Patents by Inventor Yuichi Mizuta

Yuichi Mizuta 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: 9132710
    Abstract: Disclosed is a damping force control device for a vehicle that controls the damping coefficient of a damping force generation device on the basis of a final target control amount that is based on the target control amount for attitude control, which suppresses changes in the vehicle body attitude in at least the rolling direction, and the target control amount for riding comfort control, which increases riding comfort with regards to vehicle body vibrations in at least the rolling direction. The target control amount for riding comfort control is a control amount calculated as the total of a fixed basic control amount and a variable control amount.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 9, 2014
    Date of Patent: September 15, 2015
    Assignee: TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Yanqing Liu, Yuichi Mizuta, Motohiko Honma, Jin Hozumi, Masaaki Tabata
  • Publication number: 20140214274
    Abstract: Disclosed is a damping force control device for a vehicle that controls the damping coefficient of a damping force generation device on the basis of a final target control amount that is based on the target control amount for attitude control, which suppresses changes in the vehicle body attitude in at least the rolling direction, and the target control amount for riding comfort control, which increases riding comfort with regards to vehicle body vibrations in at least the rolling direction. The target control amount for riding comfort control is a control amount calculated as the total of a fixed basic control amount and a variable control amount.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 9, 2014
    Publication date: July 31, 2014
    Applicant: TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Yanqing LIU, Yuichi MIZUTA, Motohiko HONMA, Jin HOZUMI, Masaaki TABATA
  • Patent number: 8744681
    Abstract: Disclosed is a damping force control device for a vehicle that controls the damping coefficient of a damping force generation device on the basis of a final target control amount that is based on the target control amount for attitude control, which suppresses changes in the vehicle body attitude in at least the rolling direction, and the target control amount for riding comfort control, which increases riding comfort with regards to vehicle body vibrations in at least the rolling direction. The target control amount for riding comfort control is a control amount calculated as the total of a fixed basic control amount and a variable control amount.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 17, 2010
    Date of Patent: June 3, 2014
    Assignee: Toyota Jidosha Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Yanqing Liu, Yuichi Mizuta, Motohiko Honma, Jin Hozumi, Masaaki Tabata
  • Publication number: 20120310479
    Abstract: Disclosed is a damping force control device for a vehicle that controls the damping coefficient of a damping force generation device on the basis of a final target control amount that is based on the target control amount for attitude control, which suppresses changes in the vehicle body attitude in at least the rolling direction, and the target control amount for riding comfort control, which increases riding comfort with regards to vehicle body vibrations in at least the rolling direction. The target control amount for riding comfort control is a control amount calculated as the total of a fixed basic control amount and a variable control amount.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 17, 2010
    Publication date: December 6, 2012
    Applicant: TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Yanqing Liu, Yuichi Mizuta, Motohiko Honma, Jin Hozumi, Masaaki Tabata
  • Patent number: 8321087
    Abstract: A control mode for a damping force characteristic is set to be a variable control when a product of the sum xb? of sprung member speeds and a sprung-member-unsprung-member-relative-speed xs? is positive. Accordingly, when the vibration in a middle/high frequency range is not being input to a suspension apparatus, an operation of a variable throttle mechanism is controlled so that a step number representing the damping force characteristic of a damper varies with a vibration state of a sprung member HA based on a Nonlinear H? control theory. When the product of xb? and xs? is negative, the control mode is set to be an operation prohibiting control. When the vibration in the middle/high frequency range is input to the suspension apparatus, operation of the variable throttle mechanism is prohibited, and suppresses an increase in the operation frequency or in the operation amount of the variable throttle mechanism.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 31, 2009
    Date of Patent: November 27, 2012
    Assignee: Toyota Jidosha Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Taisuke Hayashi, Yuichi Mizuta, Yanqing Liu
  • Patent number: 8170749
    Abstract: A target roll angle of the vehicle is computed based on an actual lateral acceleration at the centroid of the vehicle, and the lateral acceleration of the vehicle at the centroid is corrected by use of lateral acceleration correction amounts based on a yaw rate of the vehicle, whereby the lateral accelerations of the vehicle at the front wheel position and the rear wheel position are computed. Subsequently, target anti-roll moments at the front wheel position and the rear wheel position are computed based on the target roll angle and the accelerations of the vehicle at the front wheel position and the rear wheel position, and active stabilizer apparatuses of the front and rear wheels are controlled based on these target anti-roll moments.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 30, 2007
    Date of Patent: May 1, 2012
    Assignee: Toyota Jidosha Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventor: Yuichi Mizuta
  • Publication number: 20120010780
    Abstract: A control mode for a damping force characteristic is set to be a variable control when a product of the sum xb? of sprung member speeds and a sprung-member-unsprung-member-relative-speed xs? is positive. Accordingly, when the vibration in a middle/high frequency range is not being input to a suspension apparatus, an operation of a variable throttle mechanism is controlled so that a step number representing the damping force characteristic of a damper varies with a vibration state of a sprung member HA based on a Nonlinear H? control theory. When the product of xb? and xs? is negative, the control mode is set to be an operation prohibiting control. When the vibration in the middle/high frequency range is input to the suspension apparatus, operation of the variable throttle mechanism is prohibited, and suppresses an increase in the operation frequency or in the operation amount of the variable throttle mechanism.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 31, 2009
    Publication date: January 12, 2012
    Applicant: TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Taisuke Hayashi, Yuichi Mizuta, Yanqing Liu
  • Patent number: 8050818
    Abstract: A roll stiffness control apparatus of a vehicle, which includes a controller that estimates a remaining capacity of front wheels to generate a lateral force and a remaining capacity of rear wheels to generate a lateral force, and that sets a roll stiffness distribution ratio between the front wheels and the rear wheels so as to reduce a difference between the remaining capacity of the front wheels to generate a lateral force and the remaining capacity of the rear wheels to generate a lateral force.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 17, 2005
    Date of Patent: November 1, 2011
    Assignee: Toyota Jidosha Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventor: Yuichi Mizuta
  • Patent number: 8036791
    Abstract: A suspension ECU 13 calculates a target characteristic changing coefficient a_new for changing a target characteristic, which is represented by a quadratic function, by use of the maximum actual roll angle ?_max generated in a vehicle body during the current turning state and a turning pitch angle ?_fy_max which is a fraction of an actual pitch angle ? generated as a result of turning, and changes the target characteristic by use of the coefficient a_new. Subsequently, the suspension ECU 13 calculates the difference ?? between the actual pitch angle ? and a target pitch angle ?h corresponding to the actual roll angle ? on the basis of the changed target characteristic, and calculates a total demanded damping force F to be cooperatively generated by the shock absorbers so as to reduce the difference ?? to zero.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 10, 2009
    Date of Patent: October 11, 2011
    Assignees: Toyota Jidosha Kabushiki Kaisha, Aisin Seiki Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Yuichi Mizuta, Motohiko Honma, Wataru Tanaka
  • Publication number: 20110208391
    Abstract: A stabilizer control device for a vehicle which performs a variable control of a torsional stiffness of a stabilizer provided between right and left wheels of the vehicle, including: an absolute roll information obtaining unit which obtains absolute roll information above a spring from an output of a sensor installed above the spring in the vehicle; and a stabilizer control unit which calculates a first anti-roll moment based on the absolute roll information and controls the stabilizer based on the first anti-roll moment. Therefore, it becomes possible to appropriately suppress a roll due to a steering input and a roll due to a road surface disturbance input and balance a handling and stability with a riding quality.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 16, 2009
    Publication date: August 25, 2011
    Applicant: TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Yuichi Mizuta, Takashi Kurokochi, Mitsuhiro Tsumano
  • Publication number: 20110029198
    Abstract: A suspension ECU 13 calculates a target characteristic changing coefficient a_new for changing a target characteristic, which is represented by a quadratic function, by use of the maximum actual roll angle ?_max generated in a vehicle body during the current turning state and a turning pitch angle ?_fy_max which is a fraction of an actual pitch angle ? generated as a result of turning, and changes the target characteristic by use of the coefficient a_new. Subsequently, the suspension ECU 13 calculates the difference ?? between the actual pitch angle ? and a target pitch angle ?h corresponding to the actual roll angle ? on the basis of the changed target characteristic, and calculates a total demanded damping force F to be cooperatively generated by the shock absorbers so as to reduce the difference ?? to zero.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 10, 2009
    Publication date: February 3, 2011
    Applicant: Toyota Jidosha Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Yuichi Mizuta, Motohiko Honma, Wataru Tanaka
  • Publication number: 20100318262
    Abstract: A target roll angle of the vehicle is computed based on an actual lateral acceleration at the centroid of the vehicle, and the lateral acceleration of the vehicle at the centroid is corrected by use of lateral acceleration correction amounts based on a yaw rate of the vehicle, whereby the lateral accelerations of the vehicle at the front wheel position and the rear wheel position are computed. Subsequently, target anti-roll moments at the front wheel position and the rear wheel position are computed based on the target roll angle and the accelerations of the vehicle at the front wheel position and the rear wheel position, and active stabilizer apparatuses of the front and rear wheels are controlled based on these target anti-roll moments.
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 30, 2007
    Publication date: December 16, 2010
    Applicant: TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventor: Yuichi Mizuta
  • Publication number: 20100191420
    Abstract: A damping force control apparatus for a vehicle computes an actual roll angle ? and an actual pitch angle ? in step S11, and computes a difference ?? between a target pitch angle ?a and the actual pitch angle ? in step S12. In step 13, the apparatus computes a total demanded damping force F which must be cooperatively generated by shock absorbers so as to decrease the computed ?? to zero. In step S14, the apparatus distributes the total demanded damping force F in proportion to the magnitude of a lateral acceleration G such that a demanded damping force Fi on the turn-locus inner side becomes greater than a demanded damping force Fo on the turn-locus outer side. In step S15, the apparatus controls the damping force of each of the shock absorbers to the damping force Fi or the damping force Fo. Thus, throughout a turn, a posture changing behavior in which the turn-locus inner side serves as a fulcrum can be maintained.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 19, 2008
    Publication date: July 29, 2010
    Inventors: Motohiko Honma, Yuichi Mizuta, Taisuke Hayashi, Wataru Tanaka
  • Patent number: 7644934
    Abstract: When the side acceleration acting upon a vehicle body is comparatively small, the roll rigidities of a front wheel suspension device and a rear wheel suspension device are mainly controlled based upon their roll angles; while, when this side acceleration is comparatively large, the roll rigidities of the front wheel suspension device and the rear wheel suspension device are mainly controlled based upon the correlation between the roll rigidity of the front wheel suspension and the roll rigidity of the rear wheel suspension device.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 5, 2006
    Date of Patent: January 12, 2010
    Assignee: Toyota Jidosha Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventor: Yuichi Mizuta
  • Publication number: 20070088476
    Abstract: When the side acceleration acting upon a vehicle body is comparatively small, the roll rigidities of a front wheel suspension device and a rear wheel suspension device are mainly controlled based upon their roll angles; while, when this side acceleration is comparatively large, the roll rigidities of the front wheel suspension device and the rear wheel suspension device are mainly controlled based upon the correlation between the roll rigidity of the front wheel suspension and the roll rigidity of the rear wheel suspension device.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 5, 2006
    Publication date: April 19, 2007
    Applicant: TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventor: Yuichi Mizuta
  • Publication number: 20070080583
    Abstract: A vehicle is provided in which, when a slip between a wheel and a road surface is increased, a driving and braking control is performed to reduce the slip. A change rate in a wheel vertical load is determined. A mode of the driving and braking control is changed based on the determined change rate. The change of mode may be performed by changing at least one of the start of the driving and braking control, the reduction rate or the lower bound during the temporary reduction of the braking force or driving force, and the increasing rate during increasing the braking or driving force after the temporary reduction, or the like, according to the change rate in the wheel vertical load.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 6, 2006
    Publication date: April 12, 2007
    Applicant: TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Shin Noumura, Ken Koibuchi, Hisashi Kajita, Yuichi Mizuta
  • Publication number: 20060006615
    Abstract: A roll stiffness control apparatus of a vehicle, which includes a controller that estimates a remaining capacity of front wheels to generate a lateral force and a remaining capacity of rear wheels to generate a lateral force, and that sets a roll stiffness distribution ratio between the front wheels and the rear wheels so as to reduce a difference between the remaining capacity of the front wheels to generate a lateral force and the remaining capacity of the rear wheels to generate a lateral force.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 17, 2005
    Publication date: January 12, 2006
    Applicant: TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventor: Yuichi Mizuta