Patents by Inventor Hiroyuki Kozuki

Hiroyuki Kozuki 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: 9981684
    Abstract: A vehicle steering control apparatus includes a power-supply supply portion 101 supplying a power supply to a micro-controller 102, an inverter 104 supplying power to drive a motor 5, a gate driver 103 controlling the inverter 104, a motor relay 105 opening and closing a current-passing path between the inverter 104 and the motor 5, a motor relay driver 106 controlling the motor relay 105, and a monitoring control portion A 108a and a monitoring control portion B 108b monitoring a power-supply voltage of the power-supply supply portion 101. Because multiple monitoring control portions are included, even in the event of an inconvenience in either one of the monitoring control portions A 108a and B 108b, the motor 5 can be stopped quickly in a reliable manner when the power-supply voltage goes out of a normal operation range.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 5, 2011
    Date of Patent: May 29, 2018
    Assignee: Mitsubishi Electric Corporation
    Inventors: Masaki Matsushita, Takayuki Kifuku, Hiroyuki Kozuki, Masatoshi Saito, Yu Kawano
  • Patent number: 9071549
    Abstract: There are included an opposite-side transmitter unit for transmitting the same messages to plural communication paths, respectively; and a host-side receiver unit for receiving the messages flowing through the plural communication paths, respectively; wherein, the receiver unit, compares the plural received messages to perform verification using error-detection code on any one of the messages when they are identical, or on all of the messages when there is a mismatch; and when detected error of message due to error inclusion or reception failure, discards all of the messages received at that time, and calculates an accumulated number of error detections for each of the communication paths through which the messages has been transmitted, so as to stop receiving the control-related message, when the number of error detections has reached a given number, from the communication path where the number of error detections has reached the given number.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 22, 2011
    Date of Patent: June 30, 2015
    Assignee: Mitsubishi Electric Corporation
    Inventors: Kazunori Washio, Masayuki Maruyama, Hiroyuki Kozuki, Toshinori Matsui
  • Patent number: 9043090
    Abstract: An automatic steering apparatus that can suppress steering wheel vibration and that can also smooth angular control. In the automatic steering apparatus, a motor that steers steered wheels is controlled by a control unit. Information from an angle sensor that generates a signal that corresponds to a steering angle of the steered wheels is sent to the control unit. The control unit corrects a target steering angle of the steered wheels such that angular acceleration of the target steering angle is less than or equal to a limiting value. The control unit controls the motor such that the steering angle of the steered wheels tracks the corrected target steering angle based on the information from the angle sensor.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 18, 2011
    Date of Patent: May 26, 2015
    Assignee: MITSUBISHI ELECTRIC CORPORATION
    Inventors: Masaya Endo, Masahiko Kurishige, Kenji Ogawa, Takayuki Kifuku, Hiroyuki Kozuki
  • Patent number: 8983727
    Abstract: A steering control apparatus is obtained which can achieve a sophisticated control function and redundancy of a motor output torque control unit with a simple construction. The apparatus includes a motor 3 that provides assist torque to a steering system, and a processing unit 2 that has an input processing section 21 for taking in detection signals of various kinds of sensors, and an inverter 25a for driving the motor 3, wherein a command is given to the inverter 25a based on the detection signals. The processing unit 2 has a motor target output torque calculation section 221a, a motor output torque control unit 222, a plurality of main-calculation sections, and a plurality of sub-calculation sections corresponding to the main-calculation sections, and determines abnormality of the motor output torque control unit 222 based on individual calculation results of the main-calculation sections and the sub-calculation sections.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 30, 2006
    Date of Patent: March 17, 2015
    Assignee: Mitsubishi Electric Corporation
    Inventors: Takayuki Kifuku, Hiroyuki Kozuki, Masaki Matsushita
  • Publication number: 20140350791
    Abstract: A vehicle steering control apparatus includes a power-supply supply portion 101 supplying a power supply to a micro-controller 102, an inverter 104 supplying power to drive a motor 5, a gate driver 103 controlling the inverter 104, a motor relay 105 opening and closing a current-passing path between the inverter 104 and the motor 5, a motor relay driver 106 controlling the motor relay 105, and a monitoring control portion A 108a and a monitoring control portion B 108b monitoring a power-supply voltage of the power-supply supply portion 101. Because multiple monitoring control portions are included, even in the event of an inconvenience in either one of the monitoring control portions A 108a and B 108b, the motor 5 can be stopped quickly in a reliable manner when the power-supply voltage goes out of a normal operation range.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 5, 2011
    Publication date: November 27, 2014
    Applicant: MITSUBISHI ELECTRIC CORPORATION
    Inventors: Masaki Matsushita, Takayuki Kifuku, Hiroyuki Kozuki, Masatoshi Saito, Yu Kawano
  • Patent number: 8717037
    Abstract: A main microcomputer abnormality determination section checks whether or not a voltage value of Vcc based on digital data output from a main microcomputer analog-to-digital converter is equal to or higher than a threshold value to thereby perform abnormality determination for the main microcomputer analog-to-digital converter and Vref. A sub microcomputer abnormality determination section checks whether or not the voltage value of Vcc is equal to or higher than a threshold value based on digital data output from a sub microcomputer analog-to-digital converter to thereby perform abnormality determination for the sub microcomputer analog-to-digital converter and Vref. An abnormality identifying section identifies an abnormality occurring site by using both results of the abnormality determination performed by the main microcomputer abnormality determination section and the sub microcomputer abnormality determination section.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 8, 2011
    Date of Patent: May 6, 2014
    Assignee: Mitsubishi Electric Corporation
    Inventors: Masayuki Maruyama, Hiroyuki Kozuki, Katsuya Ikemoto
  • Publication number: 20130318406
    Abstract: There are included an opposite-side transmitter unit for transmitting the same messages to plural communication paths, respectively; and a host-side receiver unit for receiving the messages flowing through the plural communication paths, respectively; wherein, the receiver unit, compares the plural received messages to perform verification using error-detection code on any one of the messages when they are identical, or on all of the messages when there is a mismatch; and when detected error of message due to error inclusion or reception failure, discards all of the messages received at that time, and calculates an accumulated number of error detections for each of the communication paths through which the messages has been transmitted, so as to stop receiving the control-related message, when the number of error detections has reached a given number, from the communication path where the number of error detections has reached the given number.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 22, 2011
    Publication date: November 28, 2013
    Applicant: MITSUBISHI ELECTRIC CORPORATION
    Inventors: Kazunori Washio, Masayuki Maruyama, Hiroyuki Kozuki, Toshinori Matsui
  • Publication number: 20130041557
    Abstract: An automatic steering apparatus that can suppress steering wheel vibration and that can also smooth angular control. In the automatic steering apparatus, a motor that steers steered wheels is controlled by a control unit. Information from an angle sensor that generates a signal that corresponds to a steering angle of the steered wheels is sent to the control unit. The control unit corrects a target steering angle of the steered wheels such that angular acceleration of the target steering angle is less than or equal to a limiting value. The control unit controls the motor such that the steering angle of the steered wheels tracks the corrected target steering angle based on the information from the angle sensor.
    Type: Application
    Filed: May 18, 2011
    Publication date: February 14, 2013
    Applicant: Mitsubishi Electric Corporation
    Inventors: Masaya Endo, Masahiko Kurishige, Kenji Ogawa, Takayuki Kifuku, Hiroyuki Kozuki
  • Patent number: 8267220
    Abstract: An electric power steering control apparatus can reduce a steering vibration such as shimmy vibration generated due to the structure of a vehicle without adding new mechanism elements. The apparatus includes a torque sensor for detecting steering torque generated by a driver, a torque controller for calculating an assist torque current for assisting the steering torque based on the detected steering torque, a vehicle speed detector for detecting the speed of the vehicle, a specific frequency detector for detecting a specific frequency from the detected vehicle speed, a motor angular velocity calculator for calculating a motor angular velocity from a motor angle detected by an angle detector, a phase compensator for converting a vibration frequency of the motor angular velocity, and a vibration suppression current calculator for calculating a vibration suppression current to suppress the steering vibration from respective output signals of the phase compensator and the specific frequency detector.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 3, 2008
    Date of Patent: September 18, 2012
    Assignee: Mitsubishi Electric Corporation
    Inventors: Akinobu Sugiyama, Takanori Matsunaga, Hideyuki Tanaka, Hiroyuki Kozuki
  • Patent number: 8265829
    Abstract: A steering control system is connectable to a motor configured to control a steering and a LAN (Local Area Network) and is allowed to receive a control signal for controlling said motor from the LAN is received. The steering control system includes: a motor configured to control a steering; a main calculation unit connectable to the LAN; a motor drive circuit connected to the main calculation unit and configured to drive the motor; a sub calculation unit connectable to the LAN; and a motor drive limiting unit connected to the sub calculation unit and configured to limit a drive of the motor.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 12, 2008
    Date of Patent: September 11, 2012
    Assignee: Mitsubishi Electric Corporation
    Inventors: Masaki Matsushita, Takayuki Kifuku, Hiroyuki Kozuki
  • Publication number: 20120101655
    Abstract: A main microcomputer abnormality determination section checks whether or not a voltage value of Vcc based on digital data output from a main microcomputer analog-to-digital converter is equal to or higher than a threshold value to thereby perform abnormality determination for the main microcomputer analog-to-digital converter and Vref. A sub microcomputer abnormality determination section checks whether or not the voltage value of Vcc is equal to or higher than a threshold value based on digital data output from a sub microcomputer analog-to-digital converter to thereby perform abnormality determination for the sub microcomputer analog-to-digital converter and Vref. An abnormality identifying section identifies an abnormality occurring site by using both results of the abnormality determination performed by the main microcomputer abnormality determination section and the sub microcomputer abnormality determination section.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 8, 2011
    Publication date: April 26, 2012
    Applicant: Mitsubishi Electric Corporation
    Inventors: Masayuki Maruyama, Hiroyuki Kozuki, Katsuya Ikemoto
  • Patent number: 8165754
    Abstract: A steering control system is connectable to a motor configured to control a steering and a LAN (Local Area Network) and is allowed to receive a control signal for controlling said motor from the LAN is received. The steering control system includes: a motor configured to control a steering; a main calculation unit connectable to the LAN; a motor drive circuit connected to the main calculation unit and configured to drive the motor; a sub calculation unit connectable to the LAN; and a motor drive limiting unit connected to the sub calculation unit and configured to limit a drive of the motor.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 12, 2008
    Date of Patent: April 24, 2012
    Assignee: Mitsubishi Electric Corporation
    Inventors: Masaki Matsushita, Takayuki Kifuku, Hiroyuki Kozuki
  • Publication number: 20100222968
    Abstract: A steering control apparatus is obtained which can achieve a sophisticated control function and redundancy of a motor output torque control unit with a simple construction. The apparatus includes a motor 3 that provides assist torque to a steering system, and a processing unit 2 that has an input processing section 21 for taking in detection signals of various kinds of sensors, and an inverter 25a for driving the motor 3, wherein a command is given to the inverter 25a based on the detection signals. The processing unit 2 has a motor target output torque calculation section 221a, a motor output torque control unit 222, a plurality of main-calculation sections, and a plurality of sub-calculation sections corresponding to the main-calculation sections, and determines abnormality of the motor output torque control unit 222 based on individual calculation results of the main-calculation sections and the sub-calculation sections.
    Type: Application
    Filed: May 30, 2006
    Publication date: September 2, 2010
    Applicant: MITSUBISHI ELECTRIC CORPORATION
    Inventors: Takayuki Kifuku, Hiroyuki Kozuki, Masaaki Matsushita
  • Patent number: 7624838
    Abstract: An electric power steering control apparatus can limit a motor impression voltage thereby to maintain an appropriate motor output even upon occurrence of a failure of a motor current detection circuit or a motor current feedback control system. The apparatus includes a motor that generates an assist force to the steering system, an input processing section that takes in a steering torque signal from a torque sensor, an output processing section that drives the motor, and a processing unit that provides an instruction to the output processing section based on the steering torque signal. The processing unit includes an impression voltage calculation section that calculates an amount of operation to the motor in accordance with the steering torque signal, and an impression voltage limiting section that limits the impression voltage to predetermined limit values or less corresponding to the direction of the steering torque signal.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 27, 2006
    Date of Patent: December 1, 2009
    Assignee: Mitsubishi Electric Corporation
    Inventors: Takayuki Kifuku, Masaki Matsushita, Hiroyuki Kozuki
  • Publication number: 20090143942
    Abstract: A steering control system is connectable to a motor configured to control a steering and a LAN (Local Area Network) and is allowed to receive a control signal for controlling said motor from the LAN is received. The steering control system includes: a motor configured to control a steering; a main calculation unit connectable to the LAN; a motor drive circuit connected to the main calculation unit and configured to drive the motor; a sub calculation unit connectable to the LAN; and a motor drive limiting unit connected to the sub calculation unit and configured to limit a drive of the motor.
    Type: Application
    Filed: May 12, 2008
    Publication date: June 4, 2009
    Applicant: MITSUBISHI ELECTRIC CORPORATION
    Inventors: Masaki MATSUSHITA, Takayuki KIFUKU, Hiroyuki KOZUKI
  • Publication number: 20090000857
    Abstract: An electric power steering control apparatus can reduce a steering vibration such as shimmy vibration generated due to the structure of a vehicle without adding new mechanism elements. The apparatus includes a torque sensor for detecting steering torque generated by a driver, a torque controller for calculating an assist torque current for assisting the steering torque based on the detected steering torque, a vehicle speed detector for detecting the speed of the vehicle, a specific frequency detector for detecting a specific frequency from the detected vehicle speed, a motor angular velocity calculator for calculating a motor angular velocity from a motor angle detected by an angle detector, a phase compensator for converting a vibration frequency of the motor angular velocity, and a vibration suppression current calculator for calculating a vibration suppression current to suppress the steering vibration from respective output signals of the phase compensator and the specific frequency detector.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 3, 2008
    Publication date: January 1, 2009
    Applicant: MITSUBISHI ELECTRIC CORPORATION
    Inventors: Akinobu Sugiyama, Takanori Matsunaga, Hideyuki Tanaka, Hiroyuki Kozuki
  • Patent number: 7355361
    Abstract: A motor control apparatus can protect circuit elements in an appropriate manner while preventing an incorrect abnormality determination when a motor is in regeneration operation, etc. The apparatus includes a target current calculation section (51), a drive control section (52) that generates a drive signal based on a current deviation ?I between a target current (IMT) and a detected current (IMS), an abnormality determination section (53) that generates an abnormality determination signal based on the target current (IMT) and the detected current (IMS), and a regeneration operation determination section (59) that determines whether the motor (4) is in a regeneration operation state. When it is determined that the motor (4) is in a regeneration operation, a determination threshold of the abnormality determination section (53) is set to a value larger than a determination threshold during power running operation.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 19, 2006
    Date of Patent: April 8, 2008
    Assignee: Mitsubishi Electric Corporation
    Inventors: Takayuki Kifuku, Masaki Matsushita, Hiroyuki Kozuki
  • Publication number: 20070252547
    Abstract: A motor control apparatus can protect circuit elements in an appropriate manner while preventing an incorrect abnormality determination when a motor is in regeneration operation, etc. The apparatus includes a target current calculation section (51), a drive control section (52) that generates a drive signal based on a current deviation ?I between a target current (IMT) and a detected current (IMS), an abnormality determination section (53) that generates an abnormality determination signal based on the target current (IMT) and the detected current (IMS), and a regeneration operation determination section (59) that determines whether the motor (4) is in a regeneration operation state. When it is determined that the motor (4) is in a regeneration operation, a determination threshold of the abnormality determination section (53) is set to a value larger than a determination threshold during power running operation.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 19, 2006
    Publication date: November 1, 2007
    Inventors: Takayuki Kifuku, Masaki Matsushita, Hiroyuki Kozuki
  • Publication number: 20070199764
    Abstract: An electric power steering control apparatus can limit a motor impression voltage thereby to maintain an appropriate motor output even upon occurrence of a failure of a motor current detection circuit or a motor current feedback control system. The apparatus includes a motor that generates an assist force to the steering system, an input processing section that takes in a steering torque signal from a torque sensor, an output processing section that drives the motor, and a processing unit that provides an instruction to the output processing section based on the steering torque signal. The processing unit includes an impression voltage calculation section that calculates an amount of operation to the motor in accordance with the steering torque signal, and an impression voltage limiting section that limits the impression voltage to predetermined limit values or less corresponding to the direction of the steering torque signal.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 27, 2006
    Publication date: August 30, 2007
    Inventors: Takayuki Kifuku, Masaki Matsushita, Hiroyuki Kozuki
  • Patent number: 7165646
    Abstract: A steering control apparatus of a simple configuration is adaptable so as to construct a redundant system from an input to an output system at low cost in a reliable manner. A torque sensor detects a steering torque, and a motor (3) provides torque to a steering system. A motor drive circuit (56) drives the motor, and a steering control section (53a) calculates at least a target current for the motor based on the steering torque. A motor control section (53b) provides an instruction to the motor drive circuit (56) based on the target current. A steering control verification section (54a) verifies an operation of the steering control section (53a) based on the steering torque and the target current. A motor control verification section (54b) verifies an operation of the motor control section (53b) based on a predetermined state quantity of the motor drive circuit (56) or the motor (3).
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 5, 2005
    Date of Patent: January 23, 2007
    Assignee: Itsubishi Denki Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Takayuki Kifuku, Hiroyuki Kozuki, Yasuaki Hori