Patents by Inventor Shiro Tamura

Shiro Tamura 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: 10668803
    Abstract: A wheel hub bearing unit includes an outer ring disposed on an axially outer side of the hub bearing unit and coupled to a wheel, a stationary shaft passing through a center bore of the outer ring, and a plurality of rolling elements arranged in an annular space between the outer ring and the stationary shaft. Motor and speed reduction units are offset from an axis of the wheel hub bearing unit in a direction perpendicular thereto, with the motor unit disposed adjacent to an axially inner end portion of the stationary shaft. The speed reduction unit includes an output gear coupled to the outer ring and a rolling bearing provided between the output gear and the stationary shaft to support the output gear. A carrier disposed on an axially inner side relative to the hub bearing unit is secured to the axially inner end portion of the stationary shaft.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 7, 2016
    Date of Patent: June 2, 2020
    Assignee: NTN CORPORATION
    Inventors: Shiro Tamura, Shinya Taikou
  • Patent number: 10632938
    Abstract: An in-wheel motor power line wiring structure of the present invention includes an in-wheel motor drive device configured to drive a wheel, a damper (77) including an upper end portion (77b) and a lower end portion (77c), the upper end portion (77b) being coupled to a vehicle-body-side member and the lower end portion (77c) being coupled to the in-wheel motor drive device, a power line extending from the in-wheel motor drive device to a vehicle body, and a clamp member (96) that is provided on the lower end portion of the damper and configured to hold an intermediate portion of the power line.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 9, 2017
    Date of Patent: April 28, 2020
    Assignee: NTN CORPORATION
    Inventors: Shiro Tamura, Yusuke Shibuya
  • Publication number: 20200040992
    Abstract: In an in-wheel motor drive device, a speed reduction part is a parallel shaft gear reducer that includes a plurality of gear shafts extending in parallel to one another. One of the gear shafts is coupled with the rotation shaft of the motor part, the other one of the gear shafts is coupled with the wheel hub of the wheel hub bearing part. Remaining gear shafts decelerate the rotation of the motor part and transmit it to the wheel hub. The motor drive device includes a parking gear attached to any of the gear shafts. The parking pawl has a projection portion engaged with a recess portion of the parking gear. A movement member enables a parking pawl to move between a locking position engaged with the recess portion and an unlocking position not engaged therewith. The parking gear, the parking pawl, and movement member are housed inside a housing.
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 4, 2016
    Publication date: February 6, 2020
    Inventors: Shiro TAMURA, Yusuke SHIBUYA
  • Publication number: 20200039344
    Abstract: Provided is an in-wheel motor drive device (21) including: a motor (28); a wheel bearing (53); and a speed reducer (38). The speed reducer (38) comprises: a speed reducer input shaft (Sin) including an input gear (34); a speed reducer output shaft (Sout) including an output gear (37); and an intermediate shaft (Sm) including a small-diameter intermediate gear (36) and a large-diameter intermediate gear (35). The large-diameter intermediate gear (35) has a circumscribed circle which is superimposed with a pitch circle of a plurality of rolling elements (42) of the wheel bearing (53) when viewed from an axial direction.
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 24, 2016
    Publication date: February 6, 2020
    Inventors: Shinya TAIKOU, Shiro TAMURA, Tomohisa UOZUMI
  • Publication number: 20200039343
    Abstract: Provided is an in-wheel motor drive device (21) including: a motor (28); a wheel bearing (53); and a speed reducer (38). The speed reducer (38) includes: a speed reducer input shaft (Sin) having an input gear (34); a speed reducer output shaft (Sout) having an output gear (37); and an intermediate shaft (Sm) including: a first intermediate gear (35) and a second intermediate gear (36). The speed reducer input shaft (Sin) and the speed reducer output shaft (Sout) are arranged with offset in a direction orthogonal to an axial direction so that the input gear (34) and the output gear (37) are prevented from being superimposed with each other as viewed in the axial direction.
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 2, 2016
    Publication date: February 6, 2020
    Inventors: Shinya TAIKOU, Shiro TAMURA, Tomohisa UOZUMI
  • Publication number: 20200044513
    Abstract: An in-wheel motor drive device includes an electric motor section, a speed reducer section having a speed-reduction structure using parallel shaft gears, a wheel bearing section, and a casing. The parallel shaft gears include at least one intermediate shaft each having an input-side and output-side intermediate gears, and an output shaft having a final output gear. The at least one intermediate shaft and the output shaft each have both end portions supported by rolling bearings to be rotatable. Among the rolling bearings, at least one rolling bearing arranged close to the input-side intermediate gear or a rolling bearing arranged close to the final output gear is arranged in a radially-inner-side recess portion of the gear, which is arranged close to the corresponding rolling bearing.
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 2, 2016
    Publication date: February 6, 2020
    Inventors: Shinya TAIKOU, Shiro TAMURA, Tomohisa UOZUMI
  • Publication number: 20200039308
    Abstract: An in-wheel motor drive device (10) includes: a motor portion (21); a casing (43) housing a rotation transmission path from a motor rotation shaft of the motor portion to a rotating wheel; a suspending bracket (61) including an upper joining seat portion (62) joinable with an upper side suspension member (76) of a suspension device, a lower joining seat portion (64) joinable with a lower side suspension member (71) of the suspension device, and an intermediate portion (63) connecting the upper joining seat portion and the lower joining seat portion, and a fixing means (69) for mounting and fixing the suspending bracket (61) to an outer wall surface of the casing (43).
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 21, 2017
    Publication date: February 6, 2020
    Inventors: Shiro TAMURA, Shinya TAIKOU
  • Patent number: 10543742
    Abstract: A large gear and a small gear are provided to an intermediate shaft of an in-wheel motor drive device, and a final output gear configured to mesh with the small gear of the intermediate shaft is provided to an output shaft. The output shaft is supported by bearings on in-board and out-board sides, respectively, and the large gear of the intermediate shaft is arranged between the bearing configured to support the output shaft on the in-board side and the final output gear of the output shaft. The bearing and the large gear are arranged so that, when viewed from the axial direction, a tooth top circle of the large gear of the intermediate shaft and a radially outer circle of the bearing configured to support the output shaft on the in-board side have an intersection point.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 16, 2016
    Date of Patent: January 28, 2020
    Assignee: NTN CORPORATION
    Inventors: Shiro Tamura, Minoru Suzuki, Shinya Taikou
  • Publication number: 20200016972
    Abstract: An in-wheel motor drive device includes: a wheel hub bearing portion having an inner ring integrally rotating with a wheel, an outer ring facing the inner ring via a radial gap, and a hub attachment arranged on a more outer diameter side than the outer ring and mounted and fixed to the outer ring; a motor portion driving the inner ring; a casing housing a rotation transmission path from a motor rotation shaft of the motor portion to the inner ring; a suspending bracket having an upper joining seat portion joinable with an upper side suspension member of a suspension device, a lower joining seat portion joinable with a lower side suspension member of the suspension device, and an intermediate portion connecting the upper joining seat portion and the lower joining seat portion; and fixing means for mounting and fixing the suspending bracket to the hub attachment.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 21, 2017
    Publication date: January 16, 2020
    Inventors: Shiro TAMURA, Shinya TAIKOU
  • Patent number: 10464384
    Abstract: An in-wheel motor drive device includes a motor unit having a plurality of power line connecting portions (91, 91, 91), and a plurality of bendable power lines (93, 93, 93) whose one ends connect with the power line connecting portions and whose other ends extend to a vehicle body outside a casing and supplies electric power to the motor unit from the vehicle body, and which in-wheel motor drive device can be steered about a steering axis (K) intersecting with a spring sheet (79c) of a shock absorber. Furthermore, viewing from the steering axial direction, the plurality of power line connecting portions is disposed overlapping a spring sheet.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 9, 2017
    Date of Patent: November 5, 2019
    Assignee: NTN CORPORATION
    Inventors: Takanori Ishikawa, Shiro Tamura
  • Patent number: 10461599
    Abstract: An automotive motor drive unit includes a breather passage (Q) provided in casings (21a, 21r, 22a, 22r) that form an outer shape of the automotive motor drive unit; an entrance port (48m) that is provided at an inlet side of the breather passage and that connects with an internal space (L) defined by the casings; an exit port (67) that is provided at an outlet side of the breather passage and that connects with a space outside the casings; and obstacles (24, 25, 26) standing to form an inner wall of the breather passage and preventing lubrication oil in the internal space from proceeding straight ahead via the entrance port toward the exit port.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 10, 2015
    Date of Patent: October 29, 2019
    Assignee: NTN CORPORATION
    Inventors: Shiro Tamura, Takanori Ishikawa, Shinya Taikou
  • Publication number: 20190299769
    Abstract: A lubricating oil supply structure in an in-wheel motor drive device (10) includes an oil tank (47) provided a lower part of a motor unit (21) and/or a reducer unit (31), configured to store lubricating oil, an oil pump (54) configured to pump up lubricating oil from the oil tank, and an oil pipe (70) fixedly attached in an upper part of the motor unit and/or the reducer unit. The oil pipe (70) includes an inlet (76) through which lubricating oil pumped up from the oil pump (54) flows therein, and at least one outlet (77) provided between one end thereof and the other end thereof, configured to discharge lubricating oil flown in from the inlet (76) downwards.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 23, 2017
    Publication date: October 3, 2019
    Inventors: Huaxia LI, Shinya TAIKOU, Shiro TAMURA
  • Patent number: 10424851
    Abstract: A terminal mounting structure includes a plurality of receive-side terminals, each of which extends from a distal end of each of electrical leads, a mounting stand that includes an electrically-insulating base and a plurality of supply-side conductive bars that are disposed at intervals and extend so as to pass through the base, a plurality of screws, each of which passes through the receive-side terminal in a direction crossing an extending direction of the receive-side terminal, each of which is screwed into a screw hole formed at an end part of the supply-side conductive bar so as to cause each of the receive-side terminals to contact each of the supply-side conductive bars and to fix each of the receive-side terminals to each of the supply-side conductive bars, and a contact prevention mechanism that is provided in the mounting stand so as to prevent adjacent receive-side terminals from contacting with each other.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 10, 2015
    Date of Patent: September 24, 2019
    Assignee: NTN CORPORATION
    Inventors: Shiro Tamura, Takanori Ishikawa, Shinya Taikou
  • Patent number: 10414264
    Abstract: An in-wheel motor drive device (10) includes: a wheel hub bearing portion (11); a motor portion (21) and a deceleration portion (31) disposed in an upwardly offset manner with respect to an axis of the wheel hub bearing portion (11); and a carrier (101) projecting downward to a position below the wheel hub bearing portion (11). A suspension connection portion (101c) is mounted on a lower end of the carrier (101), the suspension connection portion (101c) to be connected with a suspension device (116) so as to be directable in any direction. The suspension connection portion (101c) is disposed in an overlapping manner with the wheel hub bearing portion (11) with respect to a position in an axial direction of the wheel hub bearing portion (11).
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 16, 2016
    Date of Patent: September 17, 2019
    Assignee: NTN CORPORATION
    Inventors: Shiro Tamura, Shinya Taikou
  • Publication number: 20190273412
    Abstract: A casing (43) of an in-wheel motor drive device (10) includes a tubular body first casing (43g) disposed on one side in an axial (O) direction and a tubular body second casing (43a) disposed on the other side in the axial direction. Each of the body first casing and the body second casing has an annular abutting surface (43j) so that the annular abutting surfaces of the body first casing and the body second casing abut on each other in the axial direction. A hub carrier (18) has at its tip end a connecting portion (82s) for rotatable connection to a vehicle body-side member (81). The connecting portion is disposed so as not to overlap the abutting surfaces in the axial direction and so as to overlap the body first casing or the body second casing in the axial direction.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 3, 2017
    Publication date: September 5, 2019
    Inventors: Shinya TAIKOU, Shiro TAMURA
  • Publication number: 20190263215
    Abstract: A suspension structure for an in-wheel motor drive device of the present invention includes an in-wheel motor drive device (10), a shock absorber (76), a torsion bar (81), and a stabilizer link (86), wherein: the shock absorber includes an upper spring seat (79a) provided in an upper end region of the shock absorber and a lower spring seat (79b) provided in a lower end region of the shock absorber and forming a pair with the upper spring seat; an upper end (87a) of the stabilizer link is arranged between a vehicle back edge (79d) of the lower spring seat and a vehicle front edge (79c) of the lower spring seat; and a lower end (87b) of the stabilizer link is arranged so as to overlap with a hub wheel (12) as viewed in an axial direction of the hub wheel.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 20, 2017
    Publication date: August 29, 2019
    Inventors: Yusuke SHIBUYA, Shiro TAMURA
  • Publication number: 20190248224
    Abstract: An in-wheel motor drive device includes an electric motor section, a speed reducer section, a wheel bearing section, and a casing. The speed reducer section includes a speed-reduction structure using a parallel shaft gear. The parallel shaft gear includes an input shaft, which is coupled to the electric motor section, an input gear, at least one intermediate shaft including input-side and output-side intermediate gears, an output shaft, which is coupled to the wheel bearing section, and a final output gear. The input, intermediate, and output shafts are supported by rolling bearings to be rotatable. At least two rolling bearings configured to support the intermediate and output shafts on an out-board side and two rolling bearings configured to support the intermediate and output shafts on an in-board side are arranged at positions at which respective bearing widths are prevented from being superimposed with each other in an axial direction.
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 24, 2016
    Publication date: August 15, 2019
    Inventors: Shiro TAMURA, Minoru SUZUKI, Shinya TAIKOU
  • Patent number: 10377224
    Abstract: A strut type suspension device has a retractable strut (111) that connects to an upper portion of an in-wheel motor drive device (10) so as not to relatively move; and a swingable lower arm (116) that is coupled to a lower portion of the in-wheel motor drive device in any direction, and permits vertical swinging of the in-wheel motor drive device and also permits steering of the in-wheel motor drive device about a steering shaft (S) that passes through a coupling point (119) between the lower arm (116) and the in-wheel motor drive device. An axis (M) of the motor portion (21) of the in-wheel motor drive device is arranged above a height of the coupling point (119) of the lower arm (116).
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 16, 2016
    Date of Patent: August 13, 2019
    Assignee: NTN CORPORATION
    Inventors: Shiro Tamura, Shinya Taikou
  • Publication number: 20190241059
    Abstract: A large gear and a small gear are provided to an intermediate shaft of an in-wheel motor drive device, and a final output gear configured to mesh with the small gear of the intermediate shaft is provided to an output shaft. The output shaft is supported by bearings on in-board and out-board sides, respectively, and the large gear of the intermediate shaft is arranged between the bearing configured to support the output shaft on the in-board side and the final output gear of the output shaft. The bearing and the large gear are arranged so that, when viewed from the axial direction, a tooth top circle of the large gear of the intermediate shaft and a radially outer circle of the bearing configured to support the output shaft on the in-board side have an intersection point.
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 16, 2016
    Publication date: August 8, 2019
    Inventors: Shiro TAMURA, Minoru SUZUKI, Shinya TAIKOU
  • Publication number: 20190232747
    Abstract: An in-wheel motor drive device includes a wheel hub bearing unit and a speed reduction unit that decelerates rotation of a motor unit and transmits decelerated rotation to a wheel. A suspension bracket has an upper connecting seat portion connectable with a suspension device, a lower connecting seat portion connectable with the suspension device, and an intermediate area connecting a vehicle rear part of the upper connecting seat portion and a vehicle rear part of the lower connecting seat portion. A notch is provided between a vehicle front part of the upper connecting seat portion and a vehicle front part of the lower connecting seat portion on a front side of the vehicle of the intermediate area. A fixing means attaches/fixes the suspension bracket to a casing of the speed reduction unit and/or a fixed wheel such that an axis of the wheel hub bearing unit passes through the notch.
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 7, 2016
    Publication date: August 1, 2019
    Inventors: Shiro TAMURA, Minoru SUZUKI