Patents Examined by Edwin A. Young
  • Patent number: 11921520
    Abstract: Systems and methods for coordinating and controlling vehicles, for example heavy trucks, to follow closely behind each other, or linking to form a platoon. In one aspect, on-board controllers in each vehicle interact with vehicular sensors to monitor and control, for example, gear ratios on vehicles. A front vehicle can shift a gear which, via a vehicle-to-vehicle communication link, can cause a rear vehicle to shift gears. To maintain a gap, vehicles may shift gears at various relative positions based on a grade of a road.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 13, 2022
    Date of Patent: March 5, 2024
    Assignee: Peloton Technology, Inc
    Inventors: Mark S. Luckevich, Shad M. Laws, Joshua P. Switkes, Trevor W. Laing, Joseph Jackson Bendor
  • Patent number: 11906023
    Abstract: A gear reducer with a first center sprocket having a first number of teeth and second center sprocket having a second number of teeth are mechanically coupled by a rotor including a plurality of sprockets, wherein minimal inertial mass is overcome while changing the direction of a driven sprocket.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 2, 2023
    Date of Patent: February 20, 2024
    Inventor: Herbert Thomas Baumgartner
  • Patent number: 11904683
    Abstract: Some embodiments relate to a method for setting a cruising mode of a vehicle, wherein a human/machine interface is arranged on a steering wheel of the vehicle for shifting a transmission of the vehicle, this human/machine interface comprising at least one first and at least one second switch segment and at least one switch, wherein the switch segments are arranged on the at least one switch, and in the event that the at least one first and the at least one second switch segment of the at least one switch are activated at the same time the cruising mode is set for the vehicle.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 17, 2022
    Date of Patent: February 20, 2024
    Assignee: AUDI AG
    Inventor: Walter Prochazka
  • Patent number: 11906018
    Abstract: A continuous variable planetary (CVP) system includes a CVP hub, which includes a shift mechanism including a shift driver element, and a processing server system to calibrate the CVP system and detect errors within the CVP system. The processing server system performs continuously monitoring or obtaining a transmission speed ratio of the CVP hub. Upon detecting that the transmission speed ratio reaches a particular value, the processing server system records a corresponding position of the shift driver. The processing server system calibrates the CVP system based on the particular value, the corresponding position, and a known relationship between transmission speed ratios and positions of the shift mechanism. The processing server system determines or verifies a full underdrive (FUD) position by iteratively reducing a transmission speed ratio from the particular value until an onset of a backlash condition is detected and determines or verifies a full overdrive (FOD) position.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 3, 2023
    Date of Patent: February 20, 2024
    Assignee: Fallbrook Intellectual Property Company LLC
    Inventors: Marko Matenda, Brad Pohl
  • Patent number: 11898328
    Abstract: A control method for a work vehicle, includes: calculating a speed ratio indicating a ratio between a rotation speed of an input shaft connected to an engine and a rotation speed of an output shaft connected to a traveling device; and outputting a capacity command for changing at least one of a capacity of a first hydraulic pump motor and a capacity of a second hydraulic pump motor based on correlation data indicating a relationship between the speed ratio and the capacities of the first and second hydraulic pump motors, wherein the correlation data is set so that both the capacity of the first hydraulic pump motor and the capacity of the second hydraulic pump motor are changed with a change in the speed ratio in a predetermined speed ratio range between a first speed ratio and a second speed ratio higher than the first speed ratio.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 12, 2020
    Date of Patent: February 13, 2024
    Assignee: Komatsu Ltd.
    Inventors: Shogo Miyazaki, Akira Takeno
  • Patent number: 11898632
    Abstract: A shift level selection device comprising: a setting unit that sets a selection range in which the lowest speed shift level is a first shift level used in a set-off shift level among two or more shift levels; and a changing unit that, in accordance with the first shift level used in the set-off shift level, changes the selection range so that the lowest speed shift level is a second shift level, which is a lower speed than the first shift level.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 16, 2021
    Date of Patent: February 13, 2024
    Assignee: ISUZU MOTORS LIMITED
    Inventors: Atsushi Uchino, Yoshitaka Kanda, Susumu Tsunoda
  • Patent number: 11892075
    Abstract: Disclosed is a method for determining a position of a motor vehicle by means of a location device of the motor vehicle. First, a first position (x1) related to an installation point of the location device in the motor vehicle is determined. In order to determine a position suitable for controlling the motor vehicle, with reference to the said first position (x1) a second position (x2) related to a center of gravity of the vehicle is determined, in that the first position (x1) is offset by a distance (a) between the said installation point of the location device and the center of gravity of the vehicle.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 23, 2020
    Date of Patent: February 6, 2024
    Assignee: ZF Friedrichshafen AG
    Inventors: Rachid Mansour, Thomas Ascher, Freddy Josef Frombach, Maik Würthner, Robert Gronner
  • Patent number: 11885398
    Abstract: A transmission (21) as a power transmission device for a vehicle comprises an input shaft (22), an output shaft (23), a planetary continuously variable transmission mechanism (31), a direct connecting mechanism (27), and an idler gear (29). The direct connecting mechanism (27) comprises a direct connecting clutch (30). The planetary continuously variable transmission mechanism (31) comprises a planetary gear mechanism (32), a pump side clutch (33), a hydraulic pump (36), a hydraulic motor (38), and a motor side clutch (40). The hydraulic pump (36) and the hydraulic motor (38) are connected via a pair of main lines (37A, 37B). An electromagnetic on-off valve (41) capable of switching between a communicating state and a blocking state between the pair of main lines (37A, 37B) is provided between the pair of main lines (37A, 37B).
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 1, 2021
    Date of Patent: January 30, 2024
    Assignee: Hitachi Construction Machinery Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Makoto Nakagaki, Takuma Koinuma
  • Patent number: 11884149
    Abstract: A rear mount power take-off for a transmission includes a housing assembly configured to be mounted in an opening in the transmission. A power take-off shaft includes an externally splined end extending into an opening in the housing assembly and is configured to be driven by a component of the transmission. A guide sleeve is received in the housing assembly and includes an exterior shoulder opposing an interior retaining shoulder of the housing assembly, the guide sleeve further including an interior shoulder. A spring biases the guide sleeve against the interior retaining shoulder of the housing assembly. A coupler sleeve is secured to an interior of the guide sleeve and includes a first internal spline for selective engagement with the externally splined end of the power take-off input shaft and a second internal spline configured to engage a power take-off device.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 9, 2023
    Date of Patent: January 30, 2024
    Assignee: Eaton Cummins Automated Transmission Technologies LLC
    Inventor: Graeme Andrew Jackson
  • Patent number: 11879533
    Abstract: A differential device is provided with: a casing rotatable about an axis; a differential gear set including a pair of side gears housed in the casing and rotatable about the axis, a pinion shaft penetrating perpendicular to the axis and being secured to the casing; and pinion gears rotatably supported by the pinion shaft and so meshed with the side gears as to enable differential motion between the side gears; friction clutches interposed between the side gears and an inner periphery of the casing to limit the differential motion; a pair of repulsive bodies respectively applying force in directions along the axis to the friction clutches; and a block in contact with and supporting in the directions along the axis both the repulsive bodies, the block so fitting on the pinion shaft as to impose reaction forces from the friction clutches on the pinion shaft.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 4, 2022
    Date of Patent: January 23, 2024
    Assignee: GKN Automotive Limited
    Inventors: Isao Hirota, Manabu Endou, Masato Horiguchi
  • Patent number: 11873892
    Abstract: A method and a system for controlling a gear of the two-speed gearbox and a vehicle is provided. The method for controlling a gear of a two-speed gearbox includes: determining a first target gear of the gearbox reflecting a current driving demand of a user according to a current vehicle-speed; and performing a gear intervention control of the gearbox based on at least one of the following aspects: position information of a drive gear-lever, a rotation-speed of a drive motor of a vehicle, and gear fault information of the gearbox, to shift the first target gear of the gearbox to a second target gear of the gearbox that matches with real-time operation conditions of the vehicle.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 16, 2020
    Date of Patent: January 16, 2024
    Assignee: GREAT WALL MOTOR COMPANY LIMITED
    Inventors: Likang Wei, Yadan Li, Chaojie Huang, Peng Luo, Hongpeng Wang
  • Patent number: 11872990
    Abstract: A method and system for controlling clutch friction elements of an automatic transmission is provided. The method includes retrieving information about shift clutches from a data storage unit and acquiring information required to predict a temperature of a friction element for each shift clutch, deriving a predicted temperature value of a friction element for each shift clutch by using the information about the shift clutches and the information required to predict the temperature of the friction element, predicting whether or not overheating occurs for each shift clutch by comparing the derived predicted temperature value of the friction element for each shift clutch with an allowable temperature set for each shift clutch, and determining a target shift stage while avoiding the overheating clutch with a predicted temperature value exceeding the allowable temperature, through switching to an avoidance shift mode.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 11, 2022
    Date of Patent: January 16, 2024
    Assignee: Hyundai Kefico Corporation
    Inventors: Sung-Hyun Park, Se-Hoon Son, John-Ha Lee, Nam-Hoon Kim
  • Patent number: 11872986
    Abstract: Provided is a vehicle control method in which a controller executes sailing stop control in which, if the conditions for stopping a drive source are satisfied during travel, the drive source is stopped and a coupling element provided in a power transmission path between the drive source and a continuously variable transmission is released for coasting. If the conditions for stopping the drive source are not satisfied, the controller restarts the drive source and estimates the driver's intention to accelerate, and if the driver has an intention to accelerate, the gear ratio of the continuously variable transmission is increased to a higher value than when there is no intention to accelerate, and the coupling element is coupled.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 6, 2020
    Date of Patent: January 16, 2024
    Assignee: NISSAN MOTOR CO., LTD.
    Inventor: Kenichi Tsubaki
  • Patent number: 11859718
    Abstract: An axle assembly having a collar that receives a shift collar that is moveable along an axis. An alignment rod may be provided to inhibit rotation of the collar about the axis. A linkage retaining device may be provided that is selectively engageable with a linkage that is operatively connected to the shift collar to inhibit rotation of the linkage.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 24, 2023
    Date of Patent: January 2, 2024
    Assignee: ArvinMeritor Technology, LLC
    Inventors: Supreeth Chandrashekar, Jeremy Cradit, David M Zueski, Nick Bofferding
  • Patent number: 11859713
    Abstract: A method for hysteresis compensation in an actuator and a selector fork that is adjustable by this actuator and guides a sliding sleeve, by means of a state machine, wherein the selector fork is moved by means of the actuator from a first shift position (xDecoup), namely a neutral position, into at least one second shift position (xCoup), namely a gear position, and vice versa, wherein the position of the actuator (phiAtr, phiCoup, phiDecoup), in the event of a shift request into the neutral position (xDecoup) or into the gear position (xCoup), is corrected on the basis of stored mechanical backlash (phiBL) between the actuator and the selector fork and of a sign (+1, 0, ?1) generated by the state machine and associated with the particular shift request.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 19, 2023
    Date of Patent: January 2, 2024
    Assignee: MAGNA POWERTRAIN GMBH & CO KG
    Inventor: Markus Kohlböck
  • Patent number: 11846331
    Abstract: A control device controls a torque transmission device. The torque transmission device includes an actuator that operates by being energized and a torque transmission portion that is switched to a transmission state or a non-transmission state by the actuator operating, and transmits a torque between a first transmission portion and a second transmission portion when the torque transmission portion is in the transmission state. The control device includes a target calculation unit, a mode determination unit, and a control unit. The target calculation unit calculates a target transmission torque that is a torque to be transmitted between the first transmission portion and the second transmission portion. The mode determination unit determines an operating mode among an engagement mode, a release mode, and a steady mode. The control unit controls the actuator based on the operating mode determined by the mode determination unit.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 8, 2023
    Date of Patent: December 19, 2023
    Assignee: DENSO CORPORATION
    Inventor: Masashi Nakagawa
  • Patent number: 11846348
    Abstract: Methods for automated calibration adaptation of a gearshift controller are disclosed. In one aspect, the method automates calibration of a gearshift controller in an automatic transmission having one or more speed sensors, each configured to generate a signal, and allowing one or more gearshifts with associated gearshift output sets ji that are functions of speed sensor signals and the desired gearshift output sets ?i. The gearshift controller has one or more gearshift control parameter sets Urji to be calibrated, each set including gearshift control parameters for an allowed gearshift at one operating condition, and learning controllers Li sets of system models Hr, and positive definite matrices Pi for updating Urji during sequences of allowed gearshifts. The method incudes acquiring speed sensor signals, computing the gearshift output set jj; and updating the gearshift control parameter set pi.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 23, 2021
    Date of Patent: December 19, 2023
    Assignee: Ohio State Innovation Foundation
    Inventors: Krishnaswamy Srinivasan, Kirti Mishra
  • Patent number: 11841079
    Abstract: A method for controlling an automatic transmission of a vehicle includes: sensing a speed of the vehicle; sensing an acceleration of the vehicle along three spatial axes; determining that the vehicle is in a jump state associated with the vehicle being off a ground surface, the jump state being defined at least in part by the acceleration of the vehicle along the three spatial axes and the speed of the vehicle; and controlling the transmission according to a jump strategy in response to determining that the vehicle is in the jump state. Other methods for controlling an automatic transmission of a vehicle are also contemplated.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 30, 2023
    Date of Patent: December 12, 2023
    Assignee: BRP-ROTAX GMBH & CO. KG
    Inventors: Robert Ebner, David Fillion, Verena Wolfsegger, Petra Wiesinger, Roman Schmied, Michael Kaar
  • Patent number: 11840212
    Abstract: When an accelerator pedal operation amount is large enough to generate a driving force after switching from a stopping range to a starting range is performed, in order to prevent a sudden starting immediately after the range switching, an upper limit of the driving force of a driving source is limited to a driving force larger than a holding threshold value for releasing holding of a stopping state of a vehicle and smaller than a required driving force based on the accelerator pedal operation amount.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 24, 2019
    Date of Patent: December 12, 2023
    Assignee: NISSAN MOTOR CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Yohei Nakamura, Yuki Ota
  • Patent number: 11840229
    Abstract: An electronic control unit carries out deceleration fuel cutoff for stopping fuel injection in an engine, and deceleration lockup for engaging a lockup clutch, at the time of deceleration of a vehicle. The electronic control unit then ends deceleration fuel cutoff and deceleration lockup upon fulfillment of a recovery condition, On the other hand, when a request to restrain heat-up of a filter device is made before fulfillment of the recovery condition, the electronic control unit stops deceleration fuel cutoff, but continues deceleration lockup.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 13, 2023
    Date of Patent: December 12, 2023
    Assignee: Toyota Jidosha Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Koji Nagata, Keita Sasaki