaud Jacquet
  • Patent number: 8180548
    Abstract: A system, apparatus and method of controlling a brake system of a vehicle having a brake input device, such as a brake pedal, a plurality of rotating wheels and a plurality of brakes, each brake of the plurality of brakes corresponding to one wheel of the plurality of wheels, is provided. In controlling the brakes, data indicative of a deflection of the brake pedal is received, and the received data is used to derive a target deceleration rate. A braking command is provided to each of the plurality of brakes, wherein the braking command is varied for each brake to regulate a deceleration rate the vehicle in accordance with the target deceleration rate.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 24, 2009
    Date of Patent: May 15, 2012
    Assignee: Goodrich Corporation
    Inventor: Eric D. Cahill
  • Patent number: 8090492
    Abstract: The apparatus comprises a measured signal detector 11, a vehicle parameter obtainer 12, a sideslip angle temporary estimator 13, a sideslip angle differential corresponding value computer 14 and a sideslip angle real estimator 15. A sideslip angle temporary estimate value is computed from one or plural vehicle parameters including at least the mass. A sideslip angle differential corresponding value is computed from a measured signal and the vehicle parameters including no mass. A sideslip angle is derived from the sideslip angle temporary estimate value and the sideslip angle differential corresponding value. A sideslip can be detected without a steering angle detection mechanism.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 7, 2007
    Date of Patent: January 3, 2012
    Assignee: National University Corporation Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology
    Inventors: Masao Nagai, Yohei Michitsuji, Pongsathorn Raksincharoensak
  • Patent number: 8083295
    Abstract: The method of maintaining optimal braking and skid protection for a two-wheeled vehicle wheel with a wheel speed sensor failure involves providing pulsed braking pressure to the affected wheel with the wheel speed sensor failure. If an incipient or initial skid on another wheel with a functioning wheel speed sensor has occurred, the pulsed braking pressure to the affected wheel is limited to the brake pressure command that caused the last incipient or initial skid on the other wheel, scaled by a factor for safety. Otherwise the pulsed braking pressure to the affected wheel is limited to be no greater than the greatest commanded brake pressure to the other wheel. The pulsed braking pressure is also limited to be less than the brake pressure commanded to the affected wheel.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 16, 2008
    Date of Patent: December 27, 2011
    Assignee: Hydro-Aire, Inc.
    Inventors: Ronald Raby, Jordan Silberling