Patents by Inventor Nobuyuki Ichimaru

Nobuyuki Ichimaru 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: 11945428
    Abstract: In a vehicle, GV control and M+ control are executed by generating braking/driving forces from a brake hydraulic pressure control device and a drive device during steering. A controller estimates (calculates), by a posture estimation unit, a pitch amount and a roll amount (predicted pitch rate and predicted roll rate) that occur in the vehicle through use of a moment command of the M+ control and a longitudinal G command of the GV control. The controller adjusts damping forces of damping force variable dampers through use of the estimated pitch amount and the estimated roll amount (predicted pitch rate and predicted roll rate) so that a pitch amount calculated by a pitch control unit and a roll amount calculated by a roll suppression unit approach respective target values.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 27, 2020
    Date of Patent: April 2, 2024
    Assignee: HITACHI ASTEMO, LTD.
    Inventors: Ryusuke Hirao, Nobuyuki Ichimaru
  • Publication number: 20240063704
    Abstract: An electromagnetic actuator device reduces pulsation and improves thrust, and includes: a magnet; and an armature that moves relative to the magnet. The armature includes: a plurality of teeth formed in a relative movement direction; a plurality of slots between the plurality of teeth; a yoke connecting the plurality of teeth; and a winding around the plurality of slots. The magnet includes a plurality of magnet portions facing the plurality of teeth via a gap and are disposed in the relative movement direction. A relationship between a minimum sectional area Sc1 of one tooth end portion of the armature and a minimum sectional area Sc2 of the other tooth end portion is Sc1>Sc2; and a relationship between the minimum sectional area Sc2 of the other tooth end portion and a sectional area Sy of the yoke in a direction crossing the relative movement direction is Sc2?Sy.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 15, 2021
    Publication date: February 22, 2024
    Applicant: Hitachi Astemo, Ltd.
    Inventors: Ryosuke HOSHI, Yasuaki AOYAMA, Nobuyuki ICHIMARU
  • Patent number: 11897303
    Abstract: A vehicle control device includes a vertical VSE, a riding comfort control logic, a planar VSE, a steering stability control logic, a command limiting unit, a control command selection unit. The command limiting unit acquires specifications related to a traveling of a vehicle such as, for example, a slip rate and a four-wheel independent braking/driving force control flag through a CAN. The command limiting unit limits a variable range of a damping force generated by a suspension device provided between a vehicle body and wheels of the vehicle based on the specifications related to the traveling of the vehicle to obtain a first command value. The command limiting unit outputs the obtained first command value to the control command selection unit.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 4, 2021
    Date of Patent: February 13, 2024
    Assignee: HITACHI ASTEMO, LTD.
    Inventors: Yuki Yoshida, Ryusuke Hirao, Nobuyuki Ichimaru
  • Patent number: 11884119
    Abstract: Provided is a vehicle behavior device including: a variable damper, which is provided between a vehicle body side and a wheel side of a vehicle, and is configured to adjust a force to be generated; a camera device configured to measure a road surface state forward of the vehicle; a future vehicle state estimation unit configured to predict a sprung behavior of the vehicle from a road surface displacement acquired by the camera device and a vehicle speed; and a command value calculation unit configured to obtain a force to be generated by the variable damper based on a predicted value obtained by the future vehicle state estimation unit, and output a command signal.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 8, 2020
    Date of Patent: January 30, 2024
    Assignee: HITACHI ASTEMO, LTD.
    Inventors: Kentaro Kasuya, Ryusuke Hirao, Nobuyuki Ichimaru
  • Patent number: 11807249
    Abstract: An object of the present invention is to provide a vehicle motion state estimation device and method that can estimate the vertical motion state amount with high accuracy by taking into consideration vertical force in which the frictional force acting in the front-rear direction or lateral direction of the wheel acts on the vehicle body due to the geometry of suspension.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 19, 2019
    Date of Patent: November 7, 2023
    Assignee: HITACHI ASTEMO, LTD.
    Inventors: Shingo Nasu, Shinji Seto, Nobuyuki Ichimaru, Ryusuke Hirao
  • Patent number: 11708109
    Abstract: A shock damper is disposed between a vehicle body side and a wheel side. A suspension control device calculates a damping force of the shock damper on the basis of vehicle height information and controls the damping force. A steering system includes an electric motor and a steering control device that controls the electric motor, and assists steering effort of the driver through the electric motor. The suspension control device calculates the vibration generated in a steering on the basis of a detected value of a vehicle height sensor and creates a signal for generating steering torque that reduces the generated vibration. The suspension control device outputs the created signal to the steering control device. Steering torque for cancelling steering vibration is accordingly outputted from the electric motor of the steering system.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 14, 2018
    Date of Patent: July 25, 2023
    Assignee: HITACHI ASTEMO, LTD.
    Inventors: Ryusuke Hirao, Nobuyuki Ichimaru, Kentaro Kasuya
  • Publication number: 20230226868
    Abstract: The present invention provides an electromagnetic suspension capable of suppressing interference with other components and devices, being mounted in a narrow space, and having a small thrust pulsation, a large thrust, and a high damping performance even for a high-frequency vibration source. An electromagnetic suspension of the present invention includes a linear motor that includes an armature and a permanent magnet portion, the armature including a winding and a magnetic body, the permanent magnet portion being disposed on an outer periphery of the armature and including a permanent magnet and a cylindrical magnetic body, and the armature and the permanent magnet portion being relatively linearly driven in the linear motor, in which a recess recessed from an outer peripheral portion of the cylindrical magnetic body and a protrusion protruding from the outer peripheral portion are disposed on the same circumference of the outer peripheral portion of the cylindrical magnetic body.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 16, 2021
    Publication date: July 20, 2023
    Applicant: Hitachi Astemo, Ltd.
    Inventors: Yasuaki AOYAMA, Ryosuke HOSHI, Nobuyuki ICHIMARU
  • Patent number: 11648810
    Abstract: Provided are a vehicle, a vehicle motion state estimation apparatus, and a method for estimating a vehicle motion state capable of highly accurately estimating a state quantity of a bounce motion of a vehicle having a non-linear suspension characteristic. The vehicle motion state estimation apparatus in a vehicle, in which wheels and a vehicle body are coupled via a suspension, includes a bounce motion estimation unit that estimates and outputs a state quantity of a bounce motion of the vehicle based on traveling state information of the vehicle, and a correction value estimation unit that calculates a correction value to correct an output the bounce motion estimation unit. The correction value estimation unit calculates the correction value in consideration of a non-linear characteristic of the suspension.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 4, 2018
    Date of Patent: May 16, 2023
    Assignee: HITACHI ASTEMO, LTD.
    Inventors: Shingo Nasu, Shinji Seto, Nobuyuki Ichimaru, Ryusuke Hirao
  • Publication number: 20230143565
    Abstract: A sensory evaluation prediction system includes an input unit that reads an output from a behavior sensor that measures two or more types of pieces of time series information regarding a moving body, a selection unit that selects two or more types of physical quantities from the output from the behavior sensor read by the input unit, a correlation creation unit that creates information showing a correlation in time series between the two or more types of the physical quantities selected by the selection unit, and an evaluation circuit that calculates an evaluation value of a sensory index based on the information showing the correlation in time series.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 25, 2020
    Publication date: May 11, 2023
    Inventors: Akihito AKAI, Nobuyuki ICHIMARU, Ryusuke HIRAO
  • Publication number: 20230100858
    Abstract: A controller includes a calculation processing portion configured to make a predetermined calculation based on an input vehicle state amount and output a target damping force, and a damping force map configured to acquire a control instruction value for controlling a variable damper based on the target damping force. The calculation processing portion makes the calculation using a learning result that is acquired by causing the calculation processing portion to learn pairs of a plurality of target amounts acquired using a predetermined evaluation method prepared in advance with respect to a plurality of different vehicle state amounts as pairs of pieces of input and output data.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 5, 2021
    Publication date: March 30, 2023
    Inventors: Ryusuke HIRAO, Nobuyuki ICHIMARU
  • Publication number: 20230061807
    Abstract: A vehicle control device includes a vertical VSE, a riding comfort control logic, a planar VSE, a steering stability control logic, a command limiting unit, a control command selection unit. The command limiting unit acquires specifications related to a traveling of a vehicle such as, for example, a slip rate and a four-wheel independent braking/driving force control flag through a CAN. The command limiting unit limits a variable range of a damping force generated by a suspension device provided between a vehicle body and wheels of the vehicle based on the specifications related to the traveling of the vehicle to obtain a first command value. The command limiting unit outputs the obtained first command value to the control command selection unit.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 4, 2021
    Publication date: March 2, 2023
    Inventors: Yuki YOSHIDA, Ryusuke HIRAO, Nobuyuki ICHIMARU
  • Publication number: 20220388485
    Abstract: In a vehicle, GV control and M+ control are executed by generating braking/driving forces from a brake hydraulic pressure control device and a drive device during steering. A controller estimates (calculates), by a posture estimation unit, a pitch amount and a roll amount (predicted pitch rate and predicted roll rate) that occur in the vehicle through use of a moment command of the M+ control and a longitudinal G command of the GV control. The controller adjusts damping forces of damping force variable dampers through use of the estimated pitch amount and the estimated roll amount (predicted pitch rate and predicted roll rate) so that a pitch amount calculated by a pitch control unit and a roll amount calculated by a roll suppression unit approach respective target values.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 27, 2020
    Publication date: December 8, 2022
    Inventors: Ryusuke HIRAO, Nobuyuki ICHIMARU
  • Patent number: 11491840
    Abstract: When a vehicle's driving situation is a rolling state, a compressor is used to transfer compressed air between left and right air suspensions of front wheels, and a compressor is used to transfer compressed air between left and right air suspensions of rear wheels. The air suspensions of the left and right front wheels and the air suspensions of the left and rear wheels thus independently generate counter rolls. This makes it possible to concurrently perform vehicle height adjustment of the air suspensions of the left and right front wheels and vehicle height adjustment of the air suspensions of the left and right rear wheels, which improves responsiveness in counter roll control.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 15, 2019
    Date of Patent: November 8, 2022
    Assignee: HITACHI ASTEMO, LTD.
    Inventors: Masatoshi Yamahata, Yuki Yoshida, Nobuyuki Ichimaru
  • Patent number: 11358432
    Abstract: Provided a suspension control apparatus including a vehicle behavior detection unit (acceleration sensors), an electrorheological damper provided between a vehicle body (1) and each wheel (2), and a controller configured to execute control so that a damping force of each electrorheological damper is adjusted based on a detection result obtained by the vehicle behavior detection unit. The controller includes a target voltage value setting unit (damping force command calculation unit) configured to obtain a target voltage value to be applied to an electrode tube based on the detection result obtained by the vehicle behavior detection unit, a temperature estimation unit configured to detect or estimate temperature of ERF, and a target voltage value correction unit (output limiting unit) configured to change the target voltage value so that a piston speed (V) is adjusted based on a value obtained by the temperature estimation unit.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 11, 2019
    Date of Patent: June 14, 2022
    Assignee: HITACHI ASTEMO, LTD.
    Inventors: Ryusuke Hirao, Nobuyuki Ichimaru
  • Publication number: 20220161624
    Abstract: A suspension control apparatus includes: a variable damper; a communication unit provided inside a vehicle to receive a dynamic map from a cloud; and a controller configured to adjust a force generated by the variable damper. The controller includes: a state estimation unit, which is provided inside the vehicle, and is configured to detect a motion of the vehicle; an operation-stability controller configured to calculate an AFB command value for the variable damper based on internal information output from the state estimation unit; and a dynamic-map controller configured to calculate an FF command value for the variable damper based on the dynamic map received from the communication unit. The controller determines a command value for the variable damper from the AFB command value and the FF command value.
    Type: Application
    Filed: January 28, 2020
    Publication date: May 26, 2022
    Inventors: Ryusuke HIRAO, Nobuyuki ICHIMARU
  • Publication number: 20220134831
    Abstract: A sensory evaluation system performs sensory evaluation on a plurality of sensory indexes corresponding to respective feelings of an occupant according to traveling of a moving body, and includes: a data adjustment unit that generates evaluation data to be used for the sensory evaluation based on information acquired according to the traveling of the moving body; an evaluation index determination unit that selects at least any one sensory index as an evaluation index from among the plurality of sensory indexes based on the information; an evaluation unit that calculates an evaluation value for the evaluation index from the evaluation data using an evaluation circuit corresponding to the evaluation index; and an aggregation unit that aggregates the evaluation value calculated by the evaluation unit.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 5, 2020
    Publication date: May 5, 2022
    Applicant: Hitachi Astemo, Ltd.
    Inventors: Akihito AKAI, Yuji CHIBA, Nobuyuki ICHIMARU, Ryusuke HIRAO
  • Patent number: 11305600
    Abstract: A controller 10 as a generation mechanism control portion includes a base control portion 15 that determines a lower limit value on an instruction signal (i.e., a base instruction value) that serves as a lower limit on a force to be generated by a variable damper 6 (a force generation mechanism) according to at least a running speed of a vehicle. The base control portion 15 corrects the base instruction value by a base instruction value calculation portion 28 based on a result of a determination about a road surface output from a road surface determination portion 26 (i.e., a result of detection by a road surface state detection portion). A vehicle behavior control apparatus is configured to variably control a damping force characteristic of the variable damper 6 according to a road surface state with use of an instruction value output from the controller 10.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 22, 2018
    Date of Patent: April 19, 2022
    Assignee: HITACHI ASTEMO, LTD.
    Inventors: Ryusuke Hirao, Nobuyuki Ichimaru
  • Patent number: 11292308
    Abstract: An object of the present invention is to provide a vehicle motion state estimation device capable of estimating a vertical momentum of a vehicle with high accuracy from a wheel speed sensor signal during traveling such as acceleration or deceleration, turning, or the like where wheel slips in longitudinal and lateral directions occur. The present invention estimates and removes a variation component caused by a wheel slip from variation components of a wheel speed sensor signal to extract a variation component caused by a displacement of a suspension, and estimates a vertical momentum of a vehicle from the extracted variation component caused by the displacement of the suspension.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 22, 2017
    Date of Patent: April 5, 2022
    Assignee: HITACHI ASTEMO, LTD.
    Inventors: Shingo Nasu, Junya Takahashi, Nobuyuki Ichimaru, Ryusuke Hirao
  • Publication number: 20220097473
    Abstract: Provided is a vehicle behavior device including: a variable damper, which is provided between a vehicle body side and a wheel side of a vehicle, and is configured to adjust a force to be generated; a camera device configured to measure a road surface state forward of the vehicle; a future vehicle state estimation unit configured to predict a sprung behavior of the vehicle from a road surface displacement acquired by the camera device and a vehicle speed; and a command value calculation unit configured to obtain a force to be generated by the variable damper based on a predicted value obtained by the future vehicle state estimation unit, and output a command signal.
    Type: Application
    Filed: January 8, 2020
    Publication date: March 31, 2022
    Inventors: Kentaro KASUYA, Ryusuke HIRAO, Nobuyuki ICHIMARU
  • Publication number: 20220032720
    Abstract: Provided a suspension control appratus including a vehicle behavior detection unit (acceleration sensors), an electrorheological damper provided between a vehicle body (1) and each wheel (2), and a controller configured to execute control so that a damping force of each electrorheological damper is adjusted based on a detection result obtained by the vehicle behavior detection unit. The controller includes a target voltage value setting unit (damping force command calculation unit) configured to obtain a target voltage value to be applied to an electrode tube based on the detection result obtained by the vehicle behavior detection unit, a temperature estimation unit configured to detect or estimate temperature of ERF, and a target voltage value correction unit (output limiting unit) configured to change the target voltage value so that a piston speed (V) is adjusted based on a value obtained by the temperature estimation unit.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 11, 2019
    Publication date: February 3, 2022
    Inventors: Ryusuke HIRAO, Nobuyuki ICHIMARU