In a control and management system for automobiles, a central processor in the system connects traditionally unrelated vehicle subsystems together to realize synergistic functions such as smart driving, automatic parking, etc. A master interface having a display is employed in the system to help a user control and manage the vehicle functions.

Centralized control and management system for automobiles

According to one aspect of one embodiment of the present invention, a safety control system for vehicles, includes, a communication device having at least one of an input accessible from within the vehicle and an output communicated within the vehicle, at least one sensor operable to sense at least one condition related to vehicle operation, and a controller communicated with the sensor and the communication device to selectively suppress at least one of said input and said output in response to a sensed parameter of said at least one condition being outside of a threshold. When an input is suppressed, the driver is prevented from accessing or inputting information into the communication device. When an output is suppressed, communication between the device and the driver of a vehicle is suppressed to, among other things, avoid distracting the driver during certain driving situations or conditions relating to the driver, vehicle and/or environment.

Safety control system for vehicles

An electric power-steering device has a speed-reducing mechanism (17) for reducing the speed of an output shaft (16) of an electric motor (15). The speed-reducing mechanism (17) has an internal gear (39) engaged and rotated with the output shaft (16) and an external gear (40) with which the internal gear (39) internally meshes. A drive pulley (41) rotatable together with the external gear (40) and a driven pulley (42) provided so as to surround a steering shaft are connected by an endless belt (43). Speed reduction is obtained by the internal gear (39) and the external gear (40), and the speed-reducing mechanism (17) as a whole achieves a high reduction ratio without greatly reducing the diameter of the drive pulley (41).

Electric power-steering device

A system for condition monitoring and fault diagnosis includes a data collection function that acquires time histories of selected variables for one or more of the components, a pre-processing function that calculates specified characteristics of the time histories, an analysis function for evaluating the characteristics to produce one or more hypotheses of a condition of the one or more components, and a reasoning function for determining the condition of the one or more components from the one or more hypotheses.

Intelligent condition monitoring and fault diagnostic system for preventative maintenance

In order to achieve lower fuel consumption and less greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, we need higher efficiency vehicles with improved performance. Electrification is the most promising solution to enable a more sustainable and environmentally friendly transportation system. Electrified transportation vision includes utilizing more electrical energy to power traction and nontraction loads in the vehicle. In electrified powertrain applications, the efficiency of the electrical path, and the power and energy density of the components play important roles to improve the electric range of the vehicle to run the engine close to its peak efficiency point and to maintain lower energy consumption with less emissions. In general, the electrified powertrain architecture, design and control of the powertrain components, and software development are coupled to facilitate an efficient, high-performance, and reliable powertrain. In this paper, enabling technologies and solutions for the electrified transportation are discussed in terms of power electronics, electric machines, electrified powertrain architectures, energy storage systems (ESSs), and controls and software.

Making the Case for Electrified Transportation

Development of Vehicle Stability Control System Based on Vehicle Sideslip Angle Estimation

In this paper, latest motor drive technologies used for hybrid vehicles (HV), which are high output motor control and variable voltage system, will be introduced Authors have researched and developed motor drive technologies through development of hybrid vehicles, which has been put into practical use to production vehicle The developed motor drive system has the features of high efficiency, high power/weight ratio, and low-cost

High Performance Motor Drive Technologies for Hybrid Vehicles

http://www.nt.ntnu.no/users/skoge/prost/proceedings/ifac2002/data/content/00327/327.pdf

Estimation of automotive tire force characteristics using wheel velocity

A current component, in which a phase angle is different by a predetermined reference angle from a magnetic flux occurring in an inductive load, is brought to a q-axis current. The q-axis current is computed on the basis of phase current. A phase angle of the magnetic flux is detected. A q-axis-current control phase and a reference potential phase are determined on the basis of the result of pulse-width-modulation computation and the phase angle. The q-axis-current control phase is controlled in a pulse-width-modulation manner. A potential of the remaining reference potential phase if fixed to a reference potential. Thus, interference among the phases is prevented to reduce current ripple.

Current control system for inverter

The present invention is directed to a wheel grip factor estimation apparatus, which includes a steering factor detection unit for detecting at least one of steering factors including a steering torque and steering effort applied to a steering system extending from a steering wheel to a suspension of a vehicle, an aligning torque estimation unit for estimating an aligning torque produced on at least a wheel of the vehicle on the basis of the steering factor detected by the steering factor detection unit, and a vehicle state variable detection unit for detecting a state variable of the vehicle. The apparatus further includes a wheel factor estimation unit for estimating at least one of wheel factors including a side force and slip angle applied to the wheel on the basis of the vehicle state variable, and a grip factor estimation unit for estimating a grip factor of at least a tire of the wheel, in accordance with a relationship between the estimated alignment torque and the estimated wheel factor.

Katsuhiro Asano

Papers

Development of Vehicle Stability Control System Based on Vehicle Sideslip Angle Estimation

High Performance Motor Drive Technologies for Hybrid Vehicles

Estimation of automotive tire force characteristics using wheel velocity

Current control system for inverter

Wheel grip factor estimation apparatus