Patents by Inventor Munetsugu Hanji

Munetsugu Hanji 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: 11904961
    Abstract: A steering device includes: a steering wheel which is rotatable over an angle range exceeding 180 degrees in each of leftward and rightward directions from a neutral position; a steering mechanism that steers a wheel according to a steering angle of the steering wheel, with a ratio of the steering angle to a steered angle being changeable; and a control device that controls the ratio of the steering mechanism. The control device sets the ratio to a first value during travel of a vehicle in the manual driving mode and sets the ratio to a second value smaller than the first value during travel of the vehicle in the automatic driving mode, wherein the second value is set such that the steering angle corresponding to a maximum steered angle of the wheel specified by the steering mechanism is less than 180 degrees.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 24, 2022
    Date of Patent: February 20, 2024
    Assignee: HONDA MOTOR CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Yosuke Ojima, Munetsugu Hanji, Hayato Miyakawa, Kunimichi Hatano
  • Publication number: 20230406405
    Abstract: A control device for a vehicle equipped with a steering system including a steering wheel (13), a rack (12) for steering the wheels (4) of the vehicle, and a redundant arrangement for transmitting a displacement of the steering wheel to the rack, wherein upon detecting a failure in the redundant arrangement, the control device sets an upper limit speed to a first value in a first stage, and changes the upper limit speed from the first value to a second value smaller than the first value in a progressive manner in a second stage that follows the first stage.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 31, 2023
    Publication date: December 21, 2023
    Inventors: Takuro SHIMIZU, Shotaro YAMAZAKI, Masayuki UENO, Shogo NISHIZAWA, Yosuke OJIMA, Munetsugu HANJI, Hisanori YANAGIDA
  • Patent number: 11780493
    Abstract: A control device for a vehicle equipped with a steering system including a steering wheel (13), a rack (12) for steering the wheels (4) of the vehicle, and a redundant arrangement for transmitting a displacement of the steering wheel to the rack, wherein upon detecting a failure in the redundant arrangement, the control device sets an upper limit speed to a first value in a first stage, and changes the upper limit speed from the first value to a second value smaller than the first value in a progressive manner in a second stage that follows the first stage.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 24, 2022
    Date of Patent: October 10, 2023
    Assignee: HONDA MOTOR CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Takuro Shimizu, Shotaro Yamazaki, Masayuki Ueno, Shogo Nishizawa, Yosuke Ojima, Munetsugu Hanji, Hisanori Yanagida
  • Publication number: 20230286574
    Abstract: Provided is a steer-by-wire steering system (1) for a vehicle (2) that can appropriately bring the steered angle of the wheels to a prescribed relationship to the steering angle of a steering member (10) even when the steering angle of the steering member was changed while the vehicle was parked. When the steered angle of the wheels deviates from the prescribed relationship with the steering angle of the steering member upon startup (ST2: Yes), the control unit (15) drives at least one of the steering actuator (12) and the reaction force actuator (13) to bring the steered angle (?) of the wheels closer to the prescribed relationship with the steering angle (?) of the steering member (ST12) using a change in the transmission shift position from the park position (P) or the neutral position (N) to the travel position (D or R) as a trigger (ST8: Yes).
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 2, 2021
    Publication date: September 14, 2023
    Inventors: Yosuke OJIMA, Munetsugu HANJI, Yoshinobu WATANABE, Imre SZEPESSY, Miklos ARANYI
  • Publication number: 20230264738
    Abstract: Provided is a steer-by-wire steering system for a vehicle that can reduce or eliminate the impact noise generated by the rack at the rack end. A control unit of the steering system is configured to determine a target steered angle (?t) according to the steering angle and drive the steering actuator so as to cause the steered angle to coincide with the target steered angle, and to determine a target reaction force (Tt) according to a steered state of the wheels and drive the reaction force actuator so as to cause the reaction force to coincide with the target reaction force. The control unit is further configured to set a maximum limit (?mC) on the target steered angle, the maximum limit being a value smaller than a physical maximum steered angle (?mP) of the wheels imposed by the steering mechanism.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 2, 2021
    Publication date: August 24, 2023
    Inventors: Yoshinobu WATANABE, Hayato MIYAKAWA, Munetsugu HANJI, Yosuke OJIMA, Imre SZEPESSY, Levente PASZTOR, Peter KAKAS
  • Publication number: 20230234637
    Abstract: A steering system is provided with a control unit (15) configured to determine a target steered angle (?t) according to a steering angle (?) of a steering shaft (18) which is fitted with a steering wheel (19) and drive a steering actuator so as to cause the steered angle (?) to coincide with the target steered angle, and to determine a target reaction force (Tt) according to a steered state of the wheels and drive a reaction force actuator (13) so as to cause the reaction force to coincide with the target reaction force. The control unit is configured to correct an output of the steering angle sensor in such a manner that a geometric steering center of the steering wheel coincides with a mechanical steering center of the steering shaft upon receiving a prescribed input (S) from a manual input switch (37).
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 30, 2021
    Publication date: July 27, 2023
    Inventors: Hayato MIYAKAWA, Munetsugu HANJI, Yoshinobu WATANABE, Satoshi NAKAHARA, Ryo KATO, Laszlo DOMBAI, David KULCSAR, Peter KAKAS
  • Publication number: 20230227101
    Abstract: Provided is a steer-by-wire steering system for a vehicle that can prevent the vehicle from suddenly accelerating in a direction which the drive did not anticipate even when the steering angle of the steering member was changed while the vehicle was parked. When the steered angle deviates from the prescribed relationship to the steering angle (ST2: Yes), immediately or upon satisfaction of a trigger condition, the control unit drives the steering actuator to bring the steered angle to come closer to the prescribed relationship to the steering angle (ST16, ST17, ST20, ST21), and sets an upper limit to a speed or an acceleration of the vehicle (ST7).
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 4, 2021
    Publication date: July 20, 2023
    Inventors: Yosuke OJIMA, Munetsugu HANJI, Bence BODNAR
  • Publication number: 20230227097
    Abstract: In a steer-by-wire steering system for a vehicle, a control unit (16) controls an operation of a steering actuator to cause the steered angle of wheels to be in a prescribed relationship to a steering angle, and an operation of the reaction force actuator (15) including a pair of reaction force motors (14) to cause the reaction force to be a value (Tt) corresponding to a steered state of the wheels, wherein the control unit is provided with a failure detection unit (36) configured to detect failures of the reaction force motors, and upon detecting a failure of one of the reaction force motors, progressively reduce an output (Tta) of the other reaction motor to a prescribed limit value (TL).
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 31, 2021
    Publication date: July 20, 2023
    Inventors: Yosuke OJIMA, Munetsugu HANJI, David KULCSAR, Imre SZEPESSY, Laszlo DOMBAI, Peter KAKAS
  • Publication number: 20230103046
    Abstract: Provided is a vehicle equipped with a steer-by-wire type steering device and designed to ensure that a wheel-turning actuator is activated before the vehicle starts traveling, thereby improving the reliability of steering while the vehicle is traveling. A vehicle 1 includes: a steering member 15 for receiving steering operations; a wheel-turning actuator 19 mechanically separated from the steering member 15 and configured to turn wheels; a state switching device 6 for switching between a fixed state in which the vehicle is fixed at a current position and a release state in which the vehicle is released from being fixed at the current position; and a control device 9 for controlling the wheel-turning actuator 19 and the state switching device 6, wherein the control device permits the state switching device to switch from the fixed state to the release state only on or after completion of activation of the wheel-turning actuator.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 27, 2022
    Publication date: March 30, 2023
    Inventors: Yasushi UEDA, Ryo KATO, Yosuke OJIMA, Takashi KURIBAYASHI, Takeshi TAKAGI, Munetsugu HANJI
  • Publication number: 20230091186
    Abstract: To prevent a driver from feeling uncomfortable when the driver touches a steering member in a state where a driving source is stopped, a vehicle steering system (1) is provided in a vehicle (2) that travels by a driving force generated by a driving source (51). The vehicle steering system (1) includes; a steering member (10) configured to accept a steering operation; and a reaction force actuator (13) configured to apply a reaction force to the steering member (10) in response to the steering operation. In a state where the driving source (51) is stopped, the reaction force actuator (13) is configured to apply the reaction force to the steering member (10) based on a stopped time position that is a position of the steering member (10) at a time when the driving source (51) is stopped.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 9, 2020
    Publication date: March 23, 2023
    Inventors: Yoshinobu WATANABE, Hayato MIYAKAWA, Munetsugu HANJI, Takaya YAMAGUCHI, Miklos ARANYI, Adela BERES, Laszlo DOMBAI, Peter KAKAS
  • Publication number: 20230037347
    Abstract: A method to control a steer-by-wire steering system of a road vehicle including a steering wheel coupled to a steering shaft, a road wheel actuator to turn steerable road wheels, a shaft sensor to detect a rotation of the steering shaft and a controller configured or programmed to generate an operation signal for the road wheel actuator from a signal detected by the shaft sensor, includes determining a real steering wheel angle by the shaft sensor, modifying the real steering wheel angle by applying an artificial hysteresis to create an offset between the real steering wheel angle and a modified steering wheel angle to mimic a behavior of an electromechanical power steering mechanism, and generating the motor torque request for the road wheel actuator based on the modified steering wheel angle.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 19, 2022
    Publication date: February 9, 2023
    Inventors: Yoshinobu WATANABE, Munetsugu HANJI, Krisztián DÖMÖTÖR, Péter KAKAS, Zoltán SZANDER, Daniel GYÖRGY, Levente PÁSZTOR
  • Publication number: 20230044665
    Abstract: A method to control a steer-by-wire steering system for a road vehicle including a steering device, a road wheel actuator to actuate road wheels, and a controller configured or programmed to generate a motor torque request for the road wheel actuator based on an actual or an estimated position and a position request, which is based on the position of the steering device, includes detecting a road wheel actuator power limit situation, modifying the position request so that it can be followed by the road wheel actuator within power limits, and using the modified position request to generate the motor torque request for the road wheel actuator.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 19, 2022
    Publication date: February 9, 2023
    Inventors: Yoshinobu WATANABE, Munetsugu HANJI, Hayato MIYAKAWA, Levente PÁSZTOR, Péter KAKAS, Krisztián DÖMÖTÖR
  • Publication number: 20230038390
    Abstract: A method to control a steer-by-wire steering system of a road vehicle including a road wheel actuator to turn steerable road wheels and a steering wheel actuator to apply a feedback torque to a steering wheel, includes calculating the feedback torque by modifying a base steering torque as a function of a longitudinal and/or lateral acceleration measured by sensors of the vehicle, and sending the calculated feedback torque to the steering wheel actuator to provide feedback to the driver at the steering wheel.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 19, 2022
    Publication date: February 9, 2023
    Inventors: Yoshinobu WATANABE, Munetsugu HANJI, Péter KAKAS, Krisztián DÖMÖTÖR, Zoltán SZANDER, Adam SZABO
  • Publication number: 20230040044
    Abstract: A steer-by-wire steering system for a motor vehicle or a steering system for an autonomous driving motor vehicle includes a controller configured or programmed to control steering of steerable road wheels depending on a driver's input or an input of an autonomous driving unit and to include a normal mode of operation with full steering functionality and no quality problems, and at least two degraded modes with degraded operation of the steering system. The steering system includes an evaluator to evaluate a state of performance degradation of the steering system and to set the operation mode of the controller based on an evaluation result from the evaluator.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 19, 2022
    Publication date: February 9, 2023
    Inventors: Pèter KAKAS, Yosuke OJIMA, Yuya TANNO, Takaya YAMAGUCHI, Munetsugu HANJI
  • Publication number: 20230041535
    Abstract: A method for power saving in a steering system of a motor vehicle including a road wheel actuator acting on a rack to turn steerable road wheels and a controller configured or programmed to generate an operation signal for the road wheel actuator, wherein the controller includes a position controller to generate a motor torque request based on an actual and/or a measured position of the rack and a requested rack position, includes detecting a passive mode of the steering system by a passive mode detector of the controller if the motor vehicle is stopped and no steering input is provided, and if a passive mode is detected by the passive mode detector, setting the motor torque request to zero in order to save power.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 19, 2022
    Publication date: February 9, 2023
    Inventors: Levente PÁSZTOR, Imre BENYO, Péter KAKAS, Yosuke OJIMA, Munetsugu HANJI, Hayato MIYAKAWA, Yoshinobu WATANABE
  • Publication number: 20220315100
    Abstract: A control device for a vehicle equipped with a steering system including a steering wheel (13), a rack (12) for steering the wheels (4) of the vehicle, and a redundant arrangement for transmitting a displacement of the steering wheel to the rack, wherein upon detecting a failure in the redundant arrangement, the control device sets an upper limit speed to a first value in a first stage, and changes the upper limit speed from the first value to a second value smaller than the first value in a progressive manner in a second stage that follows the first stage.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 24, 2022
    Publication date: October 6, 2022
    Inventors: Takuro SHIMIZU, Shotaro YAMAZAKI, Masayuki UENO, Shogo NISHIZAWA, Yosuke OJIMA, Munetsugu HANJI, Hisanori YANAGIDA
  • Publication number: 20220306189
    Abstract: A vehicle system includes: a steering device including an operation member, a turning member mechanically separated from the operation member and configured to turn a wheel, a reaction force actuator configured to apply a reaction force to the operation member, and a turning actuator configured to drive the turning member; a controller; and a display device. The controller is configured to determine whether a steering angle of the operation member and a turning angle of the wheel are in a phase deviation state, and cause the display device to perform a guidance display and an actual state display in a case where the steering angle and the turning angle are in the phase deviation state, the guidance display prompting a driver to perform an operation for phase matching to improve the phase deviation state, the actual state display indicating an actual turning state of the wheel.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 23, 2022
    Publication date: September 29, 2022
    Inventors: Yosuke OJIMA, Munetsugu HANJI, Satoshi NAKAHARA
  • Publication number: 20220306187
    Abstract: A steering device includes: a steering wheel which is rotatable over an angle range exceeding 180 degrees in each of leftward and rightward directions from a neutral position; a steering mechanism that steers a wheel according to a steering angle of the steering wheel, with a ratio of the steering angle to a steered angle being changeable; and a control device that controls the ratio of the steering mechanism. The control device sets the ratio to a first value during travel of a vehicle in the manual driving mode and sets the ratio to a second value smaller than the first value during travel of the vehicle in the automatic driving mode, wherein the second value is set such that the steering angle corresponding to a maximum steered angle of the wheel specified by the steering mechanism is less than 180 degrees.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 24, 2022
    Publication date: September 29, 2022
    Inventors: Yosuke OJIMA, Munetsugu HANJI, Hayato MIYAKAWA, Kunimichi HATANO
  • Publication number: 20220306163
    Abstract: When the driving mode of a vehicle is switched from an automatic driving mode to a manual driving mode in response to steering of the steering wheel by a driver while the vehicle is traveling in the automatic driving mode, a control device determines whether a recognized steering angle which is the steering angle of the steering wheel recognized by the driver is near a neutral position or near a one turn position according to the grip positions on the steering wheel, and when the determined recognized steering angle differs from an actual steering angle, the control device changes a ratio between the steering angle of the steering wheel and a steered angle of a wheel such that the steered angle approaches a recognized steered angle corresponding to the recognized steering angle.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 24, 2022
    Publication date: September 29, 2022
    Inventors: Yosuke OJIMA, Munetsugu HANJI, Hayato MIYAKAWA, Kunimichi HATANO
  • Publication number: 20220169301
    Abstract: In a steer-by-wire steering system of a motor vehicle including a feedback actuator to simulate a steering feel to a steering device and including an electric motor with a motor shaft connected to a steering shaft to transmit a torque, and a steering lock including a latch connected to the steering shaft in a torsion-resistant manner and a lock to engage with the latch at locking positions to block a rotation of the steering shaft, a method for controlling steering locking of the steer-by-wire steering system includes, if an ignition is switched-off and a movement of the steering device is detected, determining a position of the steering shaft and a distance between the lock and a next locking position of the latch in a direction of the movement of the steering device, and if the distance is greater than a predefined value, transmitting a counter-torque to the steering shaft by the feedback-actuator in a direction opposite direction to the movement of the steering device until the locking position reaches the
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 17, 2022
    Publication date: June 2, 2022
    Inventors: Kristof POLMANS, Imre SZEPESSY, Yoshinobu WATANABE, Hayato MIYAKAWA, Yosuke OJIMA, Munetsugu HANJI