Patents by Inventor Hirofumi Ota

Hirofumi Ota 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: 20080207387
    Abstract: The transmission 10 is constructed so that, in the first transmission portion 36, the rotation of the input shaft 16 is outputted to the second transmission portion 38 via the first intermediate output path M1 and the second intermediate output path M2 accelerated and rotated with respect to the first intermediate output path M1, and, in the second transmission portion 38, the first rotary element RE1 (S2 and S3) is selectively connected to the first driven gear CG1B via the first clutch C1 and is selectively connected to the second driven gear CG2B via the third clutch C3, the second rotary element RE2 (CA1 and CA2) are selectively connected to the first driven gear CG1B via the second clutch C2 and are selectively connected to the transmission case 12 operating as a non-rotating member via the first brake B1, the third rotary element RE3 (R1, R2 and CA3) is connected to the output gear 28 operating as an output rotating member, the fourth rotary element RE4 (S1) is selectively connected to the transmission
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 30, 2008
    Publication date: August 28, 2008
    Applicant: TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Atsushi Tabata, Akira Hoshino, Terufumi Miyazaki, Atsushi Honda, Akiharu Abe, Hirofumi Ota
  • Patent number: 7402119
    Abstract: A transmission can be provided which achieves multiple speeds while maintaining good balance of gear ratio steps between gears by having a first clutch which selectively connects a first intermediate output member and a fourth rotating element RE4 together, a second clutch which selectively connects an input shaft and a second rotating element RE2 together, a third clutch which selectively connects the first intermediate output member and a first rotating element RE1 together, a fourth clutch which selectively connects the input shaft and the first rotating element RE1 together, a fifth clutch which selectively connects a second intermediate output member and the first rotating element RE1 together, a first brake which selectively holds the first rotating element RE1 to a transmission case, and a second brake which selectively holds the second rotating element RE2 to the transmission case.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 18, 2005
    Date of Patent: July 22, 2008
    Assignee: Toyota Jidosha Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Atsushi Kamada, Atsushi Honda, Akiharu Abe, Atsushi Tabata, Kazutoshi Nozaki, Yuji Inoue, Hirofumi Ota
  • Patent number: 7393299
    Abstract: At a first forward speed, the oil passage in a relay valve is switched to control the torque capacity of a lock-up clutch using a linear solenoid valve that controls the engagement pressure of a clutch that is engaged at each of fifth to eighth forward speeds. At each of second to eighth forward speeds, the oil passage in another relay valve is switched to control the torque capacity of the lock-up clutch using a linear solenoid valve that controls the engagement pressure of a brake that is engaged at the first forward speed.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 4, 2006
    Date of Patent: July 1, 2008
    Assignee: Toyota Jidosha Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Yuji Inoue, Atsushi Tabata, Atsushi Honda, Akiharu Abe, Kazutoshi Nozaki, Hirofumi Ota, Atsushi Kamada
  • Patent number: 7384361
    Abstract: The transmission is constructed so that the rotation of the input shaft is outputted to the second transmission portion via the first intermediate output path and the second intermediate output path accelerated and rotated with respect to the first intermediate output path, and the first rotary element is selectively connected to the first driven gear via the first clutch and is selectively connected to the second driven gear via the third clutch, the second rotary element are selectively connected to the first driven gear via the second clutch and are selectively connected to the transmission case operating as a non-rotating member via the first brake, the third rotary element is connected to the output gear, the fourth rotary element is selectively connected to the transmission case via the second brake, and the fifth rotary element is selectively connected to the second driven gear via the fourth clutch.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 1, 2007
    Date of Patent: June 10, 2008
    Assignee: Toyota Jidosha Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Atsushi Tabata, Akira Hoshino, Terufumi Miyazaki, Atsushi Honda, Akiharu Abe, Hirofumi Ota
  • Patent number: 7377373
    Abstract: Engagement, disengagement, and slip of a lock-up clutch can be controlled using two valves that are a lock-up relay valve and a linear solenoid valve. A lock-up control valve employed in a conventional hydraulic control apparatus can be eliminated, which simplifies the configuration, and reduces the size of a hydraulic control apparatus for a torque converter with a lock-up clutch. When the lock-up clutch is engaged, hydraulic pressure output from the linear solenoid valve is supplied to a disengagement-side oil chamber of the torque converter, and a pressure difference between the engagement-side oil chamber and the disengagement-side oil chamber is applied to a spool valve element of the linear solenoid valve. Therefore, the spool valve element is driven such that an electromagnetic force applied from a linear solenoid becomes equal to the pressure difference.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 13, 2006
    Date of Patent: May 27, 2008
    Assignee: Toyota Jidosha Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Kazutoshi Nozaki, Atsushi Tabata, Atsushi Honda, Akiharu Abe, Yuji Inoue, Hirofumi Ota, Atsushi Kamada
  • Publication number: 20080113839
    Abstract: A hydraulic control system that includes a solenoid valve for supplying a prescribed fluid pressure; and a relay valve for selectively switching a destination of the prescribed fluid pressure between a first destination part and a second destination part. The relay valve has an input port supplied with a normally produced fluid pressure and an output port that selectively communicates with the input port. The hydraulic control system further includes a fluid pressure switch, provided in the output port of the relay valve, that is activated when the input port communicates with the output port to allow the normally produced fluid pressure to be supplied to the output port.
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 5, 2007
    Publication date: May 15, 2008
    Applicant: TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Kazutoshi Nozaki, Hirofumi Ota, Atsushi Honda
  • Patent number: 7337051
    Abstract: A shift control apparatus for controlling shifting actions of a step-variable automatic transmission having a plurality of selectable groups of forward-drive positions (e.g., normal-spread group and narrow-spread or wide-spread group) having respective different sets of speed ratios, the automatic transmission having an automatic shifting mode in which the shifting actions take place automatically and a manual shifting mode in which the shifting actions are manually controllable, the shift control apparatus including a drive-position-group selecting portion operable upon switching of a shifting mode of the automatic transmission from the automatic shifting mode to the manual shifting mode, to select one of the selectable groups of forward-drive positions in the manual shifting mode, on the basis of the group which was selected last in the automatic shifting mode.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 16, 2004
    Date of Patent: February 26, 2008
    Assignee: Toyota Jidosha Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Hirofumi Ota, Atsushi Honda, Akiharu Abe, Atsushi Tabata
  • Publication number: 20070287572
    Abstract: An automatic transmission having first and second groups of successive forward-drive positions for outputting a rotary motion a speed of which is higher than the speed of a rotary motion received from an input member, the first group being established by an engaging action of a first input clutch while the second group being established by an engaging action of a second input clutch, or first and second groups of successive forward-drive positions for reducing the speed of the rotary motion received from the input member, the first and second groups being established by an engaging action of a first and second input clutches respectively. The successive operating positions of the first group have respective speed ratios different from those of the second group. The automatic transmission is shiftable to a selected one of the successive operating positions of a selected one of the first and second groups.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 10, 2007
    Publication date: December 13, 2007
    Applicant: TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Atsushi TABATA, Akira Hoshino, Terufumi Miyazaki, Atsushi Honda, Akiharu Abe, Hirofumi Ota
  • Patent number: 7276011
    Abstract: An automatic transmission having first and second groups of successive forward-drive positions for outputting a rotary motion a speed of which is higher than the speed of a rotary motion received from an input member, the first group being established by an engaging action of a first input clutch while the second group being established by an engaging action of a second input clutch, or first and second groups of successive forward-drive positions for reducing the speed of the rotary motion received from the input member, the first and second groups being established by an engaging action of a first and second input clutches respectively. The successive operating positions of the first group have respective speed ratios different from those of the second group. The automatic transmission is shiftable to a selected one of the successive operating positions of a selected one of the first and second groups.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 19, 2004
    Date of Patent: October 2, 2007
    Assignee: Toyota Jidosha Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Atsushi Tabata, Akira Hoshino, Terufumi Miyazaki, Atsushi Honda, Akiharu Abe, Hirofumi Ota
  • Patent number: 7267630
    Abstract: With the automatic transmission 10-1 for vehicle according to the present embodiment, since multistage transmission of eight forward gear stages can be obtained by means of four sets of planetary gear sets 12, 16, 18 and 20, four clutches C1 through C4 and three brakes B1 through B3, the transmission can be fabricated to be light in weight and made compact, wherein the mountability thereof in a vehicle can be improved. Further, as has been made clear in FIG. 1(b), since speed change in the respective gear stages can be carried out only by a shifting action of any two of the clutches C1 through C4 and brakes B1 through B3, the speed change control can be facilitated and it is possible to prevent a shock to the transmission from occurring.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 27, 2004
    Date of Patent: September 11, 2007
    Assignee: Toyota Jidosha Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Atsushi Tabata, Akira Hoshino, Terufumi Miyazaki, Atsushi Honda, Akiharu Abe, Hirofumi Ota
  • Publication number: 20070155568
    Abstract: The present invention provides an automatic transmission having a main bearing disposed between the inner surface of a boss portion of a first drum and the outer surface of a cylindrical support, for rotatably supporting the first drum. An auxiliary bearing is press-fit into one end of the interior of the boss portion of the first drum and surrounds the cylindrical support with an annular gap therebetween. The auxiliary bearing contacts the cylindrical support only when the first drum tilts relative to the central axis of the transmission, and has a shorter axial length than that of the main bearing.
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 16, 2006
    Publication date: July 5, 2007
    Applicants: AISIN AW CO., LTD., TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Katsuhisa Ishii, Minoru Todo, Mikio Iwase, Takuya Nakajima, Hirofumi Ota, Kazutoshi Nozaki, Atsushi Honda, Masafumi Kinoshita
  • Publication number: 20070151826
    Abstract: A hydraulic servo for a brake in an automatic transmission has a piston secured against rotation without provision of a protrusion on the piston engaging the transmission casing. The piston of the hydraulic servo has an inner cylindrical surface configured to grasp, along their lengths, return springs compressed between the piston and a return plate to which the return springs are fixed. The return plate is bolted to a bulkhead portion of the transmission case and, thus, the piston member is fixed to the bulkhead portion and thereby prevented from rotating.
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 16, 2006
    Publication date: July 5, 2007
    Applicants: AISIN AW CO., LTD., TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Katsuhisa Ishii, Minoru Todo, Masato Nakano, Takuya Nakajima, Hirofumi Ota, Atsushi Honda, Kazutoshi Nozaki
  • Publication number: 20070149337
    Abstract: A piston operating a first clutch is disposed between a first drum accommodating the first clutch and a second drum accommodating a second clutch, and an oil reservoir storing lubricating oil that has lubricated the first clutch is provided on an inner cylindrical surface of a skirt portion of the piston. Barriers having different inner diameters are provided to the axial front and rear of the oil reservoir. When the second clutch is disengaged such that the amount of lubricating oil supplied to the oil reservoir increases, the lubricating oil overflows the barrier having the smaller inner diameter, and thus flows to the second clutch.
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 16, 2006
    Publication date: June 28, 2007
    Applicants: AISIN AW CO., LTD., TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Naoya Okada, Katsuhisa Ishii, Minoru Todo, Hirofumi Ota, Kazutoshi Nozaki, Atsushi Honda
  • Patent number: 7232022
    Abstract: In a hydraulic servo for a clutch, a cancel plate is disposed on a second clutch drum that undergoes the same rotation as a second clutch drum provided with a cylinder portion, in such a fashion that the cancel plate is restricted from moving to a side opposite from a return spring in an axial direction. The first clutch drum is disposed, as a separate member, on the second clutch drum. A step portion of the second clutch drum prevents the first clutch drum from moving to a side opposite from the cancel plate. Due to the spring force of the return spring, the oil pressure in the cancel oil chamber and the oil pressure in the operating oil chamber, the force that presses the first clutch drum to the step portion is always greater than the force that presses the first clutch drum to the cancel plate side.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 23, 2006
    Date of Patent: June 19, 2007
    Assignees: Aisin AW Co., Ltd., Toyota Jidosha Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Toshihiko Aoki, Takuya Fujimine, Minoru Todo, Kazuhisa Ozaki, Hirofumi Ota, Akira Hoshino, Atsushi Tabata, Akiharu Abe, Masafumi Kinoshita, Atsushi Honda, Kazutoshi Nozaki
  • Publication number: 20070129200
    Abstract: The transmission 10 is constructed so that, in the first transmission portion 36, the rotation of the input shaft 16 is outputted to the second transmission portion 38 via the first intermediate output path M1 and the second intermediate output path M2 accelerated and rotated with respect to the first intermediate output path M1, and, in the second transmission portion 38, the first rotary element RE1 (S2 and S3) is selectively connected to the first driven gear CG1B via the first clutch C1 and is selectively connected to the second driven gear CG2B via the third clutch C3, the second rotary element RE2 (CA1 and CA2) are selectively connected to the first driven gear CG1B via the second clutch C2 and are selectively connected to the transmission case 12 operating as a non-rotating member via the first brake B1, the third rotary element RE3 (R1, R2 and CA3) is connected to the output gear 28 operating as an output rotating member, the fourth rotary element RE4 (S1) is selectively connected to the transmission
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 1, 2007
    Publication date: June 7, 2007
    Applicant: TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Atsushi Tabata, Akira Hoshino, Terufumi Miyazaki, Atsushi Honda, Akiharu Abe, Hirofumi Ota
  • Publication number: 20070125615
    Abstract: An automatic transmission supplies oil pressure to a hydraulic servo of a second clutch through an oil pressure supply passage extending through a first drum and a second drum, the oil pressure supply passage including a plurality of first oil holes formed in the first drum at equal, circumferential intervals, a plurality of second oil holes formed in the second drum at equal, circumferential intervals, and an annular oil passage formed between the first and second drums and connecting the first oil holes and the second oil holes. The number of first oil holes is different from the number of second oil holes.
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 16, 2006
    Publication date: June 7, 2007
    Applicants: AISIN AW CO., LTD., TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Naoya Okada, Kutsuhisa Ishii, Mikio Iwase, Hirofumi Ota, Kazutoshi Nozaki, Atsushi Honda
  • Publication number: 20070102257
    Abstract: In a hydraulic servo for a clutch, a cancel plate is disposed on a second clutch drum that undergoes the same rotation as a second clutch drum provided with a cylinder portion, in such a fashion that the cancel plate is restricted from moving to a side opposite from a return spring in an axial direction. The first clutch drum is disposed, as a separate member, on the second clutch drum. A step portion of the second clutch drum prevents the first clutch drum from moving to a side opposite from the cancel plate. Due to the spring force of the return spring, the oil pressure in the cancel oil chamber and the oil pressure in the operating oil chamber, the force that presses the first clutch drum to the step portion is always greater than the force that presses the first clutch drum to the cancel plate side.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 23, 2006
    Publication date: May 10, 2007
    Applicants: AISIN AW CO., LTD., TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Toshihiko Aoki, Takuya Fujimine, Minoru Todo, Kazuhisa Ozaki, Hirofumi Ota, Akira Hoshino, Atsushi Tabata, Akiharu Abe, Masafumi Kinoshita, Atsushi Honda, Kazutoshi Nozaki
  • Patent number: 7186203
    Abstract: The transmission 10 is constructed so that, in the first transmission portion 36, the rotation of the input shaft 16 is outputted to the second transmission portion 38 via the first intermediate output path M1 and the second intermediate output path M2 accelerated and rotated with respect to the first intermediate output path M1, and, in the second transmission portion 38, the first rotary element RE1 (S2 and S3) is selectively connected to the first driven gear CG1B via the first clutch C1 and is selectively connected to the second driven gear CG2B via the third clutch C3, the second rotary element RE2 (CA1 and CA2) are selectively connected to the first driven gear CG1B via the second clutch C2 and are selectively connected to the transmission case 12 operating as a non-rotating member via the first brake B1, the third rotary element RE3 (R1, R2 and CA3) is connected to the output gear 28 operating as an output rotating member, the fourth rotary element RE4 (S1) is selectively connected to the transmission
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 20, 2004
    Date of Patent: March 6, 2007
    Assignee: Toyota Jidosha Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Atsushi Tabata, Akira Hoshino, Terufumi Miyazaki, Atsushi Honda, Akiharu Abe, Hirofumi Ota
  • Patent number: 7172527
    Abstract: A planetary-gear-type multiple-step transmission including a stationary member, an input rotary member, an output rotary member, and first and second transmission units. The first transmission unit has first and second intermediate transmitting paths through which a rotary motion of the input rotary member is transmittable to the second transmission unit such that a speed of the rotary motion transmitted through the second intermediate transmitting path is lower than a speed of the rotary motion transmitted through the first intermediate transmitting path. The second transmission unit constitutes first, second, third and fourth rotary modules, each of which is provided by at least one of sun gears, carriers and ring gears of two planetary gear sets. The first rotary module is selectively connected to the second intermediate transmitting path, while being selectively connected to the stationary member.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 15, 2004
    Date of Patent: February 6, 2007
    Assignee: Toyota Jidosha Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Akiharu Abe, Akira Hoshino, Atsushi Tabata, Atsushi Honda, Terufumi Miyazaki, Hirofumi Ota
  • Publication number: 20070026998
    Abstract: In a hydraulic control apparatus for a vehicular automatic transmission, if it is determined that there is a failure that may cause tie-up in an automatic transmission, communication is provided between a first output port and a first drain port in a switching valve. As a result, a hydraulic frictional engagement device, which should be disengaged when there is a failure, is disengaged. Also, a specific shift speed is achieved by controlling the switching valve. Therefore, it is not necessary to select a shift speed that is achieved on the condition that the hydraulic frictional engagement device, which should be disengaged when there is a failure, is engaged. Thus, it is possible to prevent a shift that may impair driveability when there is a failure that may cause tie-up in the automatic transmission.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 6, 2006
    Publication date: February 1, 2007
    Applicant: TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Kazutoshi Nozaki, Atsushi Honda, Akiharu Abe, Hirofumi Ota