Abstract: A hydraulic braking system having an antiskid function and a holding function for keeping the vehicle immobile during vehicle stoppage is further provided with a malfunction alarm function wherein the components of the braking system are checked each time the holding function is performed and the operator is provided, directly or indirectly, with a warning in the event there is failure or malfunction of the components.

Abstract: In an automotive infinite transmission, a rotation of an input pulley is transmitted to an output pulley through a belt in such a manner that a transmission ratio is continuously variable. Each of the input and output pulleys has a fixed pulley member fixedly mounted on a rotary shaft and a movable pulley member mounted on the rotary shaft for axial movement toward and away from the fixed pulley member. A tapered pulley surface of the fixed pulley member cooperates with a tapered pulley surface of the movable pulley member to define therebetween an annular groove having a generally V-shaped cross-section. A plurality of drive blocks are arranged between the pulley surfaces of the respective fixed and movable pulley members and circumferentially along the annular groove with the drive blocks being in sliding contact with the pulley surfaces. Provision is made between the drive blocks and the pulley surfaces in sliding contact therewith for reducing frictional forces.

Abstract: Wheel cylinders supplied with oil pressure from a master cylinder are respectively provided in brake mechanism provided in wheels of a vehicle. The wheel cylinder has a brake piston provided to form a first fluid chamber to supply oil pressure from the master cylinder, and a brake piston driven by the oil pressure of the first fluid chamber. The wheel cylinder has a piston mechanism formed by laminating thin plate shaped piezoelectric elements, and the piston mechanism is controlled to be expanded or contracted by controlling the voltage applied to the piezoelectric elements to vary the volume of the first fluid chamber.

Abstract: An antiskid control device including a main line system, a first oil hydraulic source generating a pressurized oil and supplying the oil to wheel cylinders through the main line system, a subline system, and a second oil hydraulic source generating a pressurized oil and supplying the oil to the wheel cylinders through the subline system. The main line system and the first oil hydraulic source are provided for a usual braking operation. The subline system and the second oil hydraulic source are provided for an antiskid control. The main line system has a cut-off valve which opens the main line system in the usual braking operation and closes the main line system in the antiskid control. The subline system has a switching valve which opens and closes the subline system according to a locking condition of the wheel during the antiskid control. The second oil hydraulic source generates a pressurized oil when a locking condition is sensed.

Abstract: A valve device including a housing formed with a passage, valve elements for opening and closing the passage, a spring for urging the valve elements, and a controller for displacing the valve elements against the spring force. The spring has at least two deflection modes, one of which shows a larger spring constant than the other deflection mode and appears in one of two valve positions. The controller outputs a relatively large force for displacing the valve elements to the valve position at which the spring is deflected at the larger spring constant.

Abstract: A rotary piston vacuum pump has a rotor eccentrically disposed in a cylinder and mounted therein for revolution in rolling contact with the cylindrical inner peripehral surface of the cylinder so that a crescent-shaped space is defined between the rotor and the cylinder and moved around the axis of the cylinder. A vane is radially reciprocally mounted in a vane chamber having an inner end open to the cylindrical inner peripheral surface of the cylinder. The vane has an inner end in sliding contact with the outer peripheral surface of the rotor to divide the crescent-shaped space into a suction chamber in communication with a suction port and a discharge port to be communicated with a discharge port having an inner end open in a wall of an outer part of the vane chamber.

Abstract: An antiskid control device including a main line system for a usual braking operation and a subline system for an antiskid control, in which the flow rate of the subline system is smaller than the flow rate of the mainline system. The main piping system is provided with a cut-off valve which opens at a usual braking operation and closes at an antiskid control. The subline system is provided with a first control valve for opening the subline system and a second control valve for opening or closing the subline system at an antiskid control. The second control valve opens the subline system to supply a small quantity of brake oil to the wheel cylinder, and closes the subline system to release the brake oil in the wheel cylinder to the outside thereof.

Abstract: A wheel cylinder is formed in the brake caliper for each wheel of a vehicle and brake fluid is supplied from a master cylinder to this wheel cylinder by way of a fluid passage. A brake piston is provided inside the wheel cylinder and includes a piezoelectric piston device inside. By the application of voltage, this piezoelectric piston device expands and contracts the brake piston. A control valve is provided in the fluid passage to open and close it to selectively partition off the master cylinder. When the control valve has closed the passage, a voltage is applied to the piezoelectric piston device to expand it and control the pressure acting on the brake piston in the wheel cylinder to vary the braking force.

Abstract: An antiskid control device including a main line system for usual braking operation, a subline system for an antiskid control, and an oil hydraulic mechanism supplying pressurized oil to the subline system. The oil hydraulic mechanism has an oil hydraulic source constantly generating hydraulic pressure during operation of the engine of the vehicle, an oil hydraulic motor driven by the oil hydraulic source, and an oil hydraulic pump discharging a highly pressurized oil. While the oil hydraulic motor is constantly rotated during the operation of the engine, the oil hydraulic pump is rotated when the rotation of the oil hydraulic motor is transmitted thereto. For this purpose, a mechanism for transmitting the rotation between the motor and the pump is provided.

Abstract: An electric fuel pump for pumping a liquid fuel from a tank to an engine. The pump device has a regenerative pump section and an electric motor section for driving the regenerative pump section. The regenerative pump section includes a pump casing having a first inner surface and a second inner surface axially opposing to and spaced from each other to define therebetween a pump chamber, a shaft adapted to be rotatingly driven by the electric motor section and an impeller accommodated by the pump chamber and mounted on the shaft for rotation therewith but axially movably relatively thereto. The impeller has one axial end surface opposing to the first inner surface with a first gap formed therebetween, and the other axial end surface opposing to the second inner surface of the pump casing with a second gap formed therebetween.

Abstract: An electrically operated fuel pump apparatus comprises an electric motor and a regenerative pump having a pump housing and a disc-like impeller. The motor shaft has an end portion extending into a central axial through-hole formed in an end wall of the pump housing. A joint member comprising a ring-like base and a circumferential row of axial rods extending therefrom is rotatably disposed in the axial through-hole in the end wall of the pump housing and secured to the end portion of the motor shaft. The impeller is rotatably and axially movably mounted on an impeller shaft provided separately of the motor shaft and secured to the other end wall of the pump housing. The impeller is formed therein with a circumferential row of axial apertures with which the axial rods of the joint member loosely engage to transmit the rotation of the motor shaft to the impeller while permitting axial movement of the impeller relative to the motor shaft and the pump housing.

Abstract: A pumping apparatus is adapted for providing a small amount of flow rate under high pressure and includes a pumping chamber, a rotating shaft and an impeller in the form of a disk which impeller is connected at its central portion to the rotating shaft to rotate in the pumping chamber. A first pumping section of the pumping apparatus comprises a bypass regenerative pump which includes grooves formed on the opposite side surfaces of the impeller and arranged in a circle surrounding the rotating shaft, and groove-like channels formed on the wall of the pumping chamber in facing relationship to the grooves on the impeller with narrow gaps therebetween. A second pumping section of the pumping apparatus is connected in series to the first pumping section between the outer peripheral portion of the impeller and the wall of the pumping chamber, and comprises a regenerative pump which includes grooves provided on the outer peripheral portion of the impeller.

Abstract: A fuel pump comprises a regenerative pump section, a driving section and a housing, the regenerative pump section being provided with a vapor vent for discharging fuel vapor. The vapor vent communicates with an outside of the fuel pump through a vent housing for a vortex flow. The vent housing has a vent chamber, a tangential groove and a discharge hole. A vortex flow of the fuel including the fuel vapor generates in the vent chamber and flows from the tangential groove to the discharge hole. When the fuel vapor does not generate, the vortex phenomenon is enhanced so that an amount of the fuel discharged from the discharge hole is reduced. The vent housing may have a radial control groove communicating with a control hole in addition to the tangential groove.

Abstract: A torque transmission system has driving and driven pulley units around which an endless V-belt extends. Each pulley unit has a stationary pulley part rotatable with a shaft and a movable pulley part disposed to define with the stationary pulley part a circumferentially continuous groove for receiving the V-belt. The movable pulley parts of the pulley units are axially resiliently biased so that the radii of the circle along which the V-belt engages the driving and driven pulley units are varied to change the speed-change ratio of the transmission system. The movable pulley part of the driven pulley unit is axially shifted by the action of fly weights held between a stationary plate fixed to the shaft and a holder fixed to the movable pulley part.

Abstract: A power transmission device for vehicles comprises: a housing rotatably supporting a crank shaft of an engine of the vehicle; a first shaft rotatably supported inside the housing to be coaxial with the crank shaft; a clutch unit having a drive member arranged inside the housing and coupled to the crank shaft, and a driven member fixed to the first shaft; a second shaft rotatably supported inside the housing to be parallel to the first shaft. The device has also infinite variable transmission including a drive pulley consisting of a fixed sheave and an axially movable sheave mounted on the first shaft, a driven pulley consisting of a fixed pulley and an axially movable sheave mounted on the second shaft, and a V belt which is placed the driving and driven pulleys through V grooves defined by the fixed and axially movable sheaves of the driving and driven pulleys.

Abstract: An electrically operated fuel pump device for use in vehicles comprises a regenerative pump component and an electric motor component operatively connected to the regenerative pump component to actuate the same. The regenerative pump component includes a casing defining therein a pump chamber and a closed vane type impeller rotatably disposed within the pump chamber. The impeller has an outer peripheral portion thereof cooperating with the pump chamber to define a pump flow passage. The impeller has in the outer peripheral portion a plurality of circumferentially spaced vane grooves formed in opposite end faces of the impeller. The impeller has its outer diameter within a range of approximately 20-65 mm. A flow passage representative dimension defined by S/l is within a range of approximately 0.4-2 mm where S is a cross-sectional area of the pump flow passage and l is a cross-sectional peripheral length of the outer peripheral portion of the impeller.

Abstract: A regenerative pump has a pump housing and a disc-like impeller mounted in the pump housing for axial movement therein and rotated by an electric motor. The impeller is provided with circumferential rows of vane grooves formed in the end faces of the impeller adjacent to the outer periphery thereof. The pump housing has inner surfaces closely spaced from the impeller end faces. Circumferentially continuous annular projections or circumferentially discontinuous projections are formed on either the impeller end faces or the housing inner surfaces to keep at least the major surface areas of the impeller end faces closely spaced from the mating inner surfaces of the housing. Axial passages extend through the impeller to equalize fluid pressures on the opposite impeller end faces.

Abstract: A driving mechanism comprises an electric motor assembly having an output shaft drivingly connected to a vehicle accessory device and arranged to be connected to an internal combustion engine, the motor assembly being designed to generate a high output torque on the output shaft in its first activated condition and to generate a low output torque on the output shaft in its second activated condition, an electrically operated actuator for connecting the output shaft to the engine upon energization thereof and disconnecting the output shaft from the engine upon deenergization thereof, and an electric control circuit for energizing the actuator and the motor assembly to start the engine under the first activated condition of the motor assembly, for deenergizing the actuator after start of the engine, for switching over the motor assembly to its second activated condition from its first activated condition when the accessory device is unloaded and for switching over the motor assembly to its first activated condi

Abstract: A pump apparatus has a regenerative pump and a motor for driving the regenerative pump. A substantially annular flow passage is formed in the pump housing of the regenerative pump and communicated with a discharge port and a suction port. An impeller is rotatably housed in the pump housing. A plurality of radial vane grooves are formed circumferentially spaced in the outer peripheral portion of each surface of the impeller. A recess is formed in the portion of one of side surfaces of the flow passage aligned axially with the discharge port formed in the other side face of the flow passage.

Abstract: In combination with a belt tensioner which includes an idler pulley to be radially displaced under control of an actuator for applying an tensioning force on an endless belt of the drive system for the vehicle accessories, an electric control apparatus comprises a microcomputer for calculating the actual tensioning force on the belt related to radial displacement of the idler pulley and for calculating drive power necessary for driving the vehicle accessories to calculate total drive torque of the vehicle accessories in relation to rotational speed of a prime mover of the vehicle. The microcomputer also calculates an optimum tensioning force based on a desired relationship between the optimum tensioning force and the total drive torque in consideration with the maximum efficiency of power transmission of the belt such that it generates a control signal when the calculated actual tensioning force is different from the calculated optimum tensioning force.