Patents by Inventor Richard Pothin

Richard Pothin 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: 20110287895
    Abstract: A method for assisting with hill maneuvers for a vehicle, including a propulsion unit connected to the drive wheels by a gearbox and a clutch or torque converter, and an assisted parking brake. In the method a threshold breakaway torque is determined as a function of longitudinal forces between the wheels of the vehicles and the ground. During a degraded operation, when a signal corresponding to a characteristic of the slope is received that cannot be used and/or when a computer does not have available a signal characteristic of an engaged gear ratio, a threshold value for the breakaway torque is determined without taking account of an actual value of the characteristic of the slope and/or of the characteristic of the gear ratio.
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 20, 2008
    Publication date: November 24, 2011
    Applicant: RENAULT S.A.S.
    Inventors: Alessandro Monti, Richard Pothin
  • Patent number: 8018190
    Abstract: A method for controlling and monitoring a hybrid vehicle including a driving internal combustion engine, and an electric machine that is operational, upon an instruction, in a form of a driving engine and is powered by a battery. The method detects a vehicle operating state, in transmitting, in response, an operating instruction to the electric machine only, without requesting any particular instruction from the internal combustion engine and respecting the vehicle stability constraint and a protecting constraint of the electric components thereof.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 21, 2006
    Date of Patent: September 13, 2011
    Assignee: Renault S.A.S.
    Inventors: Xavier Claeys, Philippe Pognant-Gros, Richard Pothin
  • Publication number: 20110202249
    Abstract: A method of releasing brakes of a motor vehicle including: if no vehicle start command takes place, after manual application of the vehicle brakes in a position to immobilize the vehicle when at rest is over, an assistance device progressively releases the brakes according to a suitable control scheme configured to make the vehicle move under its own weight, generally tending towards predetermined non-zero speed and acceleration conditions, and then, when the predetermined conditions are considered to have been reached, the assistance device stops releasing the brakes.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 3, 2009
    Publication date: August 18, 2011
    Applicant: RENAULT s.a.s.
    Inventors: Richard Pothin, Alessandro De-Rinaldis, Olivier Cayol
  • Publication number: 20110046862
    Abstract: A device for determining, when driving a vehicle, a mapping of torque transmitted by a clutch of the automobile based on a position of a clutch control member. The device includes a mechanism updating the mapping based on position thresholds of the clutch control member. The updating modifies values of the thresholds based on minimum and maximum values of the positions of the control member stored in the mapping and on current values of the thresholds.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 21, 2008
    Publication date: February 24, 2011
    Applicant: RENAULT S.A.S.
    Inventors: Alessandro Monti, Richard Pothin, Christophe Desfriches
  • Publication number: 20100262329
    Abstract: A system controlling release of an automatic parking brake onboard an automobile, that includes a mechanism estimating torque transmitted by the clutch, a sensor measuring an inclination angle of the rolling surface, and a mechanism controlling release of the parking brake device that compares the torque transmitted by the clutch with a continuous threshold torque depending on the inclination angle of the rolling surface at an end of a vehicle stop.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 30, 2008
    Publication date: October 14, 2010
    Applicant: Renault S. A. S.
    Inventors: Alessandro Monti, Richard Pothin
  • Publication number: 20100241328
    Abstract: A method for hill start assistance for a motor vehicle and to an associated device that includes a clutch and a transmission between the clutch and driving wheels of the vehicle. The method determines the torque of the clutch for maintaining the vehicle in an immobile position based on a known engine torque, wherein the torque of the clutch is determined by taking into account a portion of the engine torque dedicated to operation of constituent mechanisms of the vehicle other than the clutch.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 18, 2008
    Publication date: September 23, 2010
    Applicant: RENAULT S.A.S.
    Inventors: Alessandro De Rinaldis, Mickael Mallet, Richard Pothin, Yves Le Vourch
  • Publication number: 20100235064
    Abstract: An assistance device for uphill movements of an automobile, including a first assistance calculator controlling a parking brake and automatically controlling release thereof when it is activated and when driving torque transmitted by a clutch is higher than a minimum threshold for maintaining the vehicle on a slope, a second assistance calculator controlling the driving brake and automatically controlling and maintaining its activation when it has been activated, when it is determined that the vehicle is immobile and when the clutch torque is lower than the minimum threshold, and automatically controlling the release thereof when it is activated and when the clutch torque is higher than the threshold, and a mechanism determining immobility of the vehicle, estimating the clutch torque, estimating the slope, and calculating a threshold.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 19, 2008
    Publication date: September 16, 2010
    Applicant: RENAULT s.a.s.
    Inventors: Mickael Mallet, Alessandro De Rinaldis, Richard Pothin
  • Publication number: 20100204890
    Abstract: A method providing assistance with hill starts to a vehicle including a power plant connected to the driven wheels by a clutch and an automatic parking brake. The method generates an instruction to store in a memory a characteristic of a gradient which corresponds to a state in which it is estimated that the user and the vehicle are ready to pull away, on the basis of conditions that given physical parameters of the vehicle must satisfy.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 22, 2008
    Publication date: August 12, 2010
    Applicant: RENAULT S.A.S.
    Inventors: Christophe Desfriches, Alessandro Monti, Richard Pothin
  • Publication number: 20100185355
    Abstract: A method for processing a signal originating from a position sensor of a motor vehicle control member, to produce a processed signal relating to the position of the control member. The method includes: a filtering phase in which the signal originating from the sensor is filtered using a first filter to obtain a first filtered signal, and a substitution phase in which the first filtered signal is supplied as the processed signal, a second signal being added to the first filtered signal if the instantaneous value thereof is greater than the value of a first threshold parameter, and, in the opposite case, the signal originating from the sensor is provided as the processed signal.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 30, 2008
    Publication date: July 22, 2010
    Applicant: RENAULT S.A.S.
    Inventors: Christophe Desfriches, Alessandro Monti, Richard Pothin
  • Publication number: 20100185374
    Abstract: A control assist method for a vehicle including a power train connected to drive wheels by a clutch. The method updates a clutch curve which connects a position of a clutch pedal and a maximum torque that can be transmitted by the corresponding clutch, as a function of reliability thereof, the reliability being lower when the vehicle is first used and increasing with use of the vehicle.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 4, 2008
    Publication date: July 22, 2010
    Applicant: RENAULT S.A.S.
    Inventors: Christophe Desfriches, Alessandro Monti, Richard Pothin
  • Publication number: 20100179739
    Abstract: An assist device for a vehicle including a power train connected to drive wheels by a clutch, a bus, and a power-assist parking brake. The device includes sensors that transmit signals to the bus and a mechanism for learning-based estimation of a clutch curve on the basis of the signals, the curve connecting the position of the clutch pedal and a maximum torque range that can be transmitted by the corresponding clutch and a mechanism phasing the delivered signals to reduce an influence of noise on the sensors associated with the signals.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 4, 2008
    Publication date: July 15, 2010
    Applicant: RENAULT S.A.S.
    Inventors: Christophe Desfriches, Alessandro Monti, Richard Pothin
  • Publication number: 20100179738
    Abstract: A method for processing data recorded during a data acquisition, the data defining a correspondence between values representing torque transmitted by a clutch and values representing a position of a clutch control member. The processing method includes modifying the recorded data to define a modified correspondence between the values representing the torque transmitted by the clutch and the values representing the position of the clutch control member, the modified correspondence to be used in a hill start assist device of a motor vehicle including a power train connected to drive wheels by a transmission system including the clutch and a braking system, whereby the release of the braking system is automatically controlled by the assist device.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 30, 2008
    Publication date: July 15, 2010
    Applicant: Renault S.A.S.
    Inventors: Christophe Desfriches, Alessandro Monti, Richard Pothin
  • Publication number: 20100138129
    Abstract: A hill start assistance method for a user of a vehicle having a braking system and an electronic braking control, provided with at least one master cylinder pressure sensor, whereby the pressure on each caliper of the vehicle can be controlled. The method includes: estimating the torque transmitted by the clutch, recording information corresponding to the value of the master cylinder pressure resulting from a user's actuation of the brake pedal, and recording the information recorded corresponding to the value of the master cylinder pressure when the user actuates the brake pedal again by pressing harder on the pedal or partially releasing same. When the user releases the brake pedal fully, the braking system maintains the pressure on the calipers for a predetermined period of time, as a function of a pressure set value equal to the value of the last item of information recorded.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 2, 2008
    Publication date: June 3, 2010
    Applicant: Renault S.A.S.
    Inventors: Mickael Mallet, Richard Pothin
  • Publication number: 20090312907
    Abstract: A method of controlling at least one anti-roll bar actuator on board a vehicle. The method controls the at least one anti-roll actuator as a function of a measurement of lateral acceleration of the vehicle and controls the vehicle as a function of a value of a static gain in relation to a transfer function between an angle of a vehicle steering control member and a rate of yaw of the vehicle.
    Type: Application
    Filed: May 10, 2006
    Publication date: December 17, 2009
    Applicant: RENAULT S.A.S.
    Inventor: Richard Pothin
  • Patent number: 7536272
    Abstract: A method for estimating the total mass of a motor vehicle by a recursive least squares algorithm. The method involves a vehicle longitudinal acceleration computing according to a fundamental dynamic equation by analysing errors by an acceleration variation caused by errors including a variation error of the vehicle mass with respect to a predetermined mass, declivity error of a surface on which the vehicle is placed, and model errors. The declivity is delivered by a declivity sensor or by declivity estimation mechanism.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 2, 2004
    Date of Patent: May 19, 2009
    Assignee: Renault S.A.S.
    Inventors: Gerald Leminoux, Eric Plevin, Richard Pothin
  • Publication number: 20090021203
    Abstract: A method for controlling and monitoring a hybrid vehicle including a driving internal combustion engine, and an electric machine that is operational, upon an instruction, in a form of a driving engine and is powered by a battery. The method detects a vehicle operating state, in transmitting, in response, an operating instruction to the electric machine only, without requesting any particular instruction from the internal combustion engine and respecting the vehicle stability constraint and a protecting constraint of the electric components thereof.
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 21, 2006
    Publication date: January 22, 2009
    Applicant: RENAULT S.A.S.
    Inventors: Xavier Claeys, Philippe Pognant-Gros, Richard Pothin
  • Publication number: 20080319608
    Abstract: The invention concerns a method for controlling an anti-rolling system for a vehicle having at least three wheels, whereby based on the turn angle of the front wheel or on the lateral acceleration of the vehicle, on displacement data of the vehicle, and on a prior deflection rule of the anti-rolling system, a current roll correction rule is provided and said current roll correction rule is sent to an anti-rolling actuator or a controllable suspension acting on the stiffness of the vehicle suspension.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 4, 2006
    Publication date: December 25, 2008
    Applicant: RENAULT s.a.s
    Inventor: Richard Pothin
  • Publication number: 20080215210
    Abstract: An anti-rolling method and system for a vehicle and a corresponding vehicle. The device controlling the roll of a vehicle includes at least one actuator capable of acting on the roll, a module for estimating a state of roll based on a turn angle of front wheels of the vehicle, the anti-rolling torque applied to the vehicle, and speed of the vehicle, and a module for providing a rule of asymptotic rejection of disturbances acting on the roll.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 30, 2006
    Publication date: September 4, 2008
    Applicant: RENAULT S.A.S.
    Inventors: Benoit Bulteau, Richard Pothin
  • Publication number: 20080167777
    Abstract: A method for controlling steering orientation of a monitored vehicle including at least two steering wheels each of which is steerable independently of the other at an angle of natural orientation, the wheels belonging to a train of the vehicle. The method collects a lateral acceleration setpoint, and computes orientation setpoints of each steering wheel based on the lateral acceleration setpoint. During the operation for computing the orientation setpoints of the steering wheels, the orientation setpoints of each of the wheels of the train are computed such that the difference between the grip levels of the wheels relative to the ground is less than a threshold value.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 14, 2006
    Publication date: July 10, 2008
    Applicant: RENAULT S.A.S.
    Inventor: Richard Pothin
  • Publication number: 20070038357
    Abstract: A method for estimating the total mass of a motor vehicle by a recursive least squares algorithm. The method involves a vehicle longitudinal acceleration computing according to a fundamental dynamic equation by analysing errors by an acceleration variation caused by errors including a variation error of the vehicle mass with respect to a predetermined mass, declivity error of a surface on which the vehicle is placed, and model errors. The declivity is delivered by a declivity sensor or by declivity estimation mechanism.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 2, 2004
    Publication date: February 15, 2007
    Applicant: Renault S.A.S.
    Inventors: Gerald Leminoux, Eric Plevin, Richard Pothin